Putsch '79 is a collaboration between Pauli Jylhänkangas and Bangkok Impact's Sami Liuski. Similar to forebears
Daniel Wang and
Morgan Geist/
Metro Area -- both of which have been serving a similar purpose since the mid-'90s -- the two producers display a deep understanding of the post-disco/pre-house era of electronic dance music, applying the innovations of that brief point in time to tracks that sound new in the early 2000s. Both "1300" and "Glowing Cat" are upbeat, robust, modern takes on electro-disco, with likenesses to both early Detroit techno (A Number of Names,
Cybotron) and the kind of electronically enhanced disco of the Emergency label (Northend, Klein + M.B.O.). These two tracks are among the best the Clone label has released, bubbling with infectious energy. Closing track "Steam Engine," however, is a pale imitation of some of
Wang's weaker moments. Still, it is not so weak that this otherwise spectacular debut should be disregarded. ~ Andy Kellman