12 tracks that prove Dekmantel is a haven for quality house and techno

Dekmantel is probably the best house and techno festival in Europe.

Its third edition has just finished and, thanks to three days and four nights of excellent electronic music, its reputation is only going to grow.

That's down to its lush forest location, with five areas – the main stage, UFO tent, Selectors, The Lab and Boiler Room – nestled into the green surrounds. Each 'stage' has its own vibe, from the roaring adrenalin rush of the UFO to the communal euphoria of the main stage to the garden party fun of The Lab, and the whole site can be walked around in about 10 minutes, meaning you're never far from your friends. With great sound quality and on-point talent, it's no wonder this place is so popular: those visiting remark how this'd never happen in their home cities while the locals who come love having such a fresh, assured festival on their front doorstep.

To be frank, the daytime festival steals the show. Sun-splashed, friendly and full of people exuding excitement, you'd be happy enough hitting it from midday to 11pm each day. However, there are afterparties, all hosted at Melkweg (instead of the sadly departed Trouw), which boast impressive line-ups that act as tasty bait for the straight-through-crew. The venue holds up to four rooms and while not as warm and intimate as Trouw, it does its job well.

Then, like every good time, there are the little moments that totally make it: Shackleton unleashing a gigantic version of 'Deadman' to a rampant crowd, Villalobos playing an ode to Detroit before handing the main stage reins over to Model 500, Matrixmann's 'Protocol' dominating day and night dancefloors, three hepped-up, super-sculpted techno vikings dancing wild through the crowds, an entire bar staff jumping around to Rodhad, security guards jamming to Jeff Mills, the plants placed around The Lab that make you feel like you're on a Balearic island full of sunshine and crucial techno...

So here's 12 tracks that prove how good Dekmantel is. And further details of the festival in all its thumpin' glory. Roll on 2016.

Played by Ricardo Villalobos & Zip on Friday afternoon: This year's edition of Dekmantel featured an opening show in a concert venue on the river. We arrived as the sun was setting, in time for a total brain rewiring courtesy of legendary avant rave unit Autechre. It was an intense way to begin, something of a baptism of squiggly electronic fire, but a welcome one. And by the time the gates of the site set in the verdant Amsterdamse Bos opened on Saturday afternoon, we were as hyped to get going as the 10,000 other festival goers who had helped sell out the weekend event.

We caught a bit of Shed, who was intent on waking everyone up with a bang in the UFO tent, before heading to the main stage to lock into Ricardo Villalobos back-to-back with Zip. After everyone, except Mixmag, gave Ricky an ear-bashing over his set at Cocoon In The Park a few weeks back, we were keen to see if the world's most notorious DJ would bring the heat alongside Zip. Well, he did, and three hours flew past in a heartbeat. Of course it wasn't 180 minutes of straight bangers, there were dream-like interludes, whimsical tangents and a few 40-minute segments of sheer, rolling bliss. It was a real journey and although we hate to use a cliche, nothing else does that session in the blazing sun justice. Highlight? Ricardo dropping 'Baby Baby' by Floorplan at a slowed 123bpm.

Played by Hunee on Friday afternoon: It felt like Hunee really channelled the energy of the festival site on Friday afternoon. With people fresh and ready to party, it felt like one DJ had to come through with something colourful and exciting. Hunee stepped up to the Boiler Room and unleashed a power-hour of disco, house, acid and phreaked-out jams that sounded perfect in the sun as well as acted as the tonic that got us in the mood to dance for hours on end. He also played on the Saturday with Floating Points and Antal at Selectors, one of several DJs who played two sets across the weekend. This was a welcome move from festival curators, as it gave the crowd more opportunity to see artists and also fostered an inclusive atmosphere: with DJs playing a couple times, it seemed like they actually wanted to be there and get involved. Indeed, Villalobos watched Model 500, Nina Kraviz watched I-F and Legowelt watched the man Hunee.

Played by Robert Hood/Floorplan on Friday afternoon and night: After Ricardo and Zip, we were faced with a pretty upsetting dilemma. We had two choices; a large helping of euphoria-drenched techno from Robert Hood or a sunshine-fuelled trip to the woods with Roy Ayers at The Lab. Much deliberation later, we decided that we needed something with a bit of spank, therefore it was straight to the UFO tent for a sermon with Hood.

