Dekmantel is the Label Of The Year

Those buddies are 30-something Dutchmen Thomas Martojo, Casper Tielrooij and Matthijs Theben-Terville. Casper tells us, “Dekmantel is not always just about expanding. It’s about creating things we one hundred per cent support. Every project we do is really close to our hearts.” And anyone who has been to Amsterdam’s Dekmantel Festival – their flagship event in August – will attest to that. It combines a devotion to detail (such as the Greenhouse stage, adorned with thousands of living plants; or the pitch black UFO stage, which spawned its own dedicated label and focuses on sci-fi techno) with all killer line-ups featuring heavyweights like Moodymann and rare performances from legends such as Brazilian jazz-funk band Azymuth or influential Afro drummer Tony Allen.

“Our love and passion for the music and artists we adore has never changed,” says Casper, who initially started Dekmantel with Thomas because he believed “at that time, the Detroit sound we love was still missing from the electronic music scene.” Their first project was organising the Het Kabinet festival – now known as Lente Kabinet – and a label soon followed, but Casper insists there was no big master plan from the start.