I think we’re all aware that ADE – the Amsterdam Dance Event – is right around the corner now. And, this year, it’s more massive than ever. Our recent overview will hopefully have helped quantify what to expect next week but perhaps you’re still struggling to prioritize the key 2014 parties? – there are, after all, so many. What was it that seasoned Amsterdam promoter Gert Van Veen told us last month? Oh yes…: “I think there are even more events this year than in previous years…It’s obvious that there must be a limit to the amount of events you can have in one ADE before some events won’t attract enough visitors, but till now that didn’t stop anyone from setting up more and more. There are literally hundreds of labels that want to be presented in ADE week.”

Here, then, is our guide to the key ADE 2014 parties not to be missed – key, that is, aside from our own fabulous shindig at AIR 17 October. The stellar line-up for Defected In The House’s Dutch foray includes Hercules & Love Affair, playing live, as well as Franky Rizardo, Noir, Flashmob and Sonny Fodera to name but a few.

ADE 2014 Opening Party: Ovum20 & Snatch! – Panama, 15 October

Official opening parties aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be, with low-key basements gig around the corner (and down the seemingly deserted alley) often a superior alternative. But ADE’s opening gambit this year promises much and, considering the Ovum and Snatch! associations, should deliver.

Josh Wink’s ever innovative Ovum stable has long been a staple of the Miami Conference, another of clubland’s mega-sprawl network ‘n’ party extravaganzas. Ovum’s 15th anniversary bash in Miami, back in 2010, featured Wink ‘n’ Steve Bug clashing for their lives, not to mention Joris Voorn and Nic Fanciulli doing the same thing – it’s a clubland highlight that lives long in the memory.

Next week, Ovum heads to Amsterdam to celebrate 20 impressive years. Wink has partnered up with Riva Starr’s weighty Snatch! label, Starr keen to abandon his recent mainstream success (with Fatboy Slim) and return to the kind of punchy house ‘n’ tech with which he first made his name. He’ll fit right in with Wink, then. Other additions to the line-up include Steve Bug, Technasia, Pirupa, Leon, Luca Bacchetti, Ambivalent, MANIK, ONNO, Pezzner, DJ Ralf, Carola Pisaturo and Santos – artists synonymous with quality, underground 4-4, and the considered equilibrium of rhythmic throb, saw-edged groove and atmospheric build. Expect top-drawer sound production and theming to reflect the unique entertainment.

As Starr himself put it to Defected last month: “Our ADE party with Ovum is going to be amazing. We’ve both put a lot of thought and effort into it already. I can’t wait to be there….”

VERKNIPT Presents Suara/Rejected/Food Music/Knee Deep In Sound – Westergas, 16 October

Another label mash-up but one needing slightly deeper explanation. VERKNIPT is one of Amsterdam’s key electronic promoters with considerable pedigree. The organisation’s 16 October ADE party will unite four of Europe’s finest forward-thinking house imprints – Edwin Oosterwal’s local Rejected, Coyu’s Barcelona-based Suara, Hot Since 82’s meteorically-risen Knee Deep In Sound and, finally, Food Music, co-run by ‘South Coast’ Brits Shadow Child and Kry Wolf.

Coyu plays for Suara alongside canny compatriots AFFKT, Dosem, Edu Imbernon and Ramiro Lopez, and Pleasurekraft, Technasia and Tube & Berger. Meanwhile Oosterwal, label partner Joris Voorn, Deetron, Hot Since 82, Guti (live) and Nic Fanciulli line up for an ADE ‘battle royale’ between Rejected and Knee Deep In Sound. That leaves Shadow Child and Kry Wolf channelling 21st century bass-flecked house under Food Music’s banner, flanked by Bodhi, NT89 and edgy Dirtybird-affiliated newcomer Friend Within.

The party, at Amsterdam’s former Westergas gas works, is spread across three separate buildings – WesterUnie, Transformatorhuis and Westerliefde – offering more of a festival campus feel than niche rave. The variety and quality of labels involved, too, adds to the sense of variety and drama – revellers can expect to live it up to everything worthwhile across the house, techno and bass-electronic spectrums.

MK Presents Area 10 – Chicago Social Club, 16 October

Marc Kinchen is a bona fide house legend, a dubbed-out staple of the Nineties who has, in recent years, enjoyed an emphatic resurgence what with the revitalization of the soulful, vocal ‘retro’ house sound. Here, at ADE, is another opportunity to hear him headline on one of the world’s biggest stages and totally entrance via a snappy combination of raw beats, rugged bass-lines and clever sample, vocal and melody interweaves.

Area 10 is very much MK’s show – actually, a new concept show first premiered at We Are FSTVL earlier this summer and set to return a few weeks after ADE at Manchester’s The Warehouse Project, so expect the totally unexpected. That said, fans can look forward to hearing searing club grooves underpinned by MK’s trademark dub-garage throb; and then further delicious bass gymnastics from Hannah Wants. Joining them is Secondcity – making quite his own global name thanks to an assured fusion of house rough and soulful house smooth – as well as deep ‘n’ funky locals Les Deux, MikeyNice, SUNNY and Lumiere.

Area 10 runs from 11pm to 7am on Amsterdam’s vibrant Leidseplein – that’s an epic eight hours of house goodness.

Pets Recordings Presents Catz Eats KiNK – Chicago Social Club, 17 October

Ubiquitous deep-disco-tech Poles Catz ‘N Dogz march upon Amsterdam waving the flag of their cult label Pets as they go. This exclusive Pets ‘do’ features Catz duo Grzegorz and Wojciech alongside fellow underground mavericks Eats Everything and KiNK in one of Amsterdam’s best kept spaces. KiNK, AKA Bulgarian DJ-producer Strahil Velchev, is versatility personified, threading everything from techno to experimental ambient into his standout dancefloor mix, whilst Eats Everything (AKA Daniel Pearce) draws upon similarly broad influences – his Bristolian blood pumps with a hearty mix of jump-up house, Detroit, bass and jungle.

The night by no means ends there. Pets’ shindig also involves local characters Beesmunt Soundsystem, Andrew Pacific, Cardboard Motel, Soul Safari and Dirt Crew regular Nachtbraker; a lively ensemble whose sonic scope more than matches that of the night’s headliners. A party promising to push both the boundaries and emotions hard sounds pretty damn fantastic to us….

STRAF_WERK – De Overkant, 18 October

The ‘cosy and tough’ (organisers’ words…) spirit of Amsterdam’s in-demand STRAF_WERK summer festival is being bottled and refreshingly served for ADE at an awesome-sounding event on 18 October featuring FutureBoogie hipster Julio Bashmore in pole position. Bashmore’s bold yet soulful twist on the trad-house blueprint sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the evening.

There’s welcome ‘free range’ support from Skream, a friend of Defected whose passionate conversion from brash dubstep to slinky house ‘n’ disco shows no signs of abating. Thank goodness. Elsewhere, STRAF_WERK has confirmed Dutch duo Detroit Swindle and its infectious splice of steely percussion and golden soul, and equalled engaged compatriots Tom Trago and GERD. On top of that, everyone’s favourite French dub-acid-tech pioneer Agoria is set to play and the Adana Twins go ‘back-to-back’ with an increasingly moody, increasingly captivating Finnebassen. Accomplished local acts De Sluwe Vos, Frits Wentink and Mees Dierdorp round off our eclectic, electric bill in super-fine style.

The house underground has never sounded so sublime.

Defected Records’ ADE showcase takes place at AIR, on 17 October - this event is now SOLD OUT

Defected In The House Amsterdam 2014 is out 12 October (3CD and digital) on Defected Records - order from iTunes and Amazon