As an artist, Special Request, aka Paul Woolford, has crossed a multitude of spheres spanning genres, decades and scenes. As a teenager he was constantly listening to and recording sounds he found interesting - something that rapidly escalated into an obsession when he discovered pirate stations by complete accident.



He has produced under various aliases and experimented with multiple labels, forging links with Carl Craig's Planet E Communications in Detroit, through to London's XL Recordings and Gerd Janson's Running Back in Germany. Paul's 2005 break-out release 'Erotic Discourse’ - recorded under the name Bobby Peru - still sounds boldly futuristic 12 years later. The success of this release led Woolford to question the structures and significance of the music industry, the outcome of which was a fevered period of recording and the birth of Special Request. After releasing 3 white label 12"s, he signed to fabric’s artist-led label Houndstooth in January 2013.

"This mix is about heightened emotions and making them as contrasting and intense as they can be - I wanted to create something lush that slowly moves into the realm of the unhinged." Special Request

Following a slightly surreal and cavernous beginning for FABRICLIVE 91, the classic UK techno of Caustic Window (an alias of Richard D. James - Aphex Twin) opens up proceedings and lays the foundation for the mix. The momentum builds as the ruthless tones of 214 ‘Frostbite’ signify a turn into darker waters. The murky tension sets the scene for the first of six new Special Request tracks, ‘Redrum’. Then, the lush emotive ‘Aquilae’ and a voice recording from Cristian Vogel's ‘Atomic Layers’ is a pause to breathe before the descent into the second half, where we travel rapidly through various shades of jungle, drum & bass and noise, from the dubwise movement of Forest Drive West, to classic Dillinja, and beyond. The apex of the mix is the furious drum & bass of DJ Trace & Nico counterpointed by Keith Fullerton Whitman's ‘Stereo Music For Serge Modular Part Two’.



