Dekmantel Selectors 2024

“Another idyllic weekend in the Adriatic”

Words by Oli Warwick

"I went to Selectors for the first time back in 2018," says Ana Simonovic, a Croatian DJ who made her second appearance at Dekmantel Selectors in 2024. "It wasn’t just about the production values or the charming venue [that made an impression], but the way the festival challenged you to explore incredibly diverse genres and styles. I guess the momentum was just right when Selectors first started, as people craved something new from festivals. I honestly can’t remember ever dancing as much as I did then and there (nor Shazam-ing as much)."

Over time the curation at Selectors has evolved. As fellow Croatian DJs Metz Attack point out, the first editions had a mixed-up approach to programming that might find the Beach Bar kicking into peak time mode in the middle of the day or late time techno temple Voodoo swerving towards sultry disco. In 2024, the sequencing might be more carefully considered but variety remains a core principle of the Selectors mentality. It's a place where cool-headed German Victor could warm up the Beach Main stage with an elegant three hours of deep-diving house before Angel D'Lite turned up the intensity with her rave-tooled party starters.

"I love that the bookings were super varied," says D'lite, "but it felt like a challenge for me to be playing after Victor, who was playing a super groovy, deeper set, and before OK Williams (who played one of my favourite sets I've seen her play). I wanted to really ride the sunset vibe, so I started off housey, chilled and sexy, and when it got dark I went a bit more ravey and bassy. The energy whilst I was playing was wild, and I was very emotional at points looking around at everyone dancing on the subwoofers and hanging off the beams around the dancefloor throwing some serious shapes."

Identified Patient has become an intrinsic element in the Selectors experience, with exactly the kind of open-eared appetite for subversive body music that lends itself to the festival's eclectic spirit. Back in 2019, the artist otherwise known as Job Veerman could be heard rolling out slower, spikier gear on Beach Main, but this year there was a sharper focus to his set on Voodoo.

"I really wanted to deliver a set that matched the vibe of the Voodoo stage," says Veerman. "I focused more on steadiness, techno, and less on bass-heavy sounds. It’s great when you can truly carry through the musical tone of a stage. My set in 2019 on the Beach Main had a lot more surprises in terms of genres and was much looser. That’s what’s so cool about the different stages [at Dekmantel Selectors] — you get to deliver a completely different type of set."

If the run of standout names on Voodoo throughout the course of five nights — Woody92, Mary Lake, CEM & JASSS, DJ Koolt, Nazira, Blawan — point to fiercer, peak-times sounds, there was more than enough space for surprises on the stage, too. Manning six decks and two mixers, Sean Johnston and Vladimir Ivkovic took over from roelien on the Sunday night to deliver a set which felt like a shockingly accurate response to the idyllic late summer scene.

"The only thought I had before we started was, 'Don’t really bother with the assumed hard tech on the Voodoo stage the days before and after,'" says Ivkovic. "I don’t even get it. It’s warm, Adriatic coast, sea breeze. I definitely wasn't thinking about some dystopian urban basement techno freak show."

"It was still daylight when we got there," remembers Johnston. "It always takes me a little while to get settled in, and by the time I looked up again it was dark and it was fucking rammed. It wasn't like there was a whole bunch of people just staring at the DJs with their with their cameras up. It was a party. People were dancing and it was a really nice vibe."

"It felt mischievous," Ivkovic adds. "We operated that spaceship for two and a half hours together with the great sound engineer on the opposite side of the Voodoo Stage and I thought, 'Alright. That’s how the night by the Adriatic Coast under the Milky Way can be.’ Emotional good times."

Bobbing and weaving through dusty breakbeat psychedelia, low-throbbing acid and Italo-speckled oddities, Johnston and Ivkovic's workout was a masterclass in the diggers mentality which beats at the heart of the festival's premise. Compared to live sets (overlooking notable exceptions from Anthony Child and Wata Igarashi) there's a dialogue a DJ has with their scene and setting that lends itself to an environment as dreamlike as Tisno. It's a place for sets that wrap themselves around the rocky landscape, sink into the sand and weave amongst the dappled sunlight peeking through the trees. The kind of marathon where you might want six decks and two mixers just to puzzle out the best possible moves you can make in the moment.

"I opened the Beach Bar stage at noon on the first day of the festival," says Simonovic. "It was a three-hour set on a really hot summer day, so you can't really push many bangers. I blended a wider range of styles, incorporating new beat, balearic disco, funk, and 90s house into the mix, which I felt perfectly capture the essence of an Adriatic summer."

There's a comparison which has emerged since the rise of the Croatian festival season, likening this new wave of sun-soaked hedonism to the fabled birth of the Balearic movement in Ibiza. With a common thirst for eclectic dance soundtracks and dreamy waterside reveries, the argument has legs.

