As 2015 winds down, the trend of repurposing samples of UK '90s pirate radio and early rave culture might have reached its tipping point, thanks in part to Jamie xx's In Colour. And while it's the lynchpin of fellow UK producer Paul Woolford's work under the alias Special Request, it never sounds like an exercise in revisiting those old sounds. Perhaps Woolford's sensibilities come from approaching 40 and experiencing British rave culture firsthand. As he put it in an old interview, Woolford instead seeks to revel in "a false memory" in broadcasting tracks over an FM channel and then sampling the results as if it's his very own pirate radio station.
Being coy, playful, or evocative doesn't much factor into the nine tracks gathered up as Modern Warfare EPs 1-3. Much like fellow labelmate Zomby, Woolford released these EPs simultaneously on the XL Recordings imprint this week. And while both Zomby and Woolford posit them as "DJ tools," meaning they're for smashing dancefloors rather than home listening, the latter's end results are far more invigorating. One wouldn't soon mistake his rave/breakbeat/pirate radio-infused tracks for mawkishness, as he keeps the edges rough, the drive relentless, and the breaks concussive. Truth in advertising, Modern Warfare is a dancefloor weapon.
Putting the title track first feels slightly off, only in the sense that slowing down frantic breakbeats to house tempos doesn't do much for the relatively brief track. "Amnesia" treads a similar path, the snares feeling sluggish at 126 BPM. And when Woolford peels away the bass wobbles until it's just a piano line and a female voice bloodlessly saying "Come together/ We'll make it work," it smacks of the sort of soulless vocal house currently filling up innumerable Mixcloud and YouTube playlists.
But after those early missteps, Woolford finally locks in on "Reset It". Even with its faux pirate DJ shout-out and hokey backspin effects, the track transcends with a heady mix of adrenaline and ecstasy. The spare-but-brutal "Damage" builds from a nasty hi-hat pattern and soulful plea, each increasing in urgency and dub effects, suggesting a rubble-strewn landscape. Highlight "Take Me" finally approaches the velocity of old-school breakbeat but with a techno twist. These are peak-hour tracks meant for elevating a packed club to the next level and it almost feels like a crime to review them on an office stereo.
Despite the ambient opening, "Peak Dub" repurposes the "Amen break" for the millionth time with little to distinguish it, though that break fares far better in the context of "Tractor Beam", finding more snares and woozy noises to helix around it. While not the same immersive album listen as Woolford's Soul Music album from two years back, Modern Warfare's incredibly high peaks double as incendiary bombs and guilty pleasures.
