New releases last two weeks: Progressive House

Review: Bassland Prophecy was a Southern California music collective featuring Alex Xenophon, Stuart Breidenstein who is ex-Skylab 2000, vocalist Alissa Kueker and Maxx Vaxx of Euterpre and Butterfly Garden. Their 1996 tracks 'Nine/Deeper' and 'Blue and Purple Starship of Trust' were thrilling genre collisions that have since become hard to find. The originals were long thought lost but have, in fact, turned up and been remastered and reissued by Bristol's Sex Tapes From Mars. Their sound was crafted using gear like the Juno 106, Yamaha FB-01, Roland S330 sampler, Sequential Circuits Pro-One with external MIDI, and various guitar pedals, all tools that helped forge their distinctive, otherworldly prog house sound.

Review: Diesco & Vince Void pay homage to the early 90s golden era of house music while channelling the spirit of progressive, Euro house and classic rave on this new four tracker. Each piece captures the warmth and euphoria of that formative time while pushing the sound into fresh contemporary territory. With a clear reverence for the past, 'El Tigre' opens with some big rave horns and lush prog beats a la Sasha & Digweed. 'Untitled C' is another retro-future prog sound with widescreen pad work, '8-Bit' is an unabashed revival of 90s rave with prominent horns and pianos leading the way and 'Jobby' is a trance-tinged closer full of Ibiza energy.

Review: Berlin techno label Time Passages returns with fresh heat, with label owner Binh (Cabaret, Perlon) facilitating the unveiling of yet another new techno truncator from Hamburg's rising talent Difool, who in turn made his debut on the Ejeca owned progressive breaker Tusk Wax. This new one prefers analog beats and retrofuturist synthwork, be that on the flutingly detuned progressor 'Bleep 303', the mid-set mood mutator 'Dark Flow' or the dragging implied armageddon that is 'Moshpit'.

Review: Punctuality's fifth release introduces Irish producer Drua and his high-energy new EP which blends late-90s and early-2000s dance influences with smart modern production. Drawing from contemporary hard house, the four tracks feature punchy basslines crafted for massive sound systems and packed dancefloors. Opening with the refracted vocals, M1 organs and rushes of trance euphoria of 'UP,' Drua then goes all prog-hard-house with catchy vocal hooks and skippy bass on 'Job 2.3.'. 'Nightfire' then brings a deep house twist perfect for peak-time sets, while 'Arch In Ur Back' closes with breakbeats and party vocals. Fun, effective stuff.

Review: Amulanga, operating out of Thailand, emphasise beauteous atmospheric progressive house, pairing each compilation with exquisite, extra-worldly sci-fi themes. Their latest, sixth vinyl V/A hears additions from Dulus, Acrobat, Ilias Katalenos & Plecta, Taleman and Shri & Alej, each track a seamless infusion of living, writhing organic sound. More than just music, the aim is to imply a narrative, shuttling and transforming listeners over and beyond centrifugal, interplanetary orbits - not just dancefloors.

Review: 'Move It Or Lose It' isn't just the name of the latest release from Brit producer Joseph Nugent aka Papa Nugs, it's a mantra for our time. Emboldening Big Saldo's Chunkers imprint with an uncaged, high-octane batch of "house" cuts, this is the label's first release for 2025, dialling in to the label's signature bandwidth-filling "chunkers" sound. Rave-ready FX are the order of the moment, as flashes of early trance, progressive and hard house motifs, and Ibizan sample banks all hear Nugs truncate old-school references into a contemporary hip house come rave-breaks template. 'Turn it Down''s irresistible hook, "we're here to have a good time," has to be the bugler's choice moment.

Review: No nonsense analogue house champions the notorious R-A-G team are back once again with more goodies on their home label M>O>S. For this one, they drop four outstanding and acidic deep house jackers. Featuring the skills of Aroy Dee, MaSpaventi and G-String, it is the former who kicks off with 'Touch', which is dusty and far-sighted. He then features with Maspaventi on 'Horizons', which is a dreamy and low-key sound with backlit chords. R-A-G then hook up for 'Wired', which is a twisted and trippy after-party mind melter and 'All Forgotten', which is moody, shadowy and traces a line to the best Detroit house from their long-running Amsterdam studio sessions.

Review: Sohrab's 'Dreams of Dawn' on his new Toneblind label is a musical story that bridges night's last whispers and dawn's first light. Blending progressive styles along the way, it marks a clear evolution from his past work and so each track throngs with transitional energy that captures dreams melting into reality. It is an EP which is a heartfelt statement reflecting friendships forged on the road and global experiences lived, while even without the backstory, the tunes make an impact from the colourful and painterly pads of 'Perplexity' to the more jacked up trance-house of 'Constance'.

Review: Belfast's Space Dimension Controller returns with six glistening slow-burners that nod to Warp's early 90s Artificial Intelligence era, while gently messing with the co-ordinates. There's a subtlety in the programming: 'Infinite Image' drifts with a low-lit acid bassline and glassy synth layers, while 'Variation Five' hints at the woozy futurism of B12 or Spacetime Continuum. 'The Mirror Dome' and 'Chemical Glass' are deeper stillibuilt less for peak-time than post-club recalibration, hovering somewhere between ambient techno and dream-sequence electro. Even the percussive flickers of 'Reflect Itself' feel fluid, while closer 'Island Eye' stretches out like mist. Not nostalgic, not entirely newijust rich, soft-focus electronics executed with typical finesse.