Paul Woolford’s debut mix for !K7’s esteemed DJ-Kicks series—a long-running showcase for distinguished house and techno producers—is a voyage into the depths of his subconscious. “I woke up one morning, cleared my head, and realized I’d had one of the most intense dreams,” the legendary Leeds-based DJ tells Apple Music. The only way to process the “cornucopia of emotions,” he says, was by revisiting some of his favorite songs. This resulting free-spirited compilation—which glides from cosmic soul-disco (Sun Ra, Alicia Myers) into dizzying IDM (Speedy J, µ-Ziq)—spins on an axis of emotional intensity, swirling together lush melodies and sticky, unusual textures. “There’s a melancholy in my music that comes from the human condition,” he says. “It bubbles away in the background and occasionally shows itself in some of my selections, but here it’s front and center.”
Woolford has been DJing for 20 years and has used a number of aliases, but Special Request has been a recent focus; in 2019, he released four albums under the experimental alter ego, each more surprising and far-out than the last. This mix offers a sweeping view of his inspirations, from early-’90s Psyance to current heavyweight AceMo, but Speedy J’s “De-Orbit” occupies a special place in his heart. “I heard it on pirate radio in my bedroom as a teenager and didn’t realize it'd been pitched up to 45 RPM,” he says. “I found a copy at my local record shop and it sounded so much more mellow at normal speed—it blew my mind. It holds all of the intensity and melancholy that I adore in music.”