Mon Acid: Pittsburgh Track Authority drops acid on a gorgeous three track EP

I still remember when Pittsburgh Track Authority launched and I still think of their label Pittsburgh Tracks as an emerging, “up-and-coming” imprint.

Reality check: it’s been 10 years since I first interviewed PTA around the time of their first albumand they’ve established their sound and their label as one of the true stalwarts of the underground scene. Pittsburgh Tracks has long been one of my favorite labels but now they have a catalog that can fight toe-to-toe with anyone: there are no valleys here, just quality releases that arrive when they think they’ve got something worth sharing.

Over the last five years or so you can split Pittsburgh Tracks’ output between deep vocal tracks (like 2023’s “Slide” featuring Brandon Markell Holmes and 2017’s “Watch Your Step” featuring Natalie Rogers) and the label’s more electronic records, from Santiago Salazar and Shawn Rudiman’s singing machines to gorgeous, dancefloor-ready acid tracks.

This is one of those. My Acidshort for “Monongahela,” is the sequel to the 2013 Allegheny Acideach named after one of Pittsburgh’s three rivers. It’s pretty rare that I don’t like an acid record but Mon Acid is the real shit: an EP of three tracks complex and full of movement but devastatingly effective. The original mix is ​​six and a half minutes of an odyssey, from airy wispy pads that are progressively warped into a vortex of spiraling 303 patterns. The “Edit for Gusto” (of Detour) gets right down to it: no journey here, just gurgling acid bubbles from the jump, popping like brain cells. “Mon Acid (Deep)” is one of my favorite tracks of 2024 — strident beats that charge in front of gorgeous, cresting and crashing synth waves.

⚪️ My Acid Tracklisting

Pittsburgh Track Authority: Mon Acid EP (Pittsburgh Tracks / 12" Vinyl + Digital)
1. Mon Acid (06:37)
2. Mon Acid (Edit for Gusto) (04:24)
3. Mon Acid (Deep) (06:02)

⚪️ Disclosure Statement

This record was submitted as a promo.

⚪️ Previous Coverage

⚪️ New Music: Slide: Pittsburgh Track Authority & Brandon Markell Holmes with a gorgeously deep vocal house cut (2024)
⚪️ Features: Pittsburgh Track Authority: The 5 Magazine Interview (2014)
⚪️ New Music: Night Songs from Santiago Salazar – The Night Owl (2019)
⚪️ Features: The Record: Preslav on “Watch Your Step” (2017)
⚪️ Mix + Interview: Naeem and Gusto: A 5 Mag Mix Vol ++004 (2015)