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