The UFO stage (this year featuring a subtle yet fresh redesign) is the go-to destination for wall-shaking techno at Dekmantel and in '14 we witnessed Rodhad rip the roof right off. This year it was Hood who delivered a set of the fiercest proportions (and perhaps even the set of the festival). The Detroit hero masterfully intertwined face-melting 130bpm bangers: his mixing was seamless, his tracks were high-octane and the energy in the tent wasn't just the best of the weekend, it was one of the most electric atmospheres we've ever seen at any festival. Roars of glee, happiness and shock at the pace and delivery came at every build and after each drop.

Hood played 'Box Energy' to killer effect during his Friday afternoon set and also dropped it later as Floorplan, in the Boiler Room area. Mark Broom's 'Dubplate' Edit of Floorplan's 'Never Grow Old' was also another spine-tingling moments.

Played by Palms Trax on Saturday afternoon: In 2014, Red Bull's Lab stage was the open-air place to be. It was surrounded by towering trees that let the sunlight gently bleed through the leave, leaving you covered in some pretty beautiful rays.

Although the stage was in the same area this year, it had been replaced by a giant greenhouse-esque structure full of trees, podiums and of course, incredible music. Some of the most lush tracks of the weekend were dropped here and relative newcomer Palms Trax brought us one of the stand-out sets. Now part of the Dekmantel family, Jay Donaldson delivered two hours of funk-tinged house and disco before dashing over to Boiler Room to play there too. Naturally we followed him along and he was superb at both sessions. The first was more suited to the sun, the second was loaded with a little more attitude. Big ups Jay, you smashed it.

Played by Four Tet on Saturday evening: Much like the UFO Stage, the main stage is a real sight to behold. It's not like most other festivals where there's a big, ugly, square stage that sounds shit and attracts questionable artists throughout the day – no way.

The giant dome in the middle gives you that all important inclusive feel and of course, a little protection from the beaming sun. It's also backed by a long LED strip that melts and twirls with every act (at night it really goes off) and is powered by some genuinely ridiculous Funktion One stacks that are plonked just meters from the front of the crowd.

With that in mind, imagine Four Tet playing in the middle of the afternoon while you're surrounded by thousands of friendly ravers; it was pretty special stuff. His set was littered with disco, house, garage and a few classic Hebden surprises along the way, all blended together on a Rotary mixer, like a boss. The highlight was when the grand, big-room synths of 'Muranyi' by Pryda came trickling in. Yep, Eric Prydz. It sounded epic and when we Shazamed it, three people asked us what it was and their faces said it all: shock. While it's not what you'd expect, it caused every person at that set to thrown down more moves than they had all weekend. Strong stuff and a true stunner.

Played by DVS1 on Saturday night: Yep, more techno and although there was a lot of house on offer over the three days and nights, it was a mainly pounding affair. And no-one brought the devil chunk like DVS1.

Out of all the big hitters – Klock, Dettman, Hood and Mills – DVS1 was the scariest motherfucker of them all. While in some sets he may gift you with melody, at Dekmantel he went full-scale dark. It was one pumping, devastating cut after another, with a few techno vikings strutting their stuff, tops off and muscles out. It feels apt that our favourite track from the set was 'Protocol' by Matrixxman, as the selector from the Bay Area smashed it over the weekend. He hammered his debut Boiler Room set and gave the main room at Melkweg a proper workout later that night. He also ended with 'Knights Of The Jaguar' by The Aztec Mystic which always gets two thumbs up from us.

Played by Jeff Mills on Saturday night: Last year's closing set on the Sunday was Jeff Mills and it was fucking brilliant. This year he rounded things off on the Saturday at the main stage and guess what? He was fucking brilliant again. He's the Daddy of techno, no question about it. Less weird than last year, his set was a fiery blend of menacing 135bpm tech and stabbing beats straight from his Roland 909. Now that the sun had finished its shift for the day, it was time for the brain-meddling lights to take effect. The stark strobe flashes of colour combined with Mills' furious soundtrack was enough to send anyone straight to their happy place. The whole set was cracking and although 'The Bells' may seem like an obvious choice, we think you'll be pretty hard-pushed to find a techno fan who doesn't lose their shit when The Wizard drops that bomb.

