- You may not subscribe to outspoken Infinitestatemachine proprietor (and erstwhile RA contributor) Thomas Cox's traditionalist view on house and techno, but it's hard to argue with the results. Rather than churn out tired tropes and worshipful drum machine etudes, Pittsburgh Track Authority, Cox's group with Preslav Lefterov and Adam Ratana, released two exceedingly refreshing and surprisingly future-forward 12-inches last year, suggesting you can adhere to old-timey methods without necessarily making old-timey tracks. Their third release, and the debut of their label Pittsburgh Tracks, affirms that they're a force to be reckoned with, turning in two lean-and-mean, and deeply satisfying, party jams.
"Untitled" doesn't waste any time: dropping us right in the heart of things, PTA sweep us up in sizzling cymbals and delicate auxiliary percussion, priming us for an ascending bassline that's as uplifting as they come. Old-school touches like the unabashedly synthesized strings that carry the big hook are neither ironic nor naïve; rather, they're precisely what the moment calls for. "Monongahela Rainforest" is a more subdued affair, but don't be fooled by its forlorn Rhodes melody and distant hand percussion: steadily unraveling, the track spends all of its nearly eight minutes letting its good-natured snarl take shape. As good as the group's analog hardware sounds, the real feat herein is how perfectly placed and proportioned all these enviably meaty sounds are, revealing PTA as not just great sound designers but uncommonly good arrangers for an act only three releases in.
Tracklist A Untitled
B Monongahela Rainforest