10 Dekmantel debuts that are simply unmissable this year

LuckyMe affiliate Eclair Fifi, AKA Clair Stirling, got started on dance music early when her parents exposed her to tapes of sets from an Edinburgh night run by Optimo’s JD Twitch. The seeds were sown and Stirling got her start in radio when she was just 16. Since then she’s been a constant fixture on the airwaves, hosting a show on pirate radio station interFACE, presenting on BBC Radio 1 as part of the In DJs We Trust series and finding a home on NTS radio where she runs a monthly show. Stirling is a DJ who’s effortlessness at blending hip-hop, house and techno, contemporary and classic alike, is only matched by the quality of the tunes she’s mixing. If it’s got a beat, it’s going in the mix and that’s what makes her sets such a party atmosphere. Her set opening the Greenhouse on Saturday will be the perfect pick-me up.

The original Rio beach boy, Marcos Valle has become a cult figure for his effortless, sunshine-drenched Brazilian boogie hits. And considering ‘Estrella’ is a track you’ve no doubt heard at some point in the Amsterdam Bos, it’s fitting he’s been invited to play this year. Having made his debut record in 1964, it’s fair to call Valle somewhat of a renaissance man. In his four decades plus of experience he’s been a key exponent of Brazilian musical heritage, pushing Bossa Nova, samba and more Latin flavours across the globe and still his tunes are at the fingertips of crate diggers worldwide. While he won’t be playing the festival during the day, Valle will be playing over at the Melkweg on Thursday night, a spot that is usually reserved for the acts on the bill reserved legendary status. Fitting.

Having only arrived in Berlin from Tel Aviv four years ago, Dr Rubinstein’s penchant for sets that traverse the techno cosmos has quickly established her as a DJs DJ. With no production to her name and little social media presence, she’s built that reputation on talent alone. And it’s been picked up on by the likes of Berghain, ://about blank, Oval Space and now Dekmantel. Dr Rubinstein kicks off the UFO stage, the festival’s bastion of techno, on Friday at 1pm. It’s a tricky slot but if you want to start your Dekmantel right then you now know where to go.

Byron The Aquarius is a talent from Alabama raised on house in Atlanta who caught the attention of Detroit and is now making waves around the world. It's been an interesting trajectory for the 28-year-old to say the least. His soulful house jams have found their way onto Kyle Hall’s Wild Oats and Theo Parrish’s Sound Signature imprints, launching him from a beats and hip-hop producer into one of dance music’s fastest rising stars. When we spoke to him at the start of the year, he told us about his affinity for music made with feeling which his DJ sets deliver in abundance. As a trained pianist his ear for a good lick or catchy chord progression are second to none. Expect the Greenhouse to be full of inspirational and positive vibes when he heads there on Friday afternoon.

After getting back on the gigging circuit last year it seemed inevitable Larry Heard and Dekmantel would cross paths. With the festival's fondness for putting on legends of dance music (Robert Hood, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Autechre etc) and Heard's renewed enthusiasm for his Mr Fingers project, it's a match made in heaven that we'll be front and centre of the Main Stage Sunday night. We've already got shivers down the spine, can you feel it?

When we saw Arca perform at the Roundhouse in London, we were left blissfully speechless and emotionally awakened. The Venezuelan artist's self-titled album dropped at the start of the year and we've had it on repeat ever since. A mix of haunting, tender and harrowing, the album seamlessly manages to portray feelings of angst, anger and solitude set against representations of happiness and warmth. It's a LP that both challenges and transports the listener, as is the case with the majority of his output. He makes a Dekmantel debut alongside frequent visual collaborator Jesse Kanda, the A/V artist who has help create the tormented aesthetic Arca has used for the majority of his career. It will be weird, it will be unpredicatable and it will no doubt be a talking point of the whole festival.

Ever since her Impact mix with us from back in May last year, we've taken a shine to Peggy Gou. The last two years have been extremely kind to the South Korean selector and she has now become one of the most in-demand DJs on the planet. Her hybrid blend of house, disco, techno and everything in between has won her mass plaudits and once coupled with a series of amazing EP releases via Phonica and Rekids, it's clear that Gou has a winning formula she's happy to build on. She's a regular at Panorama Bar, has played at festivals and clubs all over the world and her next landmark stop is of course a visit to Amsterdamse Bos for Dekmantel. She'll be warming things up on the iconic main stage and if the sun's shining, the set has potential to be one of the most glistening starts to the weekend we've ever seen.

Dekmantel has always managed to strike a harmonious line-up balance that merges earth-shattering legends with new-age trailblazers and this year is no different, if anything it's one of the best blends ever. Jeff Mills and Robert Hood are amongst some of the returning pioneers but as two selectors make their debut this year, they stake a claim as two of the most influential house artists to ever be billed at the Dutch festival. Lil Louie Vega and Kenny Dope are absolute heroes of the scene and together as Masters At Work, well, you know the rest. The prolific producers thrown down the heat whenever and wherever they're booked to play and they ended up being one of our Glastonbury highlights this year. Dekmantel x Masters At Work is a fucking match made in heaven.

South African artist Esa has just made his debut on Dekmantel and what a record to kickstart your account with. The 'Aweh' EP covers all bases with sounds that showcase rolling house, fizzling bass and emotive, stomping percussion. We weren't to surprised to then hear that Esa has been performing with Ata Kak for the last year or so and has performed over 40 shows with the brilliantly eclectic, fun-laced band. His debut EP for the label comes hand in hand with his first appearance at the festival and we're excited to see which direction he takes it. He will play the first set at the Boiler Room stage on Sunday so if you're in need of something that's going to ease you into the day, this is it.

Dekmantel's UFO stage is actually what we'd expect the inside of an extra-terrestrial space ship to look and sound like. Beams of retina-dazzling light and a metalic skeleton lace the interior while the soundscapes are pulsating, venomous, powerful streams of techno and electro stings. It's a haven for the dark, the devastating and damn-right brilliant. It's not out of the question that the stage will, as it has done so frequently over the years, play host to some of the highlight sets of the weekend and one of our debutant picks is sure to give the room a workout. Discwoman's Volvox and Umfang will go b2b to open up proceedings on Saturday afternoon and while it may not be suited for the faint of heart, it's going to kickstart your day like a defibrillator to the heart. NYC meets Amsterdam with a ferocious bite.