Electronic music fans, rejoice. The De School archive includes live sets from more than 500 DJs.
De School Archive
A night out is a very ephemeral thing. It passes as a series of moments, often in a blur, with the music remembered more as a vibe never to be repeated. Until now.
Amsterdam club De School, which closed this January after being open for eight years, has made the transient permanent with an audio archive of DJ sets on its website. There are over 800 sets recorded live at the club, uploaded and available to stream. It features in excess of 500 different DJs, including Speedy J, Terrence Dixon, Hunee, Mumdance, and more. I’m listening to house impresario Gerd Janson while I write this.
DJ Treasure Trove
De School established the archive – known as Het Archief – in partnership with Mixcloud, the Amsterdam City Archives and the music institution Podium Kunst. It’s divided into different “collections” organized by events and spaces. You can also browse by year and search for individual DJs. As well, the archive features flyers and other images from the events themselves.
Even if you’ve never heard of De School, it’s still a fantastic resource for fans of electronic music as well as beginner DJs looking to improve their skills.
De School Archive: Time-Transcending
“Translating eight years of our history into an open-ended archive, you’re invited to re-enter and remember De School through sound”, the club said on its Instagram page. “Het Archief is a time capsule for the present and future, as well as a testimony to the time-transcending value of club culture. More than anything, it’s a shared space to simply get lost in (music) once more”.
I don’t often say this to our readers but: get lost.