The pies and mulled wine are but a memory. Most of us are back to the grind or about to get ground up again and the grey rain blast of the Holidaze have broken to reveal the most depressing long month of all. The media will extend this hangover with the same stale stories of quack detox this and that, Top 10 resolutions, how to make the most of your gym membership, surviving the sales, what's Hot Hot Hot! for the 013, Trends, blah drone urgh etc. Of course, the remains of the music press will be in a frenzy of crystal balls gazin and divination rod twiddlin. What will be THE Sound of 2013? Could it be another spewing from the shit BRIT Skool brigade, maybe a risible resurrection of The Thompson Twins with faux dubstep pretentions? Or a folksy jumper clad take on Amy Whinehouse Wetherspoons Soul? If you make the mistake of typing Sound of 2013 into Google News it nearly chokes with tens of thousands of irrelevant results. Novelty combined with retro uncool.If you believe the Beeb, overproduced, exhausted 80s soft rock and MOR is the Shock of the New. The Sound of 2013 poll is a PR puff exercise of music industry insiders deciding what genres to mix into a marketing dream. Where to look for something to pilfer into product? An era that is a DejaVoodoo of our own.The early 80s were a miserable time when the sheeple needed distraction from a stagnant economy and out of touch politicians. Of course plenty of cool stuff went down underground, but the mainstream was ruled by overexposed bland Baby Boomer stadium grooves designed to offer a slight bit of finger snapping in a Valium haze.Haim is not what it sounds like � as in a Chinese fridge brand, a Turkospanish fusion caf�, an over the counter sleeping pill or the code name of a new antiaircraft missile. In fact Haim is a trio of telegenic California sisters on a mission to remind us all how vapid late period Fleetwood Mac became. Clean cut cute and as All American as a Hallmark Card, well behaved with the media, and chastely cheeky sorta sexy. The family element adds novelty appeal, much like Wilson Phillips. Expect to hear more from Haim than you would like. The Man loves them even more than he hates you, especially in this long march of a Month.There is a Cure to all this January Bore Blues, of course. And it's administered via the ears. Join us in declaring 13 as Year of the Rat. A year when even more amazing records will be liberated by our crack team of Vinyl Miners and made available for your hungry turntables weekly. We're still proudly the TK Maxx of Wax where you never know what genius you'll find for prices crazy enough make Discogs look like Harrods.So what can you expect in this first heavy duty New In of Number 13? I tried to get some sense out of Tom, but he was too busy whizzing around buying records for you and arranging for lorries to take the bottle bank left from his Hogmanay hoedown away for recycling. Philippe looked up from his frenzy of pricing to give more detail. Here's a taste:Real deal 90's techno in the form of Regis, Surgeon, DJRush, Steve Stoll, Gaetano Parisio, the advent, Marco Carola, Cari Lekebush etc... It's a slamming set of dancefloor destroyers sorely missed since raves were rebranded as "shoreditch warehouse" parties.Expect a Mother load of Monster 80's and 90's alternative and noise : Sonic Youth, God Machine. Bauhaus, Zeni Geva, Big Black and loads of their earbleeder peers!Hip hop and funk : Gang Starr, B.I.G, Mobb Deep, Warren G, Big Daddy Kane, 2pac and loads loads more!He'll be busy pricing much more until the doors open: expect reggae, classic rock and soundtracks to be added to the mix.Make it a lucky 13 this Saturday! See you there.