Paul Woolford

As the dust settles around the thundering year that was 2013, it seems like a good time to welcome Paul Woolford into our exclusive mix series.

The last year has seen the 38 year old embark on something of a renaissance period. Under his own name, he released 'Untitled', the piano house banger that dropped on Scuba's Hotflush imprint and made it to number two in our annual end of year tune chart. You'll have heard its twinkling keys drift across the whole of the summer after its release in July, a proper feel-good jam that epitomises the spirit of the current house music boom.

But you'll have also heard Woolford operating under a different alias too. Special Request is the moniker he created in order to put out 12" singles dedicated to warehouse rave music; tough, bouldering constructions powered by low end frequencies and shot through with raw breakbeats or juggernaut kick drums. Signed to London club Fabric's in-house Houndstooth label, the debut Special Request album, 'Soul Music', collected all of the cult releases and the results were astonishingly impactful. Again, Woolford scored highly in end of year lists.

As 2014 starts to come into focus, he's got the kind of attention he earned when his breakout tune, 'Erotic Discourse', took over dancefloors worldwide in 2006. Since then he's released on 20:20 Vision, Cocoon, Planet E and NRK, carving his own niche in house and techno and racking up gigs across the globe in the process. If you went out to the White Isle last season, you'll have seen him dominating Space while every clubnight promoter wants to book him to lay it down in their respective city.

A true mainstay who can prove himself time and time again, Paul Woolford steps up to deliver an exclusive mix for our In Session series. Expect strobelit house and acidic techno as this one goes from light to dark in just under an hour. And that's just how we like it.

Paul Woolford plays Bugged Out Weekender in Southport on March 7-9. For full details, the mammoth line-up and tickets, click here

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