Chameleon: Special Request x Midland x Rosie

Chameleon presents
Special Request
Midland
Rosie
The Crescent, York
Friday 13th February
Doors 9pm-3am (last entry 1am)
Tickets are £15 (+ b/f) in advance and available from See Tickets.

Special Request

Grammy nominated, platinum-selling record producer Paul Michael Woolford aka Special Request has been working tirelessly for over 20 years both in DJ booths globally, and in a myriad of recording studios, to redefine and reinvent all shapes of dance music. He has has applied his touch to hundreds of records, including the work of Christine & The Queens, Gabriels, Calvin Harris, Moby, Sam Smith, Depeche Mode, Chemical Brothers, Lana Del Rey, MK, Alison Goldfrapp, Disclosure, Jam City, Wiley, Jamie XX, Joy Crookes, Majid Jordan, Diplo, Kareen Lomax, London Grammar, Underworld, Krystal Klear, Morgan Geist, and many others, as well as influencing flocks of producers to drop their inhibitions and embrace bolder sounds.

You are as likely to hear his music on the radio as you are in a basement club or on a runway for designers like Fendi, Givenchy, Burberry, Marc Jacobs and many others. He has built his own body of work under the name Special Request into a vehicle that can pretty much cover any creative endeavour, to the extent that the late Virgil Abloh designed the artwork for one of his releases. Woolford reworked Virgil's debut single with Serpent With Feet 'Delicate Wings' for the 2021 release through Sony/Columbia.

Woolford has recorded 7 Essential Mixes for BBC Radio 1, released 4 mix compilations including most recently DJ Kicks 25 under his Special Request artist name, which was a Recommended release by Resident Advisor. As a DJ he tours relentlessly globally, and held down a 9 year residency at Space on Sundays in Ibiza, as well as a 7 year hometown residency at Back To Basics in Leeds, in addition to playing pretty much every respected serious venue of
note globally. Woolford sites a combination of the raw energy and diversity of the pirate radio airwaves, a lifetime of collecting records and the enlightenment of his art school years as key influences.

Midland

Through his productions, DJ sets and record labels, Midland's output comes across as unassuming and surprising in equal measure, at once subtle, refined and totally raucous.

As a Producer Midland's style has nimbly evolved from one record to the next. From his debut release with Pearson Sound (aka Ramadanman) "Your Words Matter" via "Trace" to his most recent Ep "You Never Take Me Dancing" he has explored a vast range of styles whilst managing to keep a core
sound that is truly his own. In 2013 he started his label "Graded" to focus on releasing his own music, "Archive 01", "Drumtrak" and "Blush" all followed. This was followed by the arrival of another label, ReGraded, in which he explored the art of sampling with "Double Feature" and culminating with the release of "Final Credits" a sleeper hit that went on to be voted Mixmags song of the year in 2016 and landed at 120 in Rolling Stones best dance tracks of all time. His label InterGraded was launched in 2018 focussed on releasing music by new or emerging artists including names such as Peach, Otik and Tom VR.

He has remixed, amongst others, Dua Lipa, The Chemical Brothers, St Vincent, Oliver Sim and Little Dragon. It is arguable however that he has made his biggest impact with the other side of his craft: DJing. 

Delivering his kaleidoscopic taste with a mixing technique that nods as much to his British lineage as it does to a smoother European style, he has distinguished himself with an ability to switch styles in a way that always feels totally natural and is able to play in a way that shows a deep understanding of the space and what is needed to bring it alive. In the words of Resident Advisor "there's a perfect record for every moment, and he usually has it".

His recorded mixes have become word of mouth favourites and in 2016 he won "Essential Mix of the Year" for his entry into the series. In 2017 he recorded "Fabriclive94", described by Pitchfork as "one of the year's best" and earned compilation of the year from Mixmag who featured him as their first cover of 2018. Fact Magazine said of the mix "Quietly, and without much fanfare, Midland has grown into one of the world's best DJs. Fabriclive 94 is a testament to what makes him so great".

In October 2024, he released his debut album "Fragments of Us", featuring the voices of artists like David Wojnarowicz, Marlon Riggs and Arthur Russell. Of the record Clash Magazine said "'Fragments Of Us' is packed with detail, ambitious in its intent and stunning in its execution" and awarded it a 9/10. Dazed magazine described it as "the concept album of the year" and it featured in the best albums of the year in Resident Advisor, Mixmag and Dj Mag respectively.

The only takeaway from these accolades is that Midland is a man still very much exploring and honing his craft and one of the key reasons that his ascent has never felt forced or manufactured.