koshowko
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Music
Press
Written by THEORY
"If you take a look a little off the beaten track there is gold to be found. We are entering a time when the “Big Boys” of the industry are on their way to the junk yard. They are being dismantled by the unarguable higher quality of the lesser exposed releases because people are tiring of the same old crap.
Collect your Annuals, your World’s Greatest…s, your Clubbers Guides, and burn them. Leave that CD store and get on beatport.com, iTunes, on myspace, read your Beat magazine and ignore the things you’ve heard of. Life is too short to listen to 2nd rate repeats.
Do yourself a favour today, get onto your iTunes store and get a copy of this EP. You will not regret it. It’s one of those nuggets I was talking about in the first line. Clever, catchy, dangerously original, well produced, and largely under the radar. Do not risk not knowing about this stuff." - BEAT Magazine - Review - May 2008
Koshowko tread the nether-world of the spaces somewhere between the dancefloor and the live stage, without ever really fitting in to either scene. In Australia, this can cause considerable frustration with limited opportunities to present the music to an audience. This is a shame as much interesting pop music gets made in these spaces by artists keen to explore forward thinking production without rejecting traditional melodic forms. Koshowko continues to fit this mould.
Anarchy Monarchy is the first longer form release from the collective which revolves around Polish born, Melbourne based Martin K. Following numerous compilation and remix appearances and strong connections to the Clan Analogue stable, a debut single was issued in 2007. This EP stretches out a little further over 22 minutes, traversing electro-funk, dub influenced smoothness and more straight-up dance beats. ‘(Hu)mannequin’ is probably the least effective track, coming off rather euro-goth-disco. Much stronger is opener ‘It’s Time Now’ with a driving 110bpm pulse under pure pop. ‘Whispers’ bounces along with gentle electro-dub and some muted, melancholy sax. Nicole Skeltys, of B(if)tek and Artificial fame, rounds out proceedings with a darkened version of ‘The Story’ which also appears earlier on the disc in its original form. The remix is a bouncing 808/303 workout with some deep atmospheres underpinning the vocal snatches.
Anarchy Monarchy is a solid release that just might fall between the cracks of a homogenised market. But Martin K. and his troupe of collaborators have created something worthy of investigation which is ultimately very satisfying.
Adrian Elmer - Cyclic Defrost Magazine - Review - May 2008
Discography
- 'Remix This' single - January 2009
- 'Anarchy Monarchy' EP - January 2008
- Promise - (single) - February 2007
- Double Exposure - (album by Winduptoys with Koshowko's guest appearance) - 2006
- Switch On - (single) - 2006
compilation albums with songs by Koshowko:
- Electundra 2008 - (2008)
- Clan Analogue In Version: Dub Selections - (2006)
- Payola 2 - (2006)
- Electundra 2007 - (2007)
Photos
Bio
Indie electronic pop act KOSHOWKO is the musical brainchild of Polish born Martin K, philosopher turned music producer. Martin K has spent last couple of years working in close collaboration with various electronic and dance artists. These has included production and remixes for Disco Stu, B(if)tek, Winduptoys, Rupert Owen, Tiatto and Valley Forge.
KOSHOWKO was created as the live arm of Martin K’s production work and it was through the influence of playing to live audiences that the songs further matured and gained their own momentum. For live performances collaborations with numerous guest vocalists and instrumentalists occur, thereby adding a variety of personalities and styles to the live show.
Over the last two years Koshowko performed many gigs around Victoria, including at Click Click, First Floor, Ding Dong as well as at festivals such as Renaissance, Opoeia and Electundra.
In December 2007 Koshowko returned from a mini-tour of Germany promoting their EP ‘Anarchy Monarchy’ released on Las Machinas.
‘Anarchy Monarchy’ received rave reviews in various street press and takes you on a journey from the extremely catchy ‘It’s Time Now’ to the cheeky disco-rock anthem ‘(Hu)mannequin’ to the retro electro infused ‘The Story’ to the dub influenced ‘Whispers’. The EP ends with a funky remix of ‘The Story’ by Nicole Skeltys, known for her work as a part of the femme-tech duos B(if)tek and Artificial.
Koshowko have previously released material on several compilations (incl. critically acclaimed ‘In Version: Dub Selections’) as well as their debut single ‘Promise’. More of the Koshowko sound can be heard on their brilliant, collaborative ‘Switched On’, appearing as duets on Winduptoys album and single ‘Double Exposure’.
Other composition credits include the soundtrack for the award-winning documentary ‘Revolving Door’, recently shown on SBS after making the rounds at various film festivals on 4 continents.
In October 2008 Koshowko teamed up with one of Melbourne’s most talented poets – Rupert Owen which resulted in ‘Remix This’ - a song soon to be released on the collaborative single. ‘Remix This’ turns the tables on nightclubbing with a yearning to be mashed, mixed and moved to. Harking back to the verse with music that frees the slaves to the rhythm to have their wicked way with the lyric.
You can also look out for Koshowko’s stunning remixes of Disco Stu and B(if)tek, to be featured on the forthcoming album ‘Re Cognition: the Clan Analogue Legacy Collection’, as well as the promotional single ‘We Think You’re Dishy (Koshowko Remix)’. Both releases are due early 2009.
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