The Lab compilation series was established in 2009, and has since gone on to host some of the electronic music scene’s most revered DJs. Loco Dice, Steve Bug and Seth Troxler have made the series a ‘must check’ compilation brand, pushing new music, new artists and labels to the fore, and allowing the DJs to experiment and mix up the sounds in The Lab.

And so the fourth installment of the series is handed to a British producer/DJ who is not shy of musical experimentation himself. Paul Woolford bit the electronic bug from an early age, searching out the latest new sounds on the radio and in magazines and through the bustling club scene around his native city of Leeds. It was here that he came across the now infamous Back To Basics club night, at which his dedication to the music would land him the resident DJ role within a couple of years. Honing his sound and DJ skills, Woolford quickly elevated to land key DJ spots around the world and a residency at Ibiza’s We Love Space.

As a producer, Woolford has built up a vast catalogue of dependable, and at times groundbreaking, music on labels like 2020 Vision, Junior Boys Own, NRK Music and Cocoon, under his own name as well as aliases Bobby Peru, Hip Therapist & more…

Never one to lay down into own defined style or genre for too long, Woolford has taken huge strides over the last couple of years to lay down foundations in the deepest areas of the underground music scene, and his love of the electronic sound in its purist form has led to new music on cutting edge labels such as Carl Craig’s Planet E Recordings, Hotflush (Scuba’s label) and Phonica, and it is here that Woolford can be found straddling the barriers of techno, dub, deep house and garage.

As Woolford continues to steer his own personal journey through electronic music’s marshlands, via new imprint Special Request, further productions for Planet E and Hotflush as well as a renewed global club scene to DJ in, The Lab mix stands as the perfect aural snapshot of a producer and DJ not afraid to take the music where many others fear to go, which is a rare thing nowadays when sticking to the formula often brings the successes that artists crave.