BULLITT’S ON TARGET WITH ATHENS OF THE NORTH

For our money, the Bullitt Hotel is delivering the most interesting DJ bookings in Belfast at the moment.

Francis Inferno Orchestra, Mafalda, Glowing Palms, Andras and Apiento have all been providing the perfect Friday after-work soundtrack, a blend of chilled beatdown balearic and easy genre-bending grooves.

Tonight will feature more in that vein with the visit of Athens Of The North, easily the most brilliant and prodigious disco label around. AOTN specialise in painfully funky soul, disco, boogie and Brazilian jams – and a lot more besides. Back in 2015, the final night of Plastic People – Floating Points is playing out the soaring gospel anthem The Power Of Your Love by Spirit Of Love to close the iconic club. It’s a moment that has gone down in dance music folklore.

Six months later and Athens Of The North reissued the record and announced itself as a major player, and a democratic force, in the revitalized disco scene. No longer would online sellers hold longtime lovers and new fans of these rare records to ransom.

Fast forward to 2018 and the label has kept that promise, keeping its fingers in the deepest crates as well as the pulse of today’s DJ scene. Taking its name from the title Edinburgh gave itself as a sign of its growing importance on the world stage, the label has followed suit and spread its wings with over 20 releases served up in signature 7-inch format this year.

It’s no mean feat in a world full of licensing pitfalls, dodgy record presses and the snobby Discogs elite. But Athens Of The North has made it seem easy, turning its momentum of the past few years into a buy-on-sight reputation.

Two of the crew will be in attendance this evening, alongside Gav Williams, Ken Burrell and JC. Free in, too.