New releases today: House

Review: The third release on Secretsundaze's 9FINITY imprint sees Naarm/Melbourne producer DJ Life return to the fold with another batch of psychedelic club tools, balancing UK bass pressure with trippy minimal finesse. 'Utility' jolts things into motion with snaking low-end and warped FX, slipping in and out of jagged tech shapes. The sparring synth jolts of 'Electrolyte' feel more frenetic, its thwacking groove and dubby vocal chops making for a proper headrush. On the flip, 'Breathe' trades upfront energy for depth, layering smoked-out subs beneath lattices of percussion. 'Stay Playful' edges toward tribal house but keeps its sci-fi freakiness intact. Digital bonus 'Love Sensation' eases the tension with clipped garage swings and pearly padsia welcome curveball.

Review: Three Es would be some trip, and EEE also symbolises guaranteed good times in the club. The mysterious label and eponymous artists keep on rolling out essential tech and minimal cuts that are smartly designed and authentic, but also with anthem potential. Maybe that's why each one is a one-sided 12", to really allow the tune room to shine. In this case, dusty drums with a hint of garage swing and shuffle are paired with melodic baseline motifs and colourful synth patterns. It's a good time groove with plenty of heart.

Review: Paris-based artist Alex infuses his latest 12" with emotional clarity and cinematic weight, charting two personal chapters across a vivid stylistic spectrum. 'Colors in the Rain' unfolds slowly, stretching over nine minutes with plush chords, detuned synth spirals and muted percussion - evoking a kind of romantic unease that teeters between beauty and disorientation. It's club-ready but drenched in feeling, moving with the pacing of a memory. On the flip, 'Drama Major' leans further into a kind of pop-noir introspection: melodies rise, fragment, then reform with aching insistence over blown-out kicks and heavy low-end. Mastered at Dubplates & Mastering and distributed by Yoyaku, the record is technically pristine, but its emotional core is what lingers. Club music, yes, but made from the same raw material as heartbreak. Alex doesn't just score his own past here but offers a blueprint for others to make sense of theirs.

Review: Bobby Donny's ongoing ACE series of vinyl releases has thus far delivered some genuine deep house treats. This is particularly true of the Dutch label's sporadic, compilation style EPs, which tend to showcase tracks previously released on digital-only EPs. There's plenty to set the pulse racing on EP number four, with highlights including two fine collaborations between label founder Frits Wentink and fellow Amsterdam scene stalwart Malin Genie (the sub-heavy peak-time bounce of 'Ambrosia' and the techno-tempo hypnotism of 'Exopaq'); the ultra-deep two-step house shuffle of 'Comet (Deep mix)' by ZZ Banks; the Italo-house influenced colour of Clovis Chilwell's 'Don't Let The Night End'; and the deep, hazy and dubbed-out brilliance of 'Slow Burn' by Rico Scott.

Review: Phil Evans' second album follows a series of standout EPs on Blankstate, Sensual, Twig, Vigenere and his own Pager Records; the Frankfurt DJ and producer doubles as the Freizeit Records co-founder of Pager, helping set in e-motion the evolution of his local underground electronic scene. With minimality at its core, we hear on E Motinos a reserved and calculated three tracks per vinyl side, preserving optimal, skipless groove quality: 'Eazin', '<3', 'Hm' and 'Deep' prefer a near nonverbal titular expressivity, resisting any reference to the record's tricky, body-jacking movements in any capacity except through body language.

Review: This new split release from French label HT sees Yesca and HATT.D come together for a six-track session of pure dancefloor functionality. It's a brand new drop, and a fitting return to the format that helped launch the label back in 2018 i lean, collaborative and totally focused on club energy. Yesca opens with 'House It Up', a shuffling, feel-good roller that lays out his chunky, loop-driven aesthetic, before 'On My Mind' and its 'Groove Mix' variations push deeper into heads-down, vocal-led territory. There's bounce, but also tension i warm basslines cut against crisp hats and filtered pads, keeping things locked without ever losing swing. HATT.D takes the baton with 'House Party' and 'Aye', two punchy, tool-ish cuts with a distinctly jacking edge, while 'Get Down Like This' brings a looser, funkier swing to the table. A digital bonus version of 'House It Up' closes the set with a twist. Built for peak-time and full of upfront house pressure, this one's ready for summer bags and open-air sets i all killer, no filler from two rising names in the Happy House orbit.