House music emerged in 1980s Chicago, invented by the city’s Black queer community. In the time since, it has become widely known for its four-on-the-floor Roland kicks, looped synthesizers, and soulful vocals. But—as is the case with most things that seem easy to pigeonhole—when you dig deeper, a bevy of distinct flavors come to the surface.
Progressive house, or prog house, began in the UK in the early ‘90s, its growth adjacent to the rise of trance. As with its forbearer, prog rock, the term was used to describe a subgenre of dance music that challenged boundaries—sometimes with critically contentious outcomes. Where formative American house was often cavernous and nocturnal, prog was comparatively sun-soaked and rapturous. Merging growling bass lines and chiming leads with jacked-up rhythms, foundational prog house records centered on taut, utopian melodies, undergirded by hypnotic grooves dialed to upwards of 130 BPM. Iconic figures in prog house include The Orb, 808 State, and Underworld, whose hits have lived on as DJ essentials in the decades that followed.
Compact Disc (CD), Vinyl LP
In the ‘00s, prog house was reclaimed by the EDM generation—and in the process, became something of a reviled descriptor among electronic purists. Classics from projects like Leftfield and Slam became memory-holed relics, replaced by big-tent drivel for the Electric Daisy set. It seemed like an unceremonious demise for a style that never got its proper time in the spotlight.
That is, until recently.
Early in the ‘20s, laser-y rave sounds, painted in less ostentatious hues, began appearing in electronic music from across the globe. In Australia, Sleep D and their label Butter Sessions helped pave the way for a gaggle of spiritual protégés. In Canada, labels such as naff recordings bridged the divide between chill-out room bliss and after-hours delirium. And today, on any given weekend, many of the most respected New York City clubs can be heard embracing a palette that, not too long ago, had been confined to festival grounds. Cities across Western Europe and the UK—namely Amsterdam, Berlin, London, and Cardiff—have become hotbeds for parties that favor exultant, razor-sharp cuts.
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Clicks-and-cuts enthusiasts like Purelink, Ben Bondy, and Cousin have increasingly dominated online discourse and high-profile bills and, at the same time, a different crop of more visceral revivalists have also begun cropping up. These outwardly disparate circles increasingly mingle, gracing the same compilations and stages. In polarizing times, it’s a little bit rewarding to encounter unity between producers toying with dubbiness and those modernizing trance.
In celebration of prog house’s inventive return, here is a guide to the cornerstones of this new wave of beatmakers, DJs, and imprints.
djfix
Respect The Earth
Although relatively new, the label Earth Dog has been an outspoken champion of the prog house reimagination. Launched by DJs Jack Anderson (Jek) and Ethan Donovan (djfix), the Brooklyn imprint’s tight-knit crew has a knack for throaty basslines and forward-bound drum machines. It helps that Anderson comes from a visual art background, having cut his teeth designing for Crack Magazine, Anthony Naples, and others. His experience in that world has helped Earth Dog establish itself as a label that’s been one step ahead of the curve from the jump. The label’s inaugural release, djfix’s Respect The Earth, is driven by clacky sequencing, bone-dry effects, and rubberband low-end. Subsequent releases from Jek and Gbar have built on this cyber dystopian formula—all united under the same spacey glow.
Sleep D
Electronic Arts
T-Shirt/Shirt, 2 x Vinyl LP
Australia’s dance underground is in a healthy state. While plenty of dub techno and trip-hop records are arriving on imprints like Moonshoe and Theory Therapy, the continent is also a hotbed for propulsion. Made up of Corey Kikos and Maryos Syawish, Melbourne duo Sleep D have been at the heart of this push since 2011. The duo’s sophomore full-length, Electronic Arts, is a collection of killer Aussie club tracks. Though it traverses peaks and valleys, the whole thing is centered on tastefully shuffling percussion and aqueous synth stabs. A visit to the Bandcamp page of Sleep D’s label Butter Sessions unearths a musical treasure trove, touching on everything from ambient mixtapes from beloved NTS resident Ian Kim Judd to arpeggiated barn burners from Sleep D’s Melbourne peer Fader Cap.
