On Thursday night at 4am (our time), there was an announcement with about 30 minutes’ notice thatTraumprinzwould perform a back-to-back set on Boiler Room withDJ Metatron(AKA himself, for those in the know).

Considering the enigma is basically a ghost and never books slots (before backing out), this was a pretty damn exciting thing. In true fashion, he/she never showed his/her face. In fact, they didn’t even DJ. They just left Winamp playing on a laptop in front of the camera, and it sounded bloody incredible. My sources from BR tell me it was actually the entire new LP, so no re-stream/upload for obvious reasons. Automatically the most anticipated album of the year. How the hell are Giegling so on point all the damn time?

Four hours of Omar-S. Are you fucking kidding me? The party of the year has already been locked in. The don is a pioneer of Detroit house and techno, releasing on the likes of Theo Parrish’s Sound Signature imprint, and of course, his own FXHE Records. There’s no point listing his accolades any further (as I have in this column many, many times before); just spin his track ‘Day’ and you’ll realise what a genius he is (how do you work a sample from The Supremes so well)? He’s also got a fifth studio album due mighty soon, so expect to hear some new cuts. It’s going down on Friday February 19 at Civic Underground. Youcan’t miss this. You won’t miss this.

EFDEMIN [above]IS COMING BACK. Sorry for yelling (not sorry). The man is one of the best deep house and techno selectors in the game. If you don’t know, you don’t deserve to go. Simple as that. It’s going to be a schooling. Support will come from Phile, Ben Drayton and Methodix. The four-hour-plus set is on Saturday January 30 at Arq.

For the Circoloco-lovers, you’ll be glad to know that Mantra Collective is bringing back the house cat DJ W!ld (that exclamation mark is not a typo). Over his career the Parisian artist has released on the likes of Robsoul, One Record and VIVa Music, not to mention holding down spots at Sonar, Fabric and Panorama Bar. Support will come from Whitecat, Space Junk and Aboutjack, plus a few others. Saturday February 6 at Civic Underground.

Also, Skream is touring but I can’t be bothered bringing up the date/venue because honestly who cares about Skream in 2016. Dude hasn’t done anything interesting in years. Snore.

Tour rumour: The third Moderat album, III, has been announced for release on Friday April 1 (not an April Fool’s joke). Trust me, the trio of Apparat (Sascha Ring) and Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) have Australian dates planned.

Best new releases: Raw M.T.’s Richard’s Revenge (on Lobster Theremin) is not only super solid but has some of the best artwork I’ve seen [pictured below], otherwise give a spin to SIT’s Sideways (Amphia). And in case you missed it, in what is no surprise whatsoever, Eric Cloutier’s recent addition to Resident Advisor’s podcast series is a goddamn techno masterclass.

Recommended:

SATURDAY JANUARY 23

Oliver Schories @Burdekin Hotel

SUNDAY JANUARY 24

Julio Bashmore, Florian Kupfer, Andy Garvey, EK Collective@National Art School

SATURDAY JANUARY 30

Ian Pooley@Burdekin Hotel

Efdemin@Arq

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 6

Catz N Dogz@Chinese Laundry

DJ W!ld@Civic Underground

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13

Hot Since 82@Greenwood Hotel

Trus’Me@Civic Underground

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 14

Nightmares On Wax, Lefto, Mike Who@National Art School

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19

Omar-S@Civic Underground

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 20

Tale Of Us@Greenwood Hotel

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 21

Hunee, Mark E, Touch Sensitive, Lovebombs, Adi Toohey@National Art School

SUNDAY MARCH 6

Jeremy Underground, Sadar Bahar, AndrЗs, Ariane@National Art School

TUESDAY MARCH 15

St. Germain@Enmore Theatre

Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email [email protected] or contact me via carrier pigeon.

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