HORST Festival is turning Belgium into the next dance music capital

Photo by Illias Teirlinck

I’ve been hearing more and more rumblings about HORST Festival in Vilvoorde, Belgium, in recent years. Lucky me, I'm off to Belgium next week to see it unfold for myself.

The festival, a key pillar of the local scene since its inception in 2014, has increasingly gained global attention, attracting global festivalgoers for its well curated music programming (Four Tet, Surgeon, Aurora Halal, and Helena Hauff have all played) as well as for its notable architectural experimentation. Taking place at Asiat Park, a former military base, HORST utilizes materials like scaffolding and art installations to create temporary worlds for HORST’s musicians and dancers.

Read Next: New Music Friday: Stream new projects from Four Tet, Heavee, Devon Welsh, and more

Even as the festival’s reputation has grown globally, its programming has remained focused on platforming local artists from the Brussels and wider Belgian scene. This year, nearly half of HORST's featured sets will be by local acts, even as its global reputation rises.

“[The Brussels scene] is very diverse,” says Lefto Early Bird, a staple of the local dance music community. He specifically cites the disparate influences that convene in the cosmopolitan city with French techno from nearby Paris infusing with the “humble and chill Belgian” sound, still rooted in the “old New Beat era” from the Belgian raves of yesteryear.

“People don’t know Brussels really well. They see it as the Washington D.C. of Europe,” says Lefto Early Bird, referring to the city's European Union institutions. “There are two different worlds. You have the political side and then you have this scene at the crossroads of everywhere.” He notes that Brussels is only one hour away from Paris, and two hours from both London and Amsterdam. Those disparate, yet locally rooted influences collide at HORST Festival, which Lefto Early Bird says “has always had an ear to the streets.” And even though other European hubs, like Berlin, London, or Paris, have more infrastructure and investment in their dance community, a DIY and collaborative ethos is alive and well in Belgium.

Before The FADER heads out to HORST next week, we caught up with some of Belgium's finest sonic architects who will be playing at the festival this year, to learn more about the local scene and the importance of HORST in helping grow and strengthen Belgium's electronic music community.

Photo by Jeroen Verrecht

DJ Rino on Belgium's underground scene

Horst Arts & Music · DJ Rino at Horst Arts & Music Festival 2022

"Brussels is not the biggest city but the scene runs deep," says DJ Rino, a local favorite mixer, promoter, and owner of the label Pinguin Society. "I spent years playing underground parties where the crowd was tight and nobody was performing for an outside audience. That shapes you," he says. "You develop a sound because you believe in it, not because someone tells you it travels well." One can hear that sense of artistic confidence in DJ Rino's mixes, which are both hypnotic and eclectic.

Natasha Pirard on Belgium's sense of discovery

Natasha Pirard, a Ghent-based electronic musician utilizes analogue synthesis and tape loops. This year will be her first performing at HORST Festival. "[Belgium,] is a quite small country, but we such a variety of genres and subcultures to dive into,” she says.

In remembering her experience with HORST, Pirard shares a story of three years ago, when HORST worked with the Ghent-based label DEWEE (founded and run by the duo Soulwax) to make a “make a nightshop with all kinds of gadgets you can think of: rolling papers, chewing gum, ponchos, tissues, condoms.” Priard shares that there was “a tiny stage, hidden behind a refrigerator on wheels which you could push aside,” revealing an intimate performance space for 50 people. The unique experience of discovery “'underlines' [HORST’s] sense of playfulness and their connection,” shares Pirard.

PiP on the Belgian scene's scrappiness

PiP, a Brussels-based producer, DJ and the owner of Zitstill Records makes generously spacious music that utilizes live instrumentation, synthesis and field recordings. In 2025, he released an experimental jazz project with local artist Ambroos De Schepper. PiP has a unique vantage as a multi-pronged artist in the scene. “The Belgian electronic scene is a small one. We have a lot of creative and human capital, but don't necessarily have that much professional venues or clubs,” he shares. “I wouldn't say we have a ‘flourishing scene,’ since in my opinion it's not a very durable one. We do have so many talented people and collectives crazy enough to step up and organise … without being payed. This keeps things 'underground' and fresh if you know where to look.”

DTM Funk on the Belgian scene's technical prowess

DTM Funk, a prominent local DJ and the owner of Black Gravity Records, a record shop and listening room in Antwerp, shares that the Belgian scene stands out for producing "technical entrepreneurs, like the founder of FL Studio [Didier Dambrin] and Rodec [Roger Declercq]." DTM Funk, whose genrerless mixes span house to jazz, says that HORST supports the local scene year round via HORST's club, a pillar of Belgium's electronic music community.

AliA on the importance of Belgium's community radios

Belgian DJ and owner of Artisjok Records AliA cites the local community based web radio, Kiosk Radio — which is co-curating a stage at HORST with New York City’s own The Lot Radio —, as having helped spark her career. “Because there are fewer established clubs, Brussels has developed a unique culture of parties organized by small collectives in unusual or temporary locations,” she says. That's helped AliA find an audience for her mixes, which blend Dub, Techno, and far flung genres.