Man Power is the production alias of UK born music maker Geoff Kirkwood. Initially conceived as an anonymous project in a bid to allow him to explore the limits of genres, the inevitable attachment of a real life identity has done nothing to stifle his dedication to bringing together disparate musical forms, to the delight of critics and fans alike.
While Man Power is now based in Mexico, holding residencies at the esteemed Topaz Deluxe in his new station of Monterrey and at the equally chic MN Roy of Mexico City, the charismatic Geordie still manages to maintain a global appeal. Featured as one of XLR8R’s best new artists of 2015, this year has seen him play live on BBC Radio 1 and at esteemed spots such as Panorama Bar and Glastonbury festival, to shows in Japan, New York, Tel Aviv and the Middle East. We caught up with Mr Kirkwood to get a tour around his homestay in Monterray. Alongside the interactive city guide map Man Power has recorded a mix of 100% local music to get a real feel for the city.
Favourite place to buy records?
I live in San Pedro, which is a small fairly affluent suburb of Monterrey. To the best of my knowledge the only record store in my part of town is Musiclab. Vinyl is comparatively expensive in Mexico and you don’t see the huge offerings of shops like you did in my last home of Berlin, but people seem to be buying more and more here. Pretty much everybody I know here has some form of collection, although it’s not like the people I know back in the UK, who have built their collection’s over years and years of buying records to play in clubs as a habit formed in the days before digital was an option. Most of the people here have deeper collections in many ways, with albums of music that’s a lot breadthier than your usual mere house / disco / techno archive. Musiclab mainly caters for that. There are a lot of dance floor related records in the shop, but they’re mostly second hand (progressive house in particular was a big deal on this side of the world). The shops new collection is definitely based around contemporary and classic albums of all genres. Since moving to playing mainly digital (as a near physical necessity with the rigours of travelling) I actually find most of my vinyl purchases are for home listening anyway these days, so the shop is ideal for my purposes.
Favourite live music venue?
I’ve not been able to catch anywhere near as much live music as I would like to since moving here last year, but I’ve heard some amazing and diverse music be played at a venue called Cafe Iguana, which is in Barrio Antigua in downtown Monterrey. The venue is a sprawling Casa with rooms playing everything from classic rock on a jukebox, to live hip hop on the terrace, local bands in the garden (which doubles as an amazing vegan restaurant during the day), and they also have a very impressive dedicated concert space for bigger acts.
Best soundsystem / favourite club?
I’m biased as I’m a resident at TOPAZdeluxe. The club is literally home for me now. It’s an informal converted traditional Mexican building, with a really welcoming feel. The booth and general design were partly conceived by Rebolledo, who has a major stake in the Venue. It even stores part of his record collection on the wealth of shelves behind the decks. Champis, one of the owners, is obsessed with the sound in there and is continually tweaking and improving the hybrid system so that it’s as close to perfection as he can get it for the room. It’s really one of my favourite clubs in to play. The crowd have stuck with the place even during the violence that plagued the city for several years (and which it thankfully seems is now gone for good). The club didn’t close once during that whole period, and is still absolutely dedicated to both bringing in the best artists from around the planet, while still nurturing the local talent in the city. It’s even gone as far as to launch a huge DJ competition in a bid to unite the scene in the aftermath of the troubles, and to offer some new opportunities for locals trying to break in to DJing at a meaningful level.
Best party in the city?
Again, I’d have to say Topaz. Bias aside, it has a on open minded and enthusiastic vibe which every DJ friend I’ve brought to play has commented on. I come from a “Party” background, rather than just a “Club” background. We used to throw random events at even more random spaces back where I’m from in Newcastle, just in the spirit of bringing like minded people together, and TOPAZdeluxe is potentially the closest I’ve came to feeling that same unified vibe inside a dedicated club space. More than anything else the crowd are there to dance, and the nights are about the music. They seem to leave all the other bullshit at the door.
Best view of the city?
Monterrey is ringed by beautiful mountains. You can see all of San Pedro from the hotel at the top of Mt Chipinque. The first day I came to Monterrey Champis took me up to see that view, and it was a special moment for me. I love it so much that I’m even getting married in that exact spot in 6 weeks time.
