This feature is part of festival month, a series dedicated to celebrating festivals, the people who make them happen and the people who cherish them.

During Jamz Supernova's set at Horst Arts & Music festival this weekend, a friend turned to me and said, "Everywhere I look people are hugging their friends as if they've just found each other." He was right. It was early in the evening and we were all getting into the swing of things. The atmosphere was joyous.

Against the saturated backdrop of dance music festivals, my first Horst felt special. It takes place just outside Brussels at ASIAT Park, a former military base that's both industrial and overgrown. The team marries cutting-edge electronic music with art and architecture, commissioning architects to design the stages and artists to create site-specific works. The resulting festival production was some of the most striking I've seen, such as the State Of Play stage, which had the feel of a block party. At night, the windows of the building behind the booth would illuminate and flash as if there was also a rave happening inside. It was simple and so effective.

Beyond the larger stages were more intimate spaces, like local station Kiosk Radio's volcano-shaped rave cave–AKA Moon Ra, designed by Leopold Banchini–and the ambient stage, roll pitch yaw - surge heave sway, designed by Mark Leckey for artists to stretch out and play something a little different. There was also a secret club behind a fridge and art installations scattered across the site. The festival was brilliantly executed, and full of surprises.

Musically, Horst was proof that we're still in the era of the pop edit. Over the weekend I heard edits of Mariah Carey (Bored Lord), Nelly Furtado (DJ Fuckoff & Narciss), Geri Halliwell (Jennifer Loveless), Lil Uzi Vert (Half Queen) and Aqua (Regularfantasy). Horst has something for everyone, but there was a real tendency to lean into fast, clubby versions of singalong classics. The crowd were receptive and enthusiastic, revving each other up as well as the artists. In a conversation with friends on the final day, we discussed how the sunken dance floor at the Vesshcell stage and raised platforms at most of the others made for an especially communal feeling. Dance floor energy is infectious, especially when it engulfs you.

All weekend it felt like every artist was bringing their best to the table. People were talking about the sets they'd seen for hours, even days, after they'd happened (DJ Travella and Yazzus in particular) and every set was packed with standout moments.

Here are eight of the many records that captured Horst's rapturous spirit.

Lefto at Vesshcell
DJ Rashad - "Pop Them Thangs"

When Lefto played at Vesshcell on Friday afternoon, the festival had only just begun, but the feverish vibe on the dance floor was a sign of things to come. Designed by Greek studio Serapis and curated by Resident Advisor, Vesshcell was an 800-square-metre immersive art piece, featuring a sunken dance floor and a huge marquee-like roof fashioned from recycled materials and decorated with spray paint. By 7 PM, the strobes were flashing, the floor was bouncing and dust from the ground was rising into the air, forming hazy patterns in the sunlight. Racing through genres and chopping up tunes, Belgian legend Lefto worked his way through classic house, hip-hop, broken UK techno and more. When the opening bars of "Pop Them Thangs" entered the mix, he grabbed the mic and shouted, "RIP DJ Rashad!" While the track played, a group danced wildly on top of a mound of soil outside the tent, their writhing bodies silhouetted against the setting sun.

Nosedrip & Aroh at EYES. EYES. baby
Mix Factory - "Take Me Away (XTC Come Hard Mix)"

Stepping into EYES. EYES. baby. for the first time was breathtaking. A cavernous warehouse with raised platforms along the walls, the space, designed by Karel Burssens, placed the DJ booth in the centre. Huge speaker stacks hung in a cluster from the middle of the ceiling, which meant the sound packed a punch wherever you stood. The lighting was some of the best I've seen at a festival. The standout feature was a two-sided strobe light that hung from the ceiling and swung back and forth like a pendulum. It dominated the room in such a way that I heard multiple people referring to the stage as "the hammer room." Closing out Friday night, local artists Nosedrip and Aroh sent huge synths and soaring vocals flying into the rafters. The spine-tingling textures of Mix Factory 's "Take Me Away (XTC Come Hard Mix)" felt like a perfect fit for the space.

Jamz Supernova at Le Soleil Rouge
Blck Mamba - "Rudeboy Ting"

Jamz Supernova's set on Saturday was the perfect boost for anyone feeling delicate after Friday's dive into the deep end. She played at the Bruther-designed Le Soleil Rouge, which replaced last year's Bodies In Alliance stage. Two colossal cooling towers dominated the skyline, which, as night fell, were lit up in pink and purple. But the main feature was, as the name suggests, the red sun structure looming over the dance floor. During the day, the shiny material reflected the swarm of dancing bodies below, while after dark spotlights sent glowing orange light ricocheting across our heads through plumes of smoke.

During Jamz Supernova's set, one group of friends clutched a family of balloons–whale, crocodile, dinosaur, sloth with a bow tie–while others hurled a beach ball around. Beginning with soulful melodies and jazzy inflections, like The Jones Girls' "Nights Over Egypt" and Chaka Khan's "I Know You, I Live You," the UK DJ then took the dance floor deeper, playing what sounded like a mashup of Lil Silva's "Night Skanker" and B-15 Project's "Girls Like Us." Another of many highlights was Brussels-based producer Blck Mamba's "Rudeboy Ting," a high-energy, percussive club track released on Club Djembe last year.

