Biography of Special Request
White labels to blow the roof off
In March 2012, when peak-time house had already made him a booth regular, Special Request burst onto the scene with white label maxis inspired by UK pirate radio stations. The project was born to channel jungle, hardcore, and dark techno with the grit of illegal airwaves: Woolford himself called it the noisy sibling of his previous catalog. Analog hardware, an FM transmitter, and the idea of manufacturing fake rave memories shaped a sound that the dancefloor received like a sharp blow, far from the 126 BPM ceiling.
Leeds, Basics and nine years of Sunday at Space
Raised in Leeds, he was formed amidst early nineties raves and ended up as a resident at Back To Basics, his city's benchmark night, for seven years. Since 2008, he held another weekly residency at We Love… on Sundays at Space in Ibiza: nine seasons that opened up the international circuit for him. That double life—basements in the north of England and island terraces—explains why he can go from a tear-out of amen breaks to a piano house anthem without losing the pulse.
Soul Music, XL and the Virgil Abloh cover
His debut Soul Music (2013), on Houndstooth, Fabric's label, brought together those white labels and added Tessela's Hackney Parrot VIP and his remix of Lana Del Rey's Ride. In 2015, he signed the Modern Warfare series with XL Recordings. The double album Belief System (2017) and Fabriclive 91 opened the arc toward the cinematic and ambient. In 2020, Virgil Abloh designed the cover for Spectral Frequency for R&S. In 2021, his DJ-Kicks installment arrived, recommended by Resident Advisor.
Four records to blow up the corset
2019 was the year of the ultimate bet: Vortex, Bedroom Tapes, Offworld and Zero Fucks, four distinct works—hardcore at 150 BPM, teenage tapes, eighties electro, and sampling without a net—to prove that Special Request was not just a junglist revival.
Portals, Street Anthems and the two o'clock radio
The Portal series and the LP Street Anthems (2024), anchored in UK garage, along with Uncanny Valley (2026) on Timedance, continue to expand the catalog. In July 2025, he returned to BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix as Special Request. Paramount Artists manages his booking while, in parallel, the same Grammy-nominated producer in 2023 continues to sign radio house. In the booth, Special Request remains the channel where British rave is heard at full throttle.