Best place to experience something unique to Monterrey?
Cabrito is Monterrey’s signature dish. It’s baby goat, and if I’m honest I can’t stand it… BUT I still advocate that people should always try the local delicacies, and conversely one man’s poison is also another man’s meat. More to the point, El Rey Del Cabrito is worth checking out simply for the architecture alone. It’s an unmissable building in central Monterrey that you need to pass on the way in to town from the airport. It’s huge, bright red, covered in gaudy signage, and even has a massive glass grown on the roof, to leave nobody in doubt as to its status as “The King of Cabrito”.
First thing you miss after leaving Monterrey?
Bearing in mind I’m getting married so soon, you’ll have to take it that anything I answer is secondary to my girlfriend and her daughter. Taking that as assumed, the first thing I miss is Mexican seafood. I spend all my time when I’m here bemoaning the lack of gravy based dinners, but as soon as I leave all I want is Aquachile, or Ceviche, or Tacos Camarone, or Tuna Tostadas etc etc etc. Mexican food is amazing, but the seafood here is definitely where it’s at for me. The Mexican seafood cooking style really gets the best from the ingredients. It’s often simplicity itself, but I think most of the best cooking is. I’d particularly urge anyone to try the Chicharon de Pulpo at Gallo 71 in San Pedro. It’s a bit of a pricey restaurant, but achingly chic and totally worth the money. The Octopus there is one of my favourite dishes anywhere.
Best place to see another medium of art other than music?
Art is everywhere in Monterrey. Street art and self expression seem integral to the Mexican psyche. It’s a big city, so there are a wealth of galleries and exhibitions to choose from, but I’d strongly suggest that the best option is to ask about when you arrive here and seek out any of the impromptu art shows that are happening in all kinds of weird and wonderful locations across the municipality. The best and bravest work I’ve seen has always been in temporary spaces like shipping containers or as pop ups in repurposed buildings. You’ll be able to find something fresh within a short distance of wherever you are every day of the week, and it’s a good excuse to speak to some locals and do some more in depth research.
Is there a person (dead or alive) who encapsulates Monterrey for you?
My girlfriends father really embodies the wealth of contradictions I find in “Regios”, and in Mexican people in general. He’s a religious working-man, who is dedicated to his family and works ridiculously long hours to look after them, yet he still has an incredible sense of fun and a joy for life about him. He’s approaching 70, but he’s obsessed with music, with a particular love of all electronic music (he knows a damn sight more about EDM than me for starters!). He’s dedicated, forthright and dependable, but he loves to go out and dance, and has even came to watch me play before. He really sums up what I’ve found to be a commonality in the attitudes of people in my new home town. They manage to balance a conservative sense of duty, with a liberal joy for life, and an adherence to old values with an absolute hunger for new experiences.
Where will you find the friendliest, most interesting locals to have a chat with?
My spanish sucks. It’ll be something that shames me till I finally address it, so I’m dependent on the company of English speakers to get by here still. What I have found in Monterrey is a much higher degree of patience for my linguistic shortcomings than I perceive there to be when the roles are reversed back in the UK. So all I can say is all of the locals have been nothing but friendly to me here, but I’m the one getting in the way of us having a chat. Hospitality is a really big deal here however, so wherever you go you can rest assured that if someone can talk to you, share a bit of their life with you, and make you feel at ease, then the chances are incredibly high that they will try. You just might not always understand them if you’re like me.
What’s the best and worst thing about living in Monterrey?
The people are what make Monterrey. This may not make so much sense to many people, but there’s cultural warmth that exists in people from my birthplace of Newcastle, and I feel it here too. People are friendly, caring, open and honest here, and I can’t say that about everywhere that I’ve spent time while travelling around these last few years. The worst thing about living in Monterrey is that it’s not really designed to be walked around. You have opportunities to hike etc, the Huesteca national park is about ten minutes drive from my front door, but the opportunities to just wander the streets don’t exist here like they do back where I’m from in Newcastle. San Pedro is designed around cars, and parts of downtown Monterrey are troubled with poverty, which can sometimes make for situations where people become desperate and it may not be safe to wander too aimlessly. I’ve never once felt unsafe in my whole time being here, but I’m conscious to keep my wits about me, if only in the same way I would do in somewhere like New York, LA or London.
