As hard as he is to pigeonhole, Paul Woolford is just as tough to predict. If, for example, you saw "Erotic Discourse" coming, you're a liar. Alternatively, if you had an inkling that in 2011 the Leeds-based producer would hook up with two much lauded labels at opposite ends of the scale—one old guard techno in Planet E; one new school bass music in Hotflush—again you had one over on me. As if such drastic sidesteps weren't noteworthy enough for someone who, before then, was often overlooked, then came Woolford's Special Request project—twisted, turbulent concoctions that condensed the whole goddam 'nuum into screw-faced dancefloor dynamite.
As such, transcending genres and generations as freely as he does these days, expectations for his entry into The Lab series were high. Lest we forget, as well as being a searing studio hand, Woodford is no slouch in the DJ department, either: For years he was resident at Leeds' much mythologised Back to Basics and now, during the summer months, is one of Space's main residents out in Ibiza. And that experience prevails in both discs here: If his Platform mix for Renaissance was a grand and intricate statement, his Lab mix feels more like the sort intuitive set the man lays down each and every weekend.
The story told across the 29 tracks of both discs is a wholly contemporary one, but one that never plumps for an obvious or predictable draw. What's more, it sees Woolford digging through the ages to tell his tale without ever sounding forced. The first disc deals in a number of different moods and only really slips into a groove with the arrival of Chez Damier's still-fresh-at-18-years-old "Untitled." Before then, some cute mixing bleeds Mr Beatnick's emotive strings into Daniel Bell's disco bliss into Shed's stripped ambiance—a swirly and emotive start, to be sure—and after that point things peak and trough through euphoric house, tripped out tech and deadly dread from 2562.
The second disc is equally non-linear. It gets to business quicker than the first, but contains just as many standouts (see STL's raw depravity, Trevino's devastating bass and DJ Harvey's shape-shifting house). When things feel like they're building to an all too intense climax, though, they get pulled back, reset, and head off down a slightly different yet somehow continuous path. The Lab 04 is as predictably unpredictable as you should now expect from one of electronic music's most restless souls.
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Tracklist: Paul Woolford - The Lab 04
CD1
 01. Rafael Anton Irisarri - Blue Tomorrows
02. Detroit Urban Gardening Ensemble - Take Root (Ashley Beedle's Dearborn Heights Rework)
03. Lazor Sword - Batman (Lando Kal remix)
04. Mr Beatnick - Synthetes
05. Shed - The Praetorian
06. Daniel Wang - Berlin Sunrise (die Dammerung)
07. Chez Damier - Untitled
08. Hunee - A Study In Wild
09. Roman Fluegel - The Improvisor
10. Untold - Motion The Dance
11. Zakes Bantwini - Wasting My Time (Dan Ghenacia Remix)
12. Skudge - Convolution (2562 Remix)
13. Urban Culture - Wonders Of Wishing (For You)
14. Rafael Anton Irisarri - Blue Tomorrows
CD2
01. Super Collider - Darn (Cold Way O' Lovin')
02. STL - High Again
03. Fabio Gianelli - Grenouille
04. Trevino - Fred
05. Yasua Sato - Mirage Of The Night Sky
06. Terrence Dixon - Return Of The Speaker People (Kausto's Sudden Aphasia Mix)
07. Chateau Flight - Baltringue
08. Canyons - See Blind Through (DJ Harvey Mix)
09. Gemini - Movement
10. Billy Shane - Fach
11. NB Funky - Riddim Box
12. Trevino - Tweakonomics
13. Dan Curtin - Fly By Night
14. Achterbahn D'Amour - Trance Me Up (Skudge Mix)
15. Aphex Twin - XMD5a
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