Special Request "Belief System"

[BoomTssPhace]

https://special-request.bandcamp.com/album/belief-system

 

 

23 tracks that meander between scuffed techno fodder, abstract jungle artillery, and behemoth ambient tones

 

First proper album-like release since Modern Warfare, but much more balanced. Some tracks are direct callbacks to that sound, like Sanctuary, Make It Real, and Brainstorm, but he gets a bit more experimental with Leviathan and Replicant. All flavors of techno here too, with the brooding Catacombs, the over-stimulated Curtain Twitcher, the naive Tiresias, and the aptly-named Scrambled in LS1. The part that personally surprised me was how actually good the ambient stuff is, right from the warm and triumphant opening Chrysalis (which i keep thinking sounds like a reprise of New Seeds) to the warning calls of Transmission. Reckoning sounds straight out of a contemporary action film. In Loving Memory ends the album on a surprisingly human note, despite the overall cold outer shell of the two-hour record

 

You could call the whole thing badly navigated and overly broad in its genres, but i think it's a really impressive piece from Paul Woolford, showcasing masterful ability even sometimes at the expense of coherence

 

Highly recommended

[QQQ]

i found him through Stairfoot Lane Bunker which i really enjoyed but i haven't been that into anything else of his. i'll give this a go tomorrow.

[chassis]

Yea it's unreal

[psn]

Finally a thread about it. It's fantastic!

[BoomTssPhace]

Got my record in the mail today and the tracklisting is abridged.. actually seems more coherent this way, focusing on the drummier half of the album 

[Silent Member]

Yeah, I'm really liking this.

[Hodorsbn]

Didn't realize he had a new album until this track came up on my spotify (pleasant surprise)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0SiMhUgYAM

 

Led me to the Curtain Twitcher EP, and then to this.

Some really tasty moments among a sprawling expanse. I feel like I "get" tracks 1-14 pretty well so far and come back to a lot of them. 

Really liking the update to his jungle styles with acid/idm influences, with nods to early AE ("Tiresias" especially) and AFX.

But 14 (Light In the Darkest Hour) feels like the proper end of the album, after which it kinda just lingers, not sure I'll ever get that last third of it.

[RickDastardly]

Got the vinyl a few weeks ago too. Cracking album.

[Alcofribas]

fuck man this album slays.

"brainstorm" is such a banger

[psn]

Must've gone under WATMM's radar.

[Alcofribas]

On 3/23/2022 at 4:20 AM, psn said:

Must've gone under WATMM's radar.

this record kicks ass

[Richie Sombrero]

I got the 4LP for like £8 on Discogs. Criminal.

[Richie Sombrero]

3 hours ago, Richie Sombrero said:

I got the 4LP for like £8 on Discogs. Criminal.

Copy for a tenner still.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/10987502?ev=rb&ships_from=United+Kingdom

 

He's playing some horrible looking new festival near me but Woolford deserves to get paid so good for him.

 

[species8472]

bump - cause curtain twitcher is a monster and some of his finest work

[thumbass]

Bangin shit

Soul music even more so

[splesh]

Somehow missed this til now will need to listen