Jennifer Loveless at State Of Play
Kellee - "My Love '96 (Luvspunge Radio Reconstruction Remix)"

After watching Kia send EYES. EYES. baby. into a trance with her spectral broken techno, we headed over to State Of Play to catch Jennifer Loveless. This stage, by Stand Van Zaken, featured the work of nine contributing artists. The dance floor sat between two long, squat brick buildings, lined by trees and with concrete columns placed sporadically around the space. On top of the columns there were translucent glowing sewage pipes, palm trees, sculptures and a fountain which occasionally spurted water on the punters within reach. Like most of the other stages, there were raised platforms for dancing. At peak time, I saw people leap from the high platforms onto the columns to dance around the palm trees.

Jennifer Loveless played fast, sweaty and colourful. Where some sets had mostly male punters in the front row, this crowd was different. A queer artist herself, she played right into the hearts of her diverse audience, working through growling acid, bright piano chords, sticky house and more. As the euphoric tones of '90s rave cut "My Love '96 (Luvspunge Radio Reconstruction Remix)" by Kellee rang out, dancers swung from the front railings, their bodies flailing. After the set, the Berlin-based artist posted on Instagram: "I've been told it was the gayest and horniest set and that's all I need to hear ever."

Mama Snake & Spekki Webu at EYES. EYES. baby
N.R.G. - "I Need Your Lovin (C.J. Bolland Remix)"

By the time Mama Snake & Spekki Webu took control at EYES. EYES. baby., the dance floor was hot, packed and smoky. The two DJs rode breakneck through eerie, textural techno, a blue spotlight illuminating the booth. In the corner of the room, a long strip of LEDs sent blue and red rays glittering through the haze. As the strobe light started to swing, I noticed a group of friends dancing in unison. The pair closed with C.J. Bolland's remix of trance classic "I Need Your Lovin," its drums echoing through the space as the crowd sang along with elation. Later, Mama Snake nodded to the "karaoke moment" on her Instagram Story.

Job Jobse at State Of Play
B.O.B. Ltd. - "Piano 2003 (DJ Jean Remix)"

Job Jobse's set at the 2021 edition of Horst has become the stuff of legend, which meant this year's Sunday slot was one of the most anticipated of the weekend. When I arrived, the dance floor was completely full, with dancers even filling the grass bank to the back of the stage. The next three hours were peak Jobse: club classics, '90s Dutch house and trance, rave tunes and euphoric piano chords. When he played DJ Jean's remix of B.O.B. Ltd.'s "Piano 2003," a group of friends grabbed onto the trunk of a small tree and shook it, making the branches dance in time with the music.

dBridge & Donato Dozzy at EYES. EYES. baby
Breakage - "Most High"

dBridge and Donato Dozzy's back-to-back was another hotly anticipated set. (Someone even told me it was their reason for attending Horst.) The duo closed out the festival at EYES. EYES. baby. and once again the air was thick with smoke and the lights were low. The "hammer" stayed still. That is, until some people leapt into the air from one of the platforms and pushed it into motion.

Would they play techno or drum & bass? They went with the latter, delivering a whirl of dark, moody sonics, hissing synths, crashing drums and rattling sub bass. Underneath the platforms, people danced in the shadows, locked into a deep body groove that only drum & bass can induce. When the bass on Breakage's "Most High" kicked in, cheers rippled across the dance floor.

S-candalo at State Of Play
SIMONA - "PLUSH"

Horst cares about its crowd. I sensed this across the weekend through the consistent attention to detail and simple things that other festivals often get wrong, such as sufficient toilets, minimal queuing and the collective care centre (the welfare hub). Another great example was when S-candalo (AKA THC and DHC) were allowed to play for an extra ten minutes after curfew on Sunday night.

The siblings closed State Of Play at the earlier finish time of midnight. No one was ready for the festival to end. Someone official had given the green light for a few more minutes of music, but the sound engineers hadn't got the message. The dance floor was alight with cheers as the stage managers tried to tell the sound booth to turn the equipment back on. A chord from SIMONA's "PLUSH" chimed out, sending everyone wild, before silence again. Then, the track started for real—the reaction was something I'll never forget. The pop-club hybrid went down a storm, as people flung their arms in the air and danced like they'd never dance again.

Lefto at Vesshcell DJ Rashad - "Pop Them Thangs"

Nosedrip & Aroh at EYES. EYES. baby Mix Factory - "Take Me Away (XTC Come Hard Mix)"

Jamz Supernova at Le Soleil Rouge Blck Mamba - "Rudeboy Ting"

Jennifer Loveless at State Of Play Kellee - "My Love '96 (Luvspunge Radio Reconstruction Remix)"

Mama Snake & Spekki Webu at EYES. EYES. baby N.R.G. - "I Need Your Lovin (C.J. Bolland Remix)"

Job Jobse at State Of Play B.O.B. Ltd. - "Piano 2003 (DJ Jean Remix)"

dBridge & Donato Dozzy at EYES. EYES. baby Breakage - "Most High"

S-candalo at State Of Play SIMONA - "PLUSH"