• Quare Groove: Q&A with Colm K

    This Saturday (Aug 24th) the soulful fellas from Belfast’s Neighbourhood club host Cork DJ/producer Colm K at the left-of-centre Ulster Sports Club. Friend of Neighbourhood and Bullitt resident, Jonny Carberry, fired some questions Colm’s way… JC: Colm! Cheers for doing this. I really enjoyed your Boiler Room Residents Hour mix from a couple of years back – they described you as someone who was ‘pushing the boundaries, orbiting in dance music territories outside of the usual house/techno worlds’. Are you still a resident at Sunday Times? How is the Cork scene at the moment – do you still have sense…

  • Love Do Me Right: Q&A with Eric ‘Dr Dunks’ Duncan

    This Saturday (June 20) discerning party-throwers Belfast Music Club invite DJ and producer Eric ‘Dr Dunks’ Duncan to the Ulster Sports Club back room. Disco nerd and friend of BMC Jonny Carberry had the pleasure of firing a few questions Dunks’ way. ___ JC: Hi Eric, big thanks for doing this – excited to catch you on Sat! We’ll chat about what you’re currently up to, but to rewind to 2004/2005 a little and early Rub N Tug mixes like ‘Live at Rui’s’ and ‘Campfire’ – I really loved these mixes, they seemed deeper than other things I was listening…

  • Monday Mixtape: Athens of the North

    Athens of the North is a mighty reissue label that specialises in rare soul, funk, disco, Brazilian and boogie. Their releases consistently charm and surprise us at The Thin Air, and we love how they make sense on modern dancefloors. For this edition of Monday Mixtape, Gareth Sommerville from the label selects a few things you might hear this Friday 25 May, when he and his pal Lel Palfrey DJ at Bullitt’s sunny courtyard. Get to know. Ethel Beatty ‘I Know You Care’ Arranged and produced by the genius that is Roy Ayers. This is a great early doors tune/scene…

  • Interview: Brian Not Brian

    Ahead of playing alongside him at Bullitt in Belfast on Friday, February 9, DJs Jonny Carberry and Black Bones talk starting out, crate-digging, rare gems, returning home, imprints and more with Belfast-born, London based selector and DJ Brian Morrison AKA Brian Not Brian. I think I first heard one of your mixes back in 2014, for one my fav labels Blackest Ever Black – I remember seeing the ‘Brixton via Belfast’ tag somewhere and thinking ‘Belfast! Class!’. Can you tell us a little about your life (and musical interests) in Belfast, and when and why you decided to move to London? Well, I’m actually…

  • Moments in Love: Balearic Favouritess from Bullitt’s Jonny Carberry

    “My definition of Balearic? It’s music that’s mostly eclectic, happy, sexy, not cheesy, that gets its roots in the origins of dance music and flourishes on the dancefloor; a sound that makes you forget genres, or categories and you just enjoy it, listen to it – dancing and sharing it. Beat poetic, but real!” DJ Alfredo, Balearic innovator. As this Test Pressing article shows, the term ‘Balearic’ is a bit elusive and often poured over. To me as a ‘DJ’, it means the freedom to play lots of different genres and tempos: ambient, soul, new age, lounge, disco, industrial, electronic…

  • Guest Mix: Jonny Carberry (Bullitt Hotel)

    Two years ago, I wrote a piece for The Thin Air on Belfast’s love affair with Chic: urging fans to check out different disco oddballs and the Belfast venues pushing those sounds. Things have changed a bit in the city since then: there are new craft beer bars, artisanal cafes, record labels, breweries, and festivals – all good things, right? And now a new hotel, Bullitt, finding space in places Belfast had forgotten it even had places. You could call Bullitt a ‘vibrant urban playground’ or simply a cool spot for drinks, food, work, design (seriously, it looks great) and…

  • Low Profile: Odd Waves @ The Woodworkers

    Belfast DJ Jonny Carberry offers an aural (and descriptive) insight into Low Profile, his regular night at Belfast’s new-fangled Woodworkers. The night takes place every third Saturday of the month. Here’s an idea of what to expect from Low Profile at the Woodworkers (as you pretend to study their fancy beer board). Shout our to Lavery’s: from electronic oscillations to Balearic feelings, via shoegaze, post-punk, hip-hop and soul, it’s offering some really ace music. Durutti Column – Future Perfect The very first song played at Low Profile. Partly for the rather optimistic title but mainly because it’s gentle and now (despite…

  • ‘Est-ce que c’est Chic?’ How NI’s love for Nile Rodgers squares with one Belfast disco oddball

    I love disco music but I didn’t dance to Chic last Tuesday night. Instead, I watched a YouTube video of (early 80s Belgo-Portugese popstar) Lio’s ‘Sage Comme une Image’ on a disco loop. The music is exotic but fun: a tipsy groove Nile and Bernard would surely dig; Europe via downtown New York and all that. In the vid, Lio applies red lipstick, shimmies, then coyly boozes it up… as some weird dude just kind of hovers.   ‘J’adore cette chanson et le clip est genial.’ ‘Timeless musique!’ ‘Oh those French girls…’ offer some comments. ‘Nice titties’ suggests another, less…