Played by Vakula on Saturday night: On Friday we took it easy after the day session so that on Saturday we'd have enough juice to see what a blazing Melkweg afterparty line-up had in store for us.

Entering the maze-like venue, it was apparent from the off that Trouw (last year's afterparty location) this was not but that being said, the club still keeps the bar high in terms of sound, atmosphere and programming. We arrived as DJ Harvey and Mr Ties were laying down some heavy techno but it was actually when Vakula stepped up that things got real good – real good.

The Ukrainian didn't mess around when he jumped on deck at 5am. His blistering hour of power included tracks from Mark Broom, Blakk Earth and this absolute killer from TDR. 'Plique' got played five minutes from the end of his session and everyone went batshit crazy, naturally. Set of the night, easy.

Played by Helena Hauff on Sunday afternoon: After a hazy morning recovering from our round at the 'Weg, we went straight to see Helena Hauff and the excitement around her at the moment was fully justified by her two hour stint. We muscled our way to the front so we could watch the Hamburg producer up close and personal and it really was a masterclass. Thirty minutes into her set, The Lab was full to the edges with people eager for an afternoon shot of devilish electro and techno.

All of her cuts came loaded with a sinister edge and although her expression was pretty blank for the most part, the huge cheers from the crowd managed to raise a few cheeky smiles. She was one of the few women on the line-up however and despite that line-up being killer, it definitely needed more female talent. Steffi and Virginia also did their thing, as did Veronica Vasicka and Kraviz, but next year we'd like to see the Dekmantel line-up a lot more balanced.

Played by I-F on Sunday night: "Fuck, where has the time gone? It's Sunday night and we've only got one set left, who do we see?" It's a perilous question we imagine everyone at Dekmantel asked themselves. Was it the nostalgia-flecked Siriusmodeselektor on the main stage playing bangers from their extensive discography? Zeitgeber in the UFO for more techno or Hessle Audio Trio for some UK rowdiness? How about Tama Sumo for an injection of warm house and disco?

Although all were tempting it was a no-brainer for us: The Dutchman I-F in the woods at the Selectors stage, with the sun going down and only the most supreme electro, techno and cheeky disco-pop bangers on offer. Sold. Of course he went pretty hard but it was his old-skool festival zingers that made us feel like we were watching something special. Hearing a full crowd of people singing along to 'Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie' while at a house and techno festival was incredible to see. Away with the chin-stroking, this was an all out hands-in-the-air set and one that rounded off our Day dancing with pure joy. Oh and he dropped this to end it all.

Played by Fett Burger on Sunday night: Fett Burger faced a tough time slot. He was sandwiched between Tama Sumo b2b Prosumer and Derrick May at a Melkweg afterparty full of ravers determined to squeeze every strobe-lit moment out of a night that finished at an epic 8am on Monday morning (put's the UK to shame right?) With many heading for the 'big' names, we thought we'd go and check the Sex Tags Mania man in a dark, intimate side room. He drew for fun, funky, downright silly tunes that all felt about seven minutes long, full of vibrant synths, nuts percussion and plenty of fruity basslines. It was a sweet antidote to the techno downpour and also one of a few great lowkey Dekmantel sets that are to be found away from the headline slots, like Traxx dismantling the same room the morning before, both of Palms Trax's appearances, the noise that Actress delivered in the sun and Steve Rachmad's two-hour boogie session.

Played by Dekmantel Soundsystem on Sunday night: For the final set at Melkweg and of the festival, we thought it right to go and check out the crew behind it all. Dekmantel Soundsystem was a straight-up trip to good vibes from start to finish. It was lush and it was hard; it was everything the festival is about, amazing tunes with amazing people.

As far as festivals go, Dekmantel has quickly established itself as one of the best in the world. It's seriously seriously good and we're glad we spent the final few hours with the guys that made it happen. They played the recent 'Sumo Acid Crew' by Palms Trax which came out on their own label and we swayed on the spot for a good six minutes. Pure, unbridled warmness on this one. Oh Dekmantel, we love you so.