@colonelgatito recorded live from Houghton 2023 at Outburst on Friday night.

Recorded at Houghton - Ivan Smagghe (2023)

Young partygoers might know Man Power, AKA Geoff Kirkwood, as the earnest geezer going back-to-back with DJs like Ewan McVicar, Paul Woolford, La La and Skream—peak-time specialists with a fine line in boofy bangers and ravey techno. Kirkwood is also a dab hand at the kind of elliptical house and deep cut detours favored by '00s labels like DFA and Optimo.

In spite of a long track record as a producer and promoter, if you had to boil Kirkwood's work in recent years down to a single quality, it might be altruism. He hails from North Shields, a small town fringing the boundary of Newcastle in England's oft-neglected North East, and wears his heritage proudly. The Me Me Me label boss's involvement in a flurry of civic restoration, and no-filter paeans to the importance of working class involvement in culture, have become as central to his life as music-making itself. For an accomplished DJ who has played at nearly every good club you could name, that’s no small feat.

So which side of Man Power were we in for? The answer on RA.940 is: both. '60s free verse poetry, Zebra Katz, Gesaffelstein and John Carpenter in the opening stretch? Makes sense. Octave One punching through Rozalla? You got it. An extended Joe Claussell workout atop Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place"? Why not. In Kirkwood's hands, it all goes down as smooth as a pint of Newcastle Brown.

@manpower-1

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/940

RA podcast

RA.940 Man Power

the worlds gone crazy™️ and 85% of shit has changed since 1992.

but this hasn’t, not really. this is what i do, and have been doing every night since i was 17.

i find records i love, i fly to a city. i take a nap. i play the records for people. they dance. i get paid i go home.

sometimes i actually think there might be something wrong with me to STILL be doing this. am i stupid?

HOW…. how could you STILL be playing records for people at 5am. shouldn’t you have developed an APP? A line of Wellness Products? surely you should have “sold your company” by now? WRITE A DECK? raise capital!!!! Get bored.
but then i play a set like this (link above) and remember that this is, in fact, as good as it gets, that the core idea i had as a 16year old was actually the BEST idea: to live a life surrounded and protected by MUSIC. armed with your favourite songs, the ones that keep you young and confidant, the ones you want to share with friends.

so that is DJing for me. simple. not particularly revolutionary… except for the fact that to be excited and happy seems revolutionary these days.

also: i’ve played about 4500 parties. and most are like 6 or 7 on tens….. sometimes an 8.

THIS WAS A 10. And the 10s never get recorded. there are lots of exclusives and THREE of my new tracks. and its been recorded WITH all the crowd noise…. trust me its a good one.

if you only listen to one of my 4 hour sets this year…. make it this one.



love from montreal via Offenbach/RJ (one of the best clubs on earth)

t

Tiga 4hr live from Robert Johnson with full crowd audio. Nov 2024

Andrew Weatherall's first official posthumous mix. The only b2b DJ Harvey ever agreed to. Six hours at Trouw. This one's special.

When mulling which direction to go in for RA's 1000th mix celebrations, many options came to mind. Some shadowy character 2-stepping around the fringe of our collective consciousness? An impossible-level IDM icon?

All tempting. But, ultimately, we are a DJ-forward publication and this is a DJ mix series. It felt truer to the history of the RA Podcast to release deep vault material from a time when the world of niche records felt different, tighter, more discrete.

The fourth-longest mix in the series' history is an unrepeatable marathon set recorded in 2012 at a superclub that no longer exists. 2012, incidentally, is farther away from 2025 than 2012 was from 2000... if we have to clock it, so do you.

It's the coming together of one British icon who passed away in 2020, and another whose time on the road has scaled back considerably as of late. DJ Harvey agreed to exactly one b2b set in his life: this one, with Andrew Weatherall.

The night took place at Trouw, an Amsterdam club already considered legendary before it shuttered its doors in the opening hours of 2015, as part of an RA series anchored around start-to-close combinations. Harvey was at the peak of an irresistible career second act, which dovetailed with a disco revival that dominated clubs for years. Weatherall, with infinite brownie points stockpiled from the '90s, remained everyone's favourite debonair psychonaut. 

What follows is 385 scintillating minutes of arpeggiated chug and slow-cresting climaxes: a moment when the resting heart rate of dance floors plunged lower than any comparable point in the 21st century. A masterclass, entirely self-contained in audio form.

