- You hear football managers talk about "selection headaches" when their squad bulges with too many good players. "It's a good problem to have," they always say. This year's Dekmantel Festival presented a similar dilemma, so flush was the lineup with quality acts. To give one example, Saturday afternoon saw Three Chairs, Rødhåd, the Hessle Audio crew and Rush Hour's Antal all playing at the same time. That's four acts I really wanted to see.
Now in its second year, Dekmantel Festival already feels remarkably assured. It takes place in Amsterdamse Bos, a massive forest about 20 minutes' drive from the city. The site is thoughtfully laid out, with an open-air main stage, which RA hosted, complemented by a large covered tent. Beyond that, there are three forest stages with wooden floors and pleasant, tree-lined backdrops. What's most impressive, though, is that it attracted nearly 10,000 revelers despite catering to relatively niche tastes. Dekmantel have stayed true to the sound they've championed in Amsterdam for a few years now: house, disco, techno, electro and a smidgen of bass. It's the kind of festival where you're more likely to see The Trilogy Tapes t-shirts than kids waving glowsticks.
Vancouver's Mood Hut crew helped ease the festival into life on Friday afternoon, dropping sunshine bangers—Dimitri From Paris's edit of "I Wanna Be Your Lover" was a particular highlight—along with some of their label's own material. Soon after, DJ Harvey worked through reliable disco anthems like Raw Silk's "Do It To The Music." The afternoon and evening passed in what seemed like minutes: I caught sections of Talaboman, Prosumer and Gerd Janson vs. Prins Thomas, but never managed to stay long enough to really tap into their vibe. Nicolas Jaar brought a sense of theatre to his closing set on the main stage, crafting an atmosphere with slow beats, bursts of smoke and blue lighting.
A heavy thunderstorm narrowly missed the festival site on Saturday. (It was a close shave: organisers were on standby to evacuate everyone if the storm hit.) The three forest stages were shut for a few hours as a precaution, which meant Jay Daniel and Kyle Hall—who were penciled in for a back-to-back set—joined their Detroit elders Three Chairs for a six-way session. The results, as you might expect, were both brilliant and disjointed. Early highlights included Daniel dropping Dopplereffekt's "Infophysix," and seeing Marcellus Pittman's classy transitions followed by Theo Parrish doing his best to demolish the soundsystem.
Shackleton played inside the tent, with his recent production style—fewer samples, more synthy, textural tones—on full display. Rødhåd followed and drew a huge response, throwing down tracks that sounded like 2,000 people joyously stamping their feet in unison. Mr. Ties looked at home on the Selectors stage, whose leafy setting had a similar feel to his Homopatik party at ://about blank in Berlin. Traxx, meanwhile, provided a lesson in the art of oddball DJing. He opened his set with a dance floor-clearing drum freakout, but those who stayed were rewarded with one of the festival's finest sets. By the end, Traxx was reduced to tears, with steam rising from his head in the night air.
On Sunday, Ben UFO played a range of genres—dancehall, minimal house, disco—without ever dipping into anything too explosive, while Andrew Weatherall sculpted his set around chugging house. In keeping with the rest of the festival, we were spoiled for choice when it came to closing sets. On the main stage, a silhouetted Jeff Mills banged out 909 tracks, while over in the forest Optimo worked their EQs to perfection.
For all the international DJs, it's the local selectors who give Dekmantel Festival its special feel. Young Marco played twice on Sunday—an early afternoon session of funk, boogie and Balearic (peaking with James Mason's "Nightgruv") followed by a slightly vibier, house-focused set on the Boiler Room Stage in the evening. Rush Hour chief Antal was another festival high point, mixing up classics (The Other People Place's "Let Me Be Me") with dub and various tropical records I imagine he picked up on digging expeditions. Other local artists—Tom Trago, San Proper, Jameszoo, Melon, Makam—showcased the depth of the city's talent pool. Dekmantel Festival is a triumph not just for its promoters, but for Amsterdam's entire electronic music community.
Photo credits: DJ Harvey and Shackleton - René Passet