KNTXT 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: On Rave On Time, her third EP of 2020, Charlotte De Witte giddily pays tribute to the throbbing, warehouse-ready techno sound of her home city of Ghent - and particularly the intense, mind-bending brand particularly associated with R&S Records in the early 1990s. De Witte sets the tone via the razor-sharp and insanely heavy title track, where ragged acid lines and spiky synth stabs leap above a stomping techno groove, before opting for drums, drums and more drums on the restless 'There's No One Left To Trust'. Acid techno is the order of the day on 'The World Inside' and 'Common Era', while triple-time closing cut 'Wahr Ist Sie Dann' is an odd, alien-sounding treat.

Review: Belgian techno sensation Charlotte De Witte is very much queen of the new school sound. That said, the KNTXT label head, Apple Music curator, BBC Radio 1 host, fashion line designer and producer very much looks back to go forwards when it comes to making her music. She's brought a hard-edge vibe and plenty of trance influences to the scene with her sets and her tunes as this latest one proves. These are four peak-time bangers with acid lines, euphoric synths and plenty of video game references to keep the kids raving late into the night, and why not?

Review: Charlotte De Witte has long been a leader of the new school of techno. Her sound is tough an uncompromising and borrows from trance, hard techno and ambient often all at once. Her own KNTXT label is where she releases it and that is where she appears once more now with another fierce peak time EP. 'Power Of Thought' has big unrelenting drums, guying acid and some subtle smoked words for maximum anthemic effect. 'Pria' then brings some Middle Eastern melodic and vocal exoticness to her tightly clipped techno grooves and 'Abada' is a dramatic and cinematic ambient closer.

Review: Charlotte de Witte takes care of the sixth outing on her ever more prominent KNTXT label, and does so with her usual sense of techno power. "Sgadi Li Mi" opens in hard hitting fashion, with laser-link synths shooting across the face of the cantering drums and distant vocal cries adding a churchy feel to the arrangement. "Return To Nowhere" dials it back to a more shuffling techno groove and "Ensemble" offers perfectly transcendental techno for late night reveries. Enchanting ambient vocal "What's In The Past" closes out a forceful EP.

Review: Charlotte De Witte is, in no uncertain terms, one of the leaders of techno's new school. The Belgian powerhouse is busy on all fronts from epic live streams at Formula 1 circuits to dropping her own clothing ranges, running her KNTXT label to dropping red-hot records like this one. It finds her once again bringing trance and 90s video game sounds track influences to her driving techno template. 'Missing Channel' is chunky and hard-hitting with mind-melting synths burrowing deep, then as the name suggests Apollo gets more celestial with heavenly vocal sounds layered up over spacecraft sound effects and linear techno drums. The flipside brings acid and then otherworldly ambience.

Review: Adding to the deluge of newcomer EPs from Belgium's KNTXT, Amazingblaze's 'Can't Stop' EP is a powerful collection of techno bits - nothing less than schranzy sonic scran. The EP's title track is a relentless assault on the senses, with filterpassed rave licks and egg-on vocal samples - "you can't stop me now!" - aplenty. The theme continues unstoppably, gradually transitioning into ever more oppressive, impressive beatscapes such as 'Enter The Rave'. The aim is simple: in the artist's own words, "massive bangers for big venues and hard hitting tracks for clubs." Unashamedly functional, sure. But undeniably hard-hitting - doubly sure.

Review: A fresh top-up to the vogue of 'trance-infused techno' by Alignment, the Berlin producer whose heavyset techno chops come straight to Charlotte De Witte's KNTXT label, which has launched the careers of several younger artists. Burbling Detroit voices command us to 'attack' through the opening droner 'Attack', an inception boomer if we've ever heard one. Followers 'Dream State' and 'Multiverse' timeslip through grit and dirt and arpeggios, getting faster and faster before Alignment shows us 'The Way' on the final roundoff.

Review: Charlotte De Witte's KNTXT label is one of new school techno's most influential and has very much helped to take techno into harder, darker, trance-tinged realms in recent times. Alignment is one of the artists who has helped with that and now serves up more blistering cuts on the Close Your Eyes EP. The title track is a monstrous opener with bright synths and serrated saw-shaped sounds cutting up the flat-footed drums. The hard techno vibes continue on 'Deep Space' and more trance energy washes over 'Dance For Me' which is decidedly 90s in vibe. 'Fight For A New World' closes down with the sort of hands-in-the-air energy of an epic festival anthem.

Review: Following up last year's Time And Nothingness on Charlotte De Witte's KNTXT, Francesco Pierfelici aka Alignment returns to the imprint for an absolutely riveting new EP. Power is a fitting title for this massive four tracker, where the Berlin-based Italian wastes no time in an attempt to fire the synapses. Pure elevation is to be experienced on the euphoric rave energy of the title track which opens up in a big way, followed by 'Disconnection' which will pummel you into submission - peak time style - with its assortment of classic dance music motifs throughout. Over on the flip, the EP's highlight exists in the form of the euphoric modern trance reconstruction titled 'Frequency'.

Review: Parisian techno talent AIROD is next up on Charlotte de Witte's unstoppable KNTXT label with four blistering and innovative new tracks. Known for his muscular, neck-breaking take on techno, the French producer and DJ drops four riveting, maximised vocal neo-rave cuts here; all manifest sonically in the same vein as those earlier exclusives once said to have fired up the warehouse raves of yore in his native Paris. A testament to the producer's current state of mind, we can only infer what this might be; the tunes are avowedly melodious yet ultra-punchy, and do well to strip the pretensions of purists, goading them into a four-track round of maximally intense fun.