If you've got time to spare, a fun side game is sussing out who plays what. A disco-dub cover of Echo & the Bunnymen? Smart money's on Weatherall. Exuberant EQ'ing of The Isley Brothers? Gotta be Harvey. As for the low 'n slow, lightly spangled house that was all the rage in the early 2010s (think Maxxi Soundsystem, Disco Bloodbath, Rub & Tug, C.O.M.B.I. and Full Pupp), it's anyone's guess. 127 BPM feels practically like an F1 car.

When we kicked off our RA.1000 campaign, we outlined a few goals: tick off a handful of long-awaited dream guests, honour architects who shaped the world around us and deliver recordings you truly can't hear anywhere else. Full send.

DJing and the mythmaking around it has undergone a quantum leap since 2012, let alone 2006, 1996 or 1989. For those of us who were kicking around in the former, there's a creeping melancholy that our prime is fast becoming a matter of historical record. The killing moon really did come too soon. 

Where will electronic music, DJ sets or any of this be in 2044? Hard to say. Best not to overthink that one. Instead, we want to say thanks to all contributors on the series so far. Now enjoy luxuriating in the company of two of the greatest to ever do it, together, for the first and last time.⁠ – Gabriel Szatan (Editor, RA)

@andrew-weatherall

Read the interview with DJ Harvey and Andrew Weatherall's family at https://ra.co/podcast/1016. Listen to all RA.1000 mixes, as well as the complete history of the RA Podcast, at https://1000.ra.co

RA.1000 DJ Harvey & Andrew Weatherall

Hessle Audio feat. Ben UFO - 01 September 2025

Broad

Detroit's Burden Bros have long been looked upon with immense respect within contemporary dance music. Having been in operation since 1990 with their 430 West imprint they have long encapsulated the forward thinking vibe of Detroit Techno with their output over the last 20+ years, gaining praise from their motor city peers as well as fans worldwide. Having had success in the mainstream and an enduring underground presence they are well versed in the art of music.

'Point Blank', released on 430 West in 1996, feature some of the brothers' deeper, more subdued, futuristic technoid grooves. Not as driving as some of their other releases but retaining that Burden groove for sure, forward thinking, intelligent Techno from the D, 100%. 4 different versions of 2 tracks feature. Each mix tweaking ever so slightly what came before. As usual, the DJ's and the dancers are foremost in Octave One's mind and this EP will be welcomed by both contingents, always classic, often imitated but never bettered!
Re-mastered, re-pressed and re-released in conjunction with the Burden Brothers / 430 West Records, Detroit USA.

B1 Through Darkness

Exclusive mix by Dj Dark Side. From lmtd promo compilation "This Is The Dark Side Mixes Volume 2".

Emily Faryna - House Of Mirrors (Dark Side Echo Mix)

Paper Plans

CENTER YOURSELF is a podcast series curated by Robert Johnson. Each episode is created by one of our regulars—some are made for this occasion and some are hand-picked from the club's own archive.

@andrew-weatherall
@roman-fluegel

In loving memory, we are happy to share this excerpt from Andrew Weatherall & Roman Flügel's all-nighter recorded at Robert Johnson in 2017.

Center Yourself 05 – Andrew Weatherall & Roman Flügel

He was no longer able to live in society or speak with people. Complete self-absorption, thoughts only about yourself.  He felt an outcast and antisocial and have nothing to say to anyone, anymore. Especially to unwanted guests.
In the shadow of global madness , Tel-Aviv's finest Garzen Records are doing it's best to keep serving some family matters, mental gatherings and psych tunes.
This compilation is a new project that brings together and connects between musical edges and beloved artists.

Artist: Fantastic Twins
Track: Unwanted Guest
Label: Garzen Records
Release date: 10/07/20
Format: Digital
Purchase: https://garzenrecords.bandcamp.com/album/garzen-compilation-1

https://soundcloud.com/fantastictwins
https://soundcloud.com/garzen-records

Listen On YouTube

PREMIERE #1035 | Fantastic Twins - Unwanted Guest [Garzen Records] 2020

Jackson Blumenthal is a DJ & producer from London, UK. With releases on Inwave (ITA), Body Parts (RUS), Nixwax (UK), Vekton (GER).