people I try to check every chance I get, by NO means an exhaustive list...hardly
and bit by bit this list is turning into "who to catch doing laptop sets..."

DJ Olive the Audio Janitor aka Gregor Asch; the opposite of the grandstanding flashcase: you need sunglasses to watch him scratch, but if you aren't looking right at his hands, you'd never guess he was doing anything, always seamless, just perfect in the mix...original master, massive resssspect
currently usually found out and about on the planet
rocking wherever rooms with his laptop...

Andrew Weatherall; original and brilliant since forever, always changing. no idea what he's up to right now, but I heard him spin such a huge electro set once, so chunky and shredded.

Bryan Kasenic aka DJ Spinoza; one of my partners in Undercity and many many other excursions. It was uncanny, the first time I heard him play (in Pittsburg, 96-ish), I wasn't quite feeling his records, but as I was hearing in my inner ear how I would change them next, he did the exact same thing on the decks, in perfect sync, and just kept doing it. That sync was a reflection of things to come, always dig it. Used to manage TheAgriculture, an excellent label DJ Olive is part of. Of much late is beyondbooking.com (his 3+ hour "afterhours" mix there is vast, the Proton mix is a diamond) and The Bunker, which brings the best of the best of the world's techno to NYC Fridays, but scuttlebutt is they're often out-shadowed by:

Derek Plaslaiko; um, dude, way to install yourself into reality, build it. He makes the noise on the dancefloor do everything you want. minotaur jack, for hours. Resident wherever Spinoza is. Go. Dance. His site has hours of mixes.

Raz Mesinai, aka Badawi; when he's doing his 'usual' razor-shredding-the-living-hell-out-of mad crosscutting two tabla or violin records, I like to slink around the room and point out that he's not wearing any headphones.

Mike Hopkins, aka Sporangia, Leisure Muffin, Monophonic Antelope Cabal; a deeply tweaked individual. Does in fact DJ, but you might start catching his live sets more, oh except he lives in the woods in Maine now, never mind. Once the serious master of All Things Gear, he now jocks his laptop pretty lively. If he ever releases anything, you will need to own it (I'll probably let up on him when I have six or so, maybe: I crave).

Nicolas Mazet, aka Earshot; another quiet genius, gentle smile, soft voice, and Godzilla on the decks, can do anything he wants.

Toshio Kajiwara; Olive's longtime partner in RAT/Phonomena Thursday nights at SubTonic (NYC: 107 Norfolk, basement: free). Quiet, polite Japanese man, wouldn't hurt a flea, but a giant monster when it comes to scratching and mangling records, a martial slam dance. Doesn't get a lot of use out of the headphones either.

DJ Simon; host of DC's SLEAZE parties at FIVE, and quite the busy man. Big fat electrobass sounds, juicy as hell, really rocks the room. Get his perfect Ministry Redux mix (2 hours) there while you can.

In Baltimore, there's some solid talent; once upon a time you could get out oooh baby wow once a month fucking town and see them at More/Less, but now it's rare you can even do that. But they're still my lifeline to the good stuff: mad props to love/hate, Sopo, Glassknife, Ilya, Intreeg, everybody rock the house tonight. DC has Measax and his crew, and Beema.

Dylan Drazen; bashful doe smile, sword-chewing Minotaur on the techno tip. His website has links to way more techno labels than you want to know about. Might have to go to Europe if you wanna see him blow up a giant dancefloor.

DJ /:rupture; (punctuation approximate) just a mastermind, a jewelthief, and swizzlestickler, really the best dancehall, noise, anything goes...mainly seams and stitches. Get his 1+1=3 tape, just get it. New joint due on The Agriculture.

TZEECH; a breath of fresh rugged techno and minimal fine-grind here in Baltimore

three amazing DJs I heard in Koln Germany several years ago:

Thorsten Lutz, aka Strobocop; Precision madness, clockwork menace. He should be in movies, looks like a species from several thousand years hence. Also runs the Karaoke Kalk label, lots of juicy stuff.

Aphrobot; the single best hiphop set I've ever heard...man he absolutely slammed it.

Bianca Strauch; so hard, so sexy, so perfect