Special RequestBest Special Request Albums Ranked

Soul Music

pitchfork

8.1

“As Special Request, UK producer Paul Woolford aimed to honor his teenage years of listening to pirate radio, hearing the sounds of first-generation jungle and rave through his speakers as rave culture was forming. The project's proper debut, Soul Music, is one of the most exciting dance records of this year.”

Hooversound Presents: Special Request x Tim Reaper

loudandquiet

8.0

“Hooversound, the brainchild of DJs Sherelle and NAINA, continue their considered explorations of the plus tempo spectrum on the label’s first release of the year. Fittingly, this is perhaps the most notable artist spotlight yet, teaming Paul Woolford’s rave colossus Special Request with specialist jungle revivalist Tim Reaper. The EP finds Reaper reconstructing four cuts from Request’s 2019 effor”

DJ-Kicks (DJ Mix)

pitchfork

7.7

“UK house and breakbeat veteran Paul Woolford connects the dots between club-music styles from across the decades, finding a through line in lush, transporting melodies.”

Modern Warfare (EPs 1-3)

pitchfork

7.3

“Paul Woolford's work under the alias Special Request harks back to UK '90s pirate radio and early rave culture. Woolford, who is 40 years old, experienced the culture firsthand, and his tracks are relentlessly and briskly unsentimental: Truth in advertising, Modern Warfare is a dancefloor weapon.”

Belief System

pitchfork

6.4

“Amplifying the scope of his rave-nostalgia project, Paul Woolford expands his ambitions but loses sight of the spontaneity that made the music so thrilling in the first place.”