Hardcore EP vinyl

Special Request was launched in earnest in March of last year by Woolford as a creative outlet for "vinyl only releases with no boundaries", and has drawn from a palette of booming basslines and expertly edited classic rave breaks across the four 12" releases thus far. The Hardcore EP sees him stepping up to Fabric's Houndstooth label in advance of a full album later this year, and it's just as rude as the material thus far; "Wall To Wall" sees Woolford adopting a techno framework, with evil vocal samples rattling between heavy, bouncing kicks, and "Broken Dreams" sees more rambunctious jungle, with heavily filtered breaks and clattering snare rolls tethered to a hardcore bassline. The remixes don't mess about either; Anthony Naples turns in a spectral remix of "Mindwash" that keeps the rhythmic ferocity but somehow makes it maudlin and downbeat, while Lee Gamble reworks "Capsules" in a highly experimental, tripped out end of the night style. Big recommendation on this one...