Ahead of his DJ appearance at this Saturday’s Board Of Works club night at Hang Dai Chinese in Dublin city, the industrious DJ, producer and promoter Man Power shares 10 of his current favourite tracks.
After a decade plus of Geoff Kirkwood touring and releasing music as Man Power the project appears to have entered chapter of promoting authentic clubbing culture, most notably with his Are You Affiliated venue project which has seen him re-purpose a Working Men’s Club to accommodate bookings including Caribou, Gerd Janson, Skream and Daniel Avery in the small post industrial town of North Shields.
2024 saw the versatile producer and DJ tick off career milestones including the RA Podcast. BBC Radio 1’s Essential mix and a monthly Residency on Rinse FM, and 2025 already sees him about to add his own entry to Mixmag’s prestigious The Mix Series, with the rest of the year offering the promise of a nationwide UK Tour of pop-up events in Social Clubs around Britain, and an Ibiza residency, also featuring like minded international guests, that plans to push the community lead, music-first values that he’s becoming known for.
1.
Doechi – Bullfrog
I love the whole album tbh and I’m fairly blown away by how much talent is on display. I kind of posted this to prove that I’m still down with the kids, but my 15 year old daughter couldn’t give less of a shit when I played her the record, so maybe It’s still old peoples’ music.
2.
The Rapture – House of Jealous Lovers (Morgan Geist Remix)
I keep veering between this and the Maurice Fulton remix over the years. Both are amazing versions of a classic record that hardly anyone seems to know. This version is a bit more languid than the MF drum workout, which is more inline with how I’ve been playing in the last months.
3.
Blowfly feat Gary Barnacle and BC Beale – Work your Body (Pyramid Mix)
I picked the record up randomly at OYE in Kreuzkoln back in about 2012 (when Paramida still worked there). I ripped it about five years later to play out digitally. The record makers admit that they made it as a cash in for the EBM craze at the time, but I can’t tell you how many people have pure HOUNDED me to find out what it is after I play it. Rob from BOW included.
4.
Toktok vs Sofi O – Missy Queens Gonna Die
While I’m too old for this to represent when I first started going out, it deffo comes from a time when I was into partying more deeply than I’d ever been before. I keep hearing bits and bobs from that sound and era creeping back in but this still seems slept on and really really really reminds me of being about 23 years old and completely lost in space and time.
5.
Tom Caruthers – Malfunction
Some new machine made music that straddles the lines between banging and contemplative. Really hits the sweet spot between brain and body music.
6.
Danny Parton – In The Groove
This is literally so close to cheesy that you’d need assistance seeing where the line is, but it just sits on the right side of good taste for. Literally at the brink of it though, which is brave and hard to manage.
7.
Bjork – I Miss You (Dobie’s Rub Part 2)
I’m actually looking at this CD Single on my desk as I type. Unbelievable UK hip-hop retouch of Bjork featuring both Rodney P and “that” Bob James – Nautilus sample. I played it out for the first time in over a decade on New Years Day which is about as big a sign that I’m playing the parties I want to play as I could hope to get.
8.
Wallace – Cynical Gringo
Wallace is quickly becoming a superstar. This track sounds like it was made 20 years ago by one of the people we all treat as legends now. He’s amazing and I’ve invited him to come play B2B with me for my own party in North East England next month because I’m just blown away by the breadth of what he makes and the recordings I’ve heard of him playing.
9.
Claro Intelecto – Peace of Mind
This is a very well known and very well loved record but my thinking is at least one person reading this list will be hearing it for the first time, and even just being able to introduce one new person to this piece of perfection feels like a really worthy thing to do whenever there’s a chance.
10.
Alan Hawkshaw – Grange Hill Theme
Back on the subject of playing the right parties, I used to slip this in back when I had my Pikes residency. If it doesn’t make you want to dance then you’re dead inside. I’m hopefully back in Ibiza with a new residency at a different venue in Ibiza this summer with the idea of trying to really concentrate on sticking what we think is the essence of true “club culture”. It’s all in the planning stages right now which I always find really exciting.
Man Power plays the Board Of Works club night at Hang Dai Chinese in Dublin this Saturday.