Who’s doing good things for Monterrey music right now, who you’d like to shout out?
Daniel Maloso lives on the same street as me. He’s a genius and he’s about to return to the spotlight very soon after taking some time off (he has an incredibly high profile job in another industry to contend with and his workload just leaves me in awe). I was fortunate enough to catch his live show (featuring his friend Febe) a couple of weeks ago, which is just mind blowing. The new music he’s making is sublime. He heralded the new wave of tracks by remixing Todd Terje, and that was just the tip of an incredibly impressive musical iceberg that’s about to hit.
What are some of your favourite up-and- coming DJs/producers/musicians bubbling up in Monterrey right now?
Guero and Canagan are both friends of mine who have been playing me their music recently. Neither has yet to release anything, but the maturity of the work they’re showing me absolutely shames my efforts when I was at a similar stage to them, so I have absolute confidence that when they get round to putting it out there it should make some waves and bring even more attention to the city.
Could you tell us about the mix you’ve made for us?
It’s more of a mix tape than a mix, and necessity meant that I had to put it together in Ableton. With that in mind I’ve tried my best not to mix any of the tracks, but aimed for a natural flow instead. I have to be absolutely clear here and point out that I’m new in the city and I can’t lay claim to any deep knowledge of its musical heritage past what I’ve picked up in the last 3 years of coming here. I really nearly passed on this request, but then I decided to do a change up and treat this as a golden opportunity for me to dig in and actually start educating myself a little more with the musical landscape of my new home. With that in mind I asked a bunch of friends for their input in what to check out. Daniel Maloso and Champis I’ve already mentioned, but the others who I asked were Ricky Tejada (the owner of Hard Pop in Juarez, one of the best clubs in the world), Kawas (a fellow DJ at Topaz and formerly the owner of Monterrey’s club Aura), and my wife to be – Adriana (whose musical tastes i might even prefer to my own!). I’ve tried to put together a mix that covers all of the bigger acts to come out of the city. Monterrey is a very important city for Mexico’s music, and a lot of acts here have achieved a great deal of mainstream domestic success. I felt it would be doing a disservice to them if I didn’t try and give an honest reflection of what’s shaped the musical vista of the area. I have a bit of a problem with DJs who do “Influence Mixes” and play only cool music, when that’s blatantly not what they were listening to growing up, so this mix is an attempt to be reflective of what local sounds the people who have welcomed me so warmly to Monterrey would have been listening to in their formative years.
I’ve included Rebolledo (as the Pachanga boys) in the mix, as while he’s not strictly speaking from the city, he’s been so vital to the underground scene here. I’ve also included Daniel Maloso as he’s representative of what’s happening here now. I’ve also started and finished the mix with unreleased tracks by Daniel’s little brother, Felippe, which I heard last time I was in Daniel’s studio, and whose sound I just adore. Other tracks represent the hybrid sounds of cumbia, hip hop, traditional Mexican music, rock and pop which managed to all at once sound equally familiar to me and in line with what I’d grown up with, but through an exotic lens which made them same at the same time to be quite alien.
It’s been nice to get a glimpse in to this strange parallel musical universe that grew out of this hot and passionate location, while I was living in the wet and Depressed North East of the 80s and 90s.
And finally, what’s on the horizon for you in terms of live dates or releases we should look out for?
I have a few dates booked in before Xmas in Brazil, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Finland, and of course Mexico. Now other than one weekend in December I’ve actually asked my agent to close my diary. I’m launching a record label very soon, but I’m gonna sit on the rest of the details of it for now, suffice to say it’s almost all boxed off and ready to go. The rest of my time is completely devoted to recording my second album in Daniel Maloso’s studio, and planning the wedding (and further to that, getting married, going on honeymoon and being a newly wed). I have my last original release for this year on October 12th, which again I need to remain secretive about for the time being, then a remix 12“ from my first album is coming in November on Correspondant, with interpretations from some artists I who really admire. In all fairness, by the end of this year I will have released something like 10 original tracks (and that’s not even mentioning how many remixes I’ve done) so I think I’ve earned the break (and that everyone else has possibly earned a break from me).