Guy Contact
Desert Portal
Vinyl LP
Since the mid-‘10s, Australian Callum Chute (aka Guy Contact) has been a fixture of the nightlife circuit in his home base of Perth. While he found his footing touting hazy, laid-back tracks, with time his output has explored the dichotomy between tension and bounciness. His 2022 EP for ONO Records, Desert Portal, plays like a long-lost companion to some animated ‘80s children’s movie about aliens. Over five tracks, pearly treble is swirled atop gut-punching rhythms. The end result is bleep-y and retro-futuristic.
Various Artists
Club Unity
The UK has long been a hotbed for cutting edge nightlife culture. While London and Bristol are perhaps most closely associated with the country’s warehouse parties, Welsh capital Cardiff has become a strong hub for prog house, thanks in large part to the label and event series Haŵs. Last year, it coordinated the hefty compilation Club Unity, which features contributions from prog house key players prominent and rising alike. Across 25 tracks, Command D, Bliss Inc, Adam Pits, and more serve up cuts geared towards 4 A.M. mental voyages. Nowhere does this ring stronger than on Solar Suite’s “Big Drift,†which opens with beachy sound effects that give way to an endearingly chintzy instrumental, topped by a calm voice talking about paradise. With all proceeds donated to humanitarian aid for Ukrainians, these are fun-loving USB necessities with a cause.
Adam Pits
Element X
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Haŵs has also doled out many stellar releases in a strobe-y vein, and Adam Pits’s Element X embodies the label’s ethos well. The UK producer cut his teeth releasing volatile electro on Holding Hands before veering into glitterier terrain. With their serrated LFOs and gated swells, “Gazza†and “Solar Wave†find Pits sharpening the trance blueprint he has adopted. Meanwhile, the chunky, downtempo title track hints at his dexterity. A pair of remixes from Priori are icing on the cake, with the Montréal shapeshifter twisting Pits’s originals into sticky new forms.
Tapestry Of Sound
Tapestry Of Sound
Katie Campbell (aka Roza Terenzi) has been working hard to keep trance alive since the mid-’10s. The Australia-born, Berlin-based DJ and producer came up releasing zippy releases on labels like Planet Euphorique and Good Company, blurring the lines between elastic sonics and chuggy grooves. Launched in 2020, Campbell’s label, Step Ball Chain, has funneled vital late-night fuel from artists such as Maara, Mabel, and Batenko. 2021’s Tapestry Of Sound EP offers a tantalizing glimpse into Step Ball Chain’s universe. A collaboration between Terenzi and Canadian house producer D. Tiffany, these electro-leaning cuts fuse churning rhythms and wubby basslines. Though initially conceived during Covid-19 lockdowns, it packs the hit required to score bustling parties in the real world.
Reflex Blue
Gotham
Vinyl LP
Like Campbell, Cooper James Fraser is an Australian who decamped to Berlin in order to pursue dance music. Under the alias Reflex Blue, he has become a staple on labels such as Limousine Dream and Program Earth. It makes sense that Reflex Blue would eventually land on Perth institution Craigie Knowes; their dense back catalog is packed with gems by contemporary heavy-hitters, ranging from No Moon to Rudolf C to Lisene. 2023 EP Gotham is best suited for sweaty basements, and charts a course through bleak industrial districts. Brash, gaseous synths occupy the foreground, complimented by faint dubby pads and tech house beats—prog house at its gnarliest.
Spray
VT Trad
Vinyl LP
Yet another pillar of the trance scene in Berlin is Spray. The Irish-born producer initially launched Spray as a reissue label and later branched out into DJing and production during the pandemic. His 2023 EP, VT Trad, arrived via Amsterdam label Kalahari Oyster Cult and sits seamlessly alongside EPs from kindred artists Fantastic Man, Blu:sh, and Furious Frank. These four tracks fuse hissing basslines, pounding kicks, and inky, digitized leads. From start to finish, VT Trad buzzes with static—a restless call to motion.
