Off The Record

London’s infamous Sunday daytime party secretsundaze will make their debut sojourn to Sydney in March – and the lineup is pretty spectacular. Headlined by Detroit don Marcellus Pittman, he will also be flanked by secretsundaze residents Giles Smith and James Priestley. Rounding out the bill are local legends Ben Drayton, Heavenly DJs, James Greville, Declan Esau, Lupica & Karim, James Cripps and Zeus. It goes down at The Bristol Arms on Sunday March 1.

If you’re not too busy getting all lovey-dovey on that rubbish Hallmark holiday Valentine’s Day, Chinese Laundry have cooked up something special for you. Saturday February 14 will see the return of UK titan Danny Howells. Since his breakthrough in the house world in the late ‘90s, Howells has remained consistently one of the most respected selectors in the game, with his Sydney showsalso spoken of highly in hushed tones by the more discerning punters. In the diary.

Tour rumour: We’re hearing word that Sydney be getting a visit for upcoming German talent Svjet Lana next month. She’s released on labels such as Crossfrontier Audio, Natura Sonoris and System Recordings, and played at clubs and events such as Watergate (Berlin), Ritter Butzke (Berlin) and OFFSonar (Spain). Stay tuned.

Sad news: last week Edgar Froese, band leader of the legendary Tangerine Dream, passed away. The group, who formed in the late ‘60s, are credited with revolutionising krautrock and synth music. In a statement on their Facebook page, the band said “Froese suddenly and unexpectedly passed away from the effects of a pulmonary embolism in Vienna.” Rest in peace.

Calling all DJs: you’re going to flip when you check out Rane’s new rotary mixer. Described as “a no-compromise music-mixing performance instrument,” the MP2015 was created by enlisting some of the biggest DJs in the world to lend their advice. We’re talking Dixon, Anthony Parasole, Martyn, Gerd Janson, Efdemin, Ben UFO and Tim Sweeney. The high-end mixer boasts four channels and three bands of EQ, a filter, a rotary pot for mixing and a three-band isolator with adjustable crossover. There’s no release date or RRP price just yet. Stay tuned.

Keep an ear out: Italian techno mainstay Donato Dozzy has announced a new LP with a twist – the entire album has recorded using only samples of Anna Caragnano and no other instruments. Needless to say, it’s got me intrigued. Titled Sintetizzatrice, it’ll drop in late March on Spectrum Spools.

Best releases this week: Vril has dropped yet another Vrilliant (sorry) full-length, Portal (on Delsin). Other highlights include MCFERRDOG’s Lawd Forgive Me (on 1080p), Omar S’ I Wanna Know (feat. James Garcia) (on FXHE) and Burial’s surprise new EP Temple Sleeper (on Keysound Recordings).