"On the last day, Monday afternoon, Job Jobse might have changed the course of the planet," Ivkovic enthuses. "That Beach Bar was everything MTV would have loved to be."

"Job's MTV smash hits set was fun," D'Lite agrees. "I spent that set eating ice cream in a rubber dingy feeling 15 again!"

But there's something different happening here. Where Ibiza's primary scene grew away from its hippy roots to become a polished, professional experience framed in jet-setting glamour, in Tisno there's a more natural, earthy feel to the setting with a soundtrack that responds in kind. For Narathip, the more laid back surroundings of Magnolia encouraged an intimate trip through the kind of records you'd more likely hear him play at home.

"When I was asked to play the Magnolia this year I wanted to do something different," says Narathip. "I tried to respect the more laid back listening environment in the Croatian sun while also staying true to myself. So I decided to play a lot of dub, reggae and dancehall riddims. No mixing, just three and a half hours of music glued together with a dub echo and siren.

"In the midst of the intensity of five days where most of the stages are really high-energy, fast or dark and hard, I think Magnolia is a much-needed addition to the festival," he adds. "Every day when it started to get dark, the seats were moved to the side to create a little dancefloor and it became a mini-party with a really cozy vibe."

This more niche relationship between the crowd, the artists and the location runs deeper and feels stronger than ever in 2024, but it's taken time for the incoming festival circuit to find a reciprocal rhythm with its Croatian surroundings. Now DJs like Simonovic and Metz Attack appear regularly at Selectors — the latter especially have a unique perspective as locals to Tisno who have attended since the first Selectors in 2016.

"It's an understatement to say the festivals in Tisno have been influential in our musical upbringing," say Metz Attack. "They are an amazing opportunity to connect to the international scene and hear all our favourite DJs in one place.

Making a return appearance to open Voodoo on the final day of the 2024 edition, Metz Attack’s place amongst the fabric of Selectors is now set in stone.

"We were fully expecting low energy levels and a weak turnout, but to our surprise it was quite the opposite," Metz Attack recall. "A small army of our friends came to listen to us, but over time they got lost in the sea of dancers, which was totally unexpected as there were bigger names than us on other stages. It definitely is testament to the open-mindedness of Selectors' crowds — it was cool seeing them react to tracks made by local artists that went under the radar outside of the country."

Throughout each and every set at Dekmantel Selectors, the DJs bring their own personal stories with them, criss-crossing with the other attendees and fellow artists to feed into the interconnected, communal experience that seals the festival as more than just five days and nights of music and dancing.

"When Selectors first started, my best friend and I were going to another Croatian festival with a solid line up," says Victor. "Selectors got announced and we always thought 'Damn, it would be nice to go there one day as well.' Receiving the invitation to play there stopped me in my tracks a bit — I ended up playing a tribute set to the aforementioned friendship and to going raving together in Croatia. Lots of the tunes mean something to us, or were even shown to me by that friend."

For Ivkovic, playing the 20/44 boat party on the Saturday had an especially deep resonance. Klub 20/44 is the Belgrade venue which helped shape him as a DJ, currently moving to a new location after 15 years based in a boat on the river Sava.

"I wanted to introduce 20/44 to Sean," Ivkovic explains. "He should have played the 20/44 birthday earlier this year in Belgrade. It’s another meaningful place to me, home away from home, and I wanted Sean to experience it. But the boat in its current form ceased to exist so at Selectors we met and played on the meta boat. It was a heavily emotional affair for me, and seeing Sean smile, hearing him play the boat with a certain feeling and respect was wonderful."

Simonovic had her own moment where the international, interconnected spirit of the festival shone through. "Toward the end of my Beach Bar set I played a track called ‘Quem Gosta’ by Seed Selector," she says, "released by the Brazilian record label Bongosynth. It turned out the label's team was in the crowd, which made for a really sweet moment."

“My girlfriend is the biggest fan of Flo Dill,” says D’Lite, “so for breakfast we intermittently ate ice cream and took dips in the ocean, but mainly I was totally obsessed with Flo Dill jumping into the sea for a few laps during a floaty, extended banger mid set. What an icon!”

These are just a few of the tales of personal interactions and heartfelt happenings that cut across the musical landscape of Selectors 2024 — shared histories hidden behind the wealth of sounds now available online for everyone to relive or soak up for the first time. As Johnston simply puts it, "another idyllic weekend in the Adriatic."

Listen back to all Dekmantel Selectors 2024 recordings below. Keen to join us next year at the Adriatic Coast? The final tickets for Dekmantel Selectors 2025 are on sale here.