Ah. Now there's that familiar bump (or maybe violent crash) back to Earth. January rarely makes anyone jump for joy, but fear not; it's the start of a fresh year and if the month's club calendar is much to go by 2019 looks set to be pretty strong indeed. 

Our choice picks in the capital are a case in point. FOLD rightly takes number one, but there's plenty more to get excited about. Around 12 months ago Lithuania's Manfredas put together a Recognise mix for DJ Mag— take a listen and you'll see why we're keen to catch him b2b with fellow chugging, cold wave freak-type Vladimir Ivkovic, a key player at Düsseldorf's alternative institution Salon des Amateurs, which recently closed for essential repairs. 

All-female techno collective MOTZ have been throwing successive top parties in the UK's biggest city for some time now, and have their finest to date with the mighty Randomer, DJ Mag interviewees Clouds, local titan Manni Dee and the Ceili Collective. Heavy duty stuff make no mistake. And The Cause also hosts the Drop Art Winter Fundraiser, which has a great list of dnb faces making money for Help Musicians UK. 

Elsewhere, Glaswegian DJs and label dons Craigie Knowes head to Brighton, so expect some great off-kilter electro, tech, synth stuff and more. Danish techno-bass powerhouse Courtesy finds herself in Scotland, and Newcastle gets a two-headed treat with Peach joined by the fast-rising and equally musically-accomplished Londoner, Alexis. 

Meanwhile, in Bristol and Cardiff heads get a pair of proper techno soirees— the former sees Present Tense marking one year of events with Animals On Psychedelics' Carl_H and Freerotation resident Sam Watson on headline duties. The latter has Amelie Lens in the dirty depths of The Vaults. 

Not bad for starters, as per usual more complete listings for January 2019 are currently available in the latest UK edition of DJ Mag, Issue 589. 

LONDON/ SOUTH 

1. CARTILUS DAY // TRELIK PARTY  
SATURDAY 26TH - SUNDAY 27TH JANUARY 
FOLD, LONDON
If you’re going to run a club that stays up this long you’re going to need a line-up packed with players capable of sustaining energy while exploring various musical avenues. FOLD, London’s 24-hour licensee, looks to have just that with this one. Perlon don Zip has a reputation for after hours vibes, toss him in with Uruguay’s equally solid Z@p, bonafide UK acid legend Baby Ford, Unaii Trotti, Laurine and Cecilio’s Slow Life, Raphael Carrau and Junki Inoue for the makings of a crisp, forward techno party that isn’t scared of diversions. In short, worthy of these extended running times. 
11PM - 3PM / £12 - £23 

2. SC&P 
SATURDAY 19TH JANUARY 
MICK'S GARAGE, LONDON 
Manfredas b2b Vladimir Ivkovic. 
10PM - 3AM / £8 

3. MOTZ 
SATURDAY 26TH JANUARY 
THE CAUSE, LONDON
Randomer, Clouds, Manni Dee, Ceili Collective. 
10PM - 7AM / £10 

4. POLAR STUDIO LATES 
FRIDAY 25TH JANUARY 
KOMEDIA, BRIGHTON 
Craigie Knowes. 
11PM - 3AM / £3 - £5 

5. DROP ART WINTER FUNDRAISER
SATURDAY 19TH JANUARY 
THE CAUSE, LONDON
Total Science, Philth, Blocks & Escher, Social Misfits, Sweetpea, ZeroZero, Meth, Adi-J, Kolectiv, Tradesman, Koma. 
12PM - 10.30PM / £7 - £8 

NORTH, SCOTLAND, NORTHERN IRELAND 

1. OSSIA 3RD BIRTHDAY
FRIDAY 25TH JANUARY 
HIDDEN, MANCHESTER 
January birthdays put some people off, but thankfully Ossia is going all out on tonight’s double-A side to mark its third. Nicolas Lutz continues to be one of the most respected DJs both in terms of technical prowess and pure dancefloor power, with access to the sort of tracks that force feet to stomp without losing the brain. Then you have rapidly rising purveyor of high-tech beats, Whities and Trilogy Tapes affiliate Minor Science, meaning this is one ticket you’ll be wanting to bag well in advance. Oh, and did we mention there’s a Very Special Guest who was still unannounced at the time of writing?
11PM - 4AM / £12 - £20 

2. RETURN TO MONO  
FRIDAY 11TH  JANUARY 
SUB CLUB, GLASGOW 
Clouds, Slam.
11PM 3AM / £8 - £10 

3. SILVER DOLLAR CLUB   
FRIDAY 18TH JANUARY 
THE BERKELEY SUITE, GLASGOW 
Courtesy. 
11PM - 3AM / £8 

4. COBALT STUDIOS  
FRIDAY 25TH JANUARY 
COBALT STUDIOS, NEWCASTLE 
Peach, Alexis. 
9PM - 2.30AM / £7 - £12 

5. GENESIS 
SATURDAY 19TH JANUARY 
THE ART DEPARTMENT, BELFAST 
Elliot Adamson, Mark Blair.  
10.30PM - 02.30AM / £10 - £15 

WEST/WALES & MIDLANDS 

1. DUSKY PRESENTS 
SATURDAY 19TH JANUARY 
MOTION, BRISTOL 
Proof, if any were needed, that Dusky’s musical scope disappears down more house and techno wormholes than diggers holding court at an after party, this is their first stab at curating in 2019 and offers plenty of plus points. The untempered muscular techno of Matrixxman, nu-house head Kornel Kovacs, three genuinely impressive upstarts— Hammer, Brame & Hamo—  and funk experimenter Jess Farley should be a bit like diving deep into an expansive record collection. From smooth and silky to solid and unforgiving, with more than a few random ports of call along the way. 
10PM - 5AM / £13.75 - £23.50

2. VAULTS 
FRIDAY 25TH JANUARY 
THE VAULTS, CARDIFF 
Amelie Lens, Midge, Julez Wyl, Murder, Blap, Luke Winds. 
9PM - 5AM / £TBC

3. PRESENT TENSE 1ST BIRTHDAY
SATURDAY 12TH JANUARY 
CROFTER'S RIGHTS, BRISTOL 
Carl_H, Sam Watson, Etym. 
11PM - 3AM / £4 - £5 (inc. after party)

4. CIRQUE DU SOUL: THE ROAD TO ELDORADO FESTIVAL
SATURDAY 26TH JANUARY
THE MILL, BIRMINGHAM 
Detroit Swindle, Luke Wolfman, Charley Marley, Slope Wild. 
9PM - 3AM / £10 - £14

5. HISTORY OF JUNGLE  
FRIDAY 18TH JANUARY 
THE TUNNEL, LEICESTER 
Dillinja.
10PM - 4AM / £6 - £9 

Martin Guttridge-Hewitt is DJ Mag's Clubs Listings Editor, and you can find him on Twitter @Martinghewitt.