Curates: De School

Curates is a new series that takes an in-depth look at the best clubs in the world. We speak to the people behind the scenes and get a playlist of tracks that they feel defines their venue. First up: De School in Amsterdam

Amsterdam has long been a hotspot for dance music culture and nightlife. The city has one of a liberal approach to clubbing, with a fair few of its venues holding 24-hour licenses. Not only that, personal etiquette in the rave is something that everyone can learn a lot from. We regularly visit Amsterdam on party excursions and it's one of the best spots on earth to get down all-night-long.

Clubs like Melkweg, Radion and Canvas book incredible line-ups and a wealth of larger venues and warehouse spaces like Gashouder, Elementenstraat and Mediahaven play home to bigger events like Awakenings, HYTE and Loveland. They boast a who's who of DJ talent but, among the exceptional parties, a few key venues have closed along the way.

The infamous Studio 80 shut its doors last year and Trouw took a final bow at the end of 2014. Both were magical clubs and Trouw in particular left a hole in Amsterdam's clubbing landscape, perhaps due to rising international fame and watertight rep. But it wasn't long before the minds behind the hallowed venue went to work on a new project that would take things a step forward.

Enter De School.

Located in the West of Amsterdam, the multi-purpose space used to be an old technical school before the team started work. The beauty of the new venue is that it's been left pretty much untouched and it acts as not only a club, which is located in the basement, but as a restaurant, gym and garden too. While there are touches of Trouw, the people behind De School wanted to create something new and that's exactly what they've done. The programming is still as on-point as ever with line-ups as tantalising as its predecessor. Artists like Ben UFO, Deniro and Job Jobse have all played and the Pender Street Steppers, DJ Sprinkles, Joy Orbison, Makam and Midland have all been announced for upcoming events.

We caught up with Luc Mastenbroek, De School's booker, to see what went into transforming the space into the hyped venue it is today. We also spoke to the residents and asked them to curate a playlist of tracks that defined De School's short but prosperous jump onto Amsterdam's cultural map. Check out the interview and playlist below.