Deep in the green edge of Amsterdam’s forest, the drone of a bassline rebounds through the trees, as Dekmantel Festival sets up camp for another year of forward-thinking electronic music in its forest playground. The 11th edition of the festival continues to welcome a host of international and local talent, bringing them off-world stages into the forest’s canopied domes and scaffolded structures. Festivalgoers make the pilgrimage to the site by bike, kicking up mud and rain as they arrive at Amsterdamse Bos. Beneath a towering radio mast, thousands of partygoers buzz between the festival’s seven stages, divided by genre but united by a muddy footfall of boundary-pushing frontiers in electronic music. This year’s lineup features luminaries like Honey Dijon, Eris Drew, Yaeji and Objekt, as well as exciting debuts from acts like Surusinghe and Moktar.

While the international names draw global attention, Dekmantel remains rooted in Amsterdam’s local scene. “One of the main pillars in the festival’s programme is the presence of emerging acts, with whom we aim to build and grow together, from debut set to closing act,” explains David Cornelissen, head of creative at the festival. 

Amsterdam’s clubs play a vital role in nurturing new talent and allowing artists to build the confidence to step onto bigger stages. “We spend a lot of time on the dancefloor, paying close attention to rising collectives, emerging talent, and new sounds gaining momentum. From there, it’s like piecing together a puzzle. Finding the right moment, on the right stage, in a way that fits both the artist and the broader narrative of our curation,” Cornelissen explains. True to this spirit, the festival ended with an afterparty at Amsterdam’s coveted club playground, RAUM, where festivalgoers, staff and production all let loose in the amber-lit rooms. Below, we talk to five local artists who played this year’s edition.

UPSAMMY

Both abstract and organic, upsammy is a producer and DJ with a signature trippy sound. Inspired by the patterns of the physical environment, she sculpts spatial, synthetic soundscapes to create tracks that evoke a wandering, psychedelic trip through a forest. “I like to play with a sense of acceleration,” she says, describing her DJ sets as playful, introspective and transcendental.

Over time, upsammy has become a standout figure in Amsterdam’s diverse electronic landscape. “Even though it’s small, the scene makes space for uncompromising, fun and weird music,” she explains. Dekmantel has played a key role in her journey: from releasing her music to supporting her performances across various stages. “They’ve always given me a lot of trust,” she says. “Being a visitor is always inspiring.”

YOUNG MARCO

Young Marco is a long-time figure in Amsterdam’s scene, whose high-energy sets show no sign of wavering. He praises the cities’ openness for allowing artists to grow without being boxed in. “People seem genuinely supportive of each other, and I love seeing so many new artists emerge and being carried by the scene.”

Marco’s connection to Dekmantel is one that’s been running since the beginning. “The word family gets thrown around easily, but at the very least, we are weird cousins.” He’s played nearly every edition of the festival, blasting through various genres until eventually landing with his signature doses of psychedelic house and techno.

MAD MIRAN

Known for her frenetic sets crashing together breakbeats, IDM, electro and other genres, Miran is someone who loves to play with tension within her music. “I move between pulse and pause, always chasing something I can’t quite name,” she explains. It’s a sound she’s built up in Amsterdam’s club spaces, where she also found a community of like-minded club-goers.

Festivals like Dekmantel have been central to Miran’s growth, from first attending as a raver to playing her debut set three years ago. Since then, she has taken on multiple solo slots and curated stages, including b2b sets with upsammy. “It is special for me how much trust the team has given me from the start. They never boxed me in, instead they have let me shift, evolve and take risks. I do not play predictable sets and they have always understood that what I bring is about energy, narrative and tension.”

KAMMA & MASALO

Kamma & Masalo are an Amsterdam-born duo whose connection was forged on the dancefloors of the city’s clubs like Trouw and Paradiso. Their sound is a product of their upbringings: where Kamma was raised in a Dutch-Indonesian-Chinese household with both parents DJ-ing five nights a week; Masalo grew up in a Japanese-Dutch family surrounded by jam sessions and stacks of tapes. “We met on the same dancefloor… and have been building together ever since,” they say. From a breakout Boiler Room set in 2019 to curating their own stage last year, Dekmantel has been a through-line in their journey.

VERITY

“Dekmantel was always the dream for me. When I started DJing, playing here was the most wild thing that could happen,” says Verity, whose sets pull crowds deep into her orbit with a heady mix of UK bass, jungle, and halftime. “I think also, as someone who has not been in the scene for so long, there was a lot of improvement to be seen between each time I played.” It’s a journey that she’s been supported through, and a model for other festivals to extend to their local talent. “To have the space to develop and ‘sound search’ while being trusted to do so at a dream gig is really something else and has given me a lot of confidence.”