House never really left the floor. It just keeps changing clothes. In 2026 the charts still lean on groove-first records that feel like they could have come off a late-80s or early-90s crate and still slam a packed room. Disco DNA is back in rotation, old-school house is charting again, and DJs want tracks that bounce between peak-time pressure and that deeper 3 a.m. pocket. That is exactly the lane Boston’s Ian Place is working.
His new cut, Tell Me How It Is (Extended Mix), sits in House (Old-school) and Disco House. If you know Ian’s recent run, that should not surprise you. He builds groove-forward records that can live in the middle of a peak set and still make sense when the lights drop and the floor gets more patient. The extended mix format is the DJ version of the story: more room to let the bounce settle, more time for the groove to do the talking instead of rushing to a radio-length payoff.
Ian Place is a Boston-based house artist (Cambridge, MA on his own pages) who has been stacking proper club records rather than chasing a single viral moment. Recent releases with House of Hustle and Cleo Recordings broke into Beatport’s Top 100 overall and landed Top 10 on multiple genre charts. That is not blog fluff. That is the kind of result working DJs actually notice when they are hunting for functional tools. His Beatport profile also notes support over the years from names like Paco Osuna, Joseph Capriati, Chris Stussy, Ben Rau, Dennis Quin, SOSA, Grant Nelson, Ruze, and Burnski. That list tells you where the records are landing: serious house rooms, not just playlist filler.
2026 is the year he is pointing at as a breakout. He has scheduled releases with DOJO Music, MYC Records, Parallel Music, and other labels. The MYC part matters. Ian is co-founder of MYC Records alongside house music legend Josh Butler. Sharing a label with someone of that stature is not a vanity credit. It is a signal that he is in the conversation with people who have spent decades protecting the groove instead of watering it down.
Disco house and old-school house are having a moment because they still do the one job a lot of overproduced festival records forget: they make people move without begging for it. Four-on-the-floor kick, rolling bass, percussion that actually swings, a little disco shimmer in the midrange. You do not need a manifesto. You need a record that a selector can drop after a jackin’ tool or a late-night deep cut and not lose the room. Tell Me How It Is is built for that job. The title itself feels like a floor conversation. No overthinking. Just tell me how it is.
Ian has older catalog too, going back to mid-2010s EPs like Control and Years Ago, plus more recent titles such as Let The Bass Kick, No Reason, Dancing, Not On My Phone, and Love Is. The through-line is consistent: house that respects the tradition without sounding stuck in a museum. That is why this current wave of old-school and disco-leaning house works in 2026. It is not costume nostalgia. It is producers who still believe the groove is the hook.
If you are an independent artist trying to get records onto Spotify, Apple Music, Beatport-adjacent playlists, and the rest of the map, distribution still matters. DistroKid makes that part simple, and you keep more of what you earn. Use this link and you get 7% off your membership: https://distrokid.com/vip/seven/2058328. For house producers especially, getting the extended mix out cleanly and on time is half the battle.
Ian Place is one to watch this year. Boston house with chart receipts, a label partnership with Josh Butler, and a sound that fits the current hunger for real disco-house bounce. Hit Tell Me How It Is, sit with the extended mix, and tell me if that groove does what it says on the tin.
What do you think of this one? Does old-school disco house still hit harder than the overcooked stuff? Drop it in the comments.
