The all new and shiny Cargo Podcast is in construction to make it as beaming and audibley beautiful as possible. For now, here’s an brief snippet of the interview with Killa Kela that Mr. Akira the Don did for us last week.
Friday 31st we’ll be the full spectrum of musical colours. My Tiger My Timing are your geeky neighbours at New Cross that always are in front of you in the supermarket’s queue. They’re day in, day out people. They don’t intend to wear the hippest gear or the trendiest haircut, shit, they admit they aren’t cool at all, apparently. They merely make music. And for this reason, they rocket up your list of cool people you would wanna be friends with. A five piece (one of them is missing on the photo) band formed just one year ago, named after a song by Arthur Russell. They make funny dancey shiny pop songs, akin to the dark side of British pop music (in the vein of Primal Scream and Happy Mondays), but all climb trees with different musical roots, but wave to each other when atop them.
See what Anna Vincent (My Tiger My Timing vocals and synth), answered to our Love & Hate Quiz:
♥ When you first wake up in the morning, what’s the first song or sound you most like to hear?
I find ‘Back In Black’ by AC/DC usually blows away the cobwebs and gets you where you need to be mentally to tackle the daily conveyor belt of issues and idiots.
What’s the noise that annoys you the most in the whole wide world?
When we soundcheck James always winds me up by playing the bassline to Omar’s ‘There’s Nothing Like It’. It’s kind of smooth 90s jazzpop and it gives me the fear.
♥ Which are your top 5 bands at the moment?I’m loving Post War Years, Plugs, Hook and the Twin, Django Django and Is Tropical.
Tell us one song you hate but can’t get out of your head because the lyrics keep on coming back to you.
“She got them apple bottom jeans, boots with the furrrrrr…” – bloody Flo Rida, I actually still wake up with this in my head sometimes, I don’t know what that says about my subconscious.
♥ What is the weirdest place you would like to perform in and why?
I’d like to perform at Pompeii in tribute to Pink Floyd, it’d be really epic, especially if the volcano was active – natural pyro.
What concert would you like to forget the most and why?
We once played a clubnight in London run by a junkie who had just split up with his girlfriend –this gave the event quite a depressing vibe. We played drunkenly and got into fights with everyone including the DJs, the other bands and a man dressed as Elton John. They were all arseholes, obviously.
♥ What do you enjoy the most about playing in a band?
When you play to a big crowd that’s really up for it –you walk out onstage, look everyone in the eye and tell them, “You’re mine”.
Can you think of any reason that would make you quit music?
The Internet is definitely a useful outlet for new music but you can spend so much time on self-promotion that you have no time to write a song. So that’s the only thing that makes me wonder about music as a career, all this empty desperation for success. A rock n’ roll band shouldn’t really have to beg for attention but maybe these days it’s unavoidable. It’s depressing that Liam Gallagher has a Twitter…
Far, far away from South East London, was a lyrical journalist covering the scene of her home, Kingston, Jamaica. Nowadays, Terry Lynn, instead of using the medium of paper, she captures her life, that scene and that capital city and emotes them through her own brand of danceable techno, hip hop and electro beats.
Happiness vs harshness. Lyrics vs beats. Fun vs Social concern. Heads Vs. Tails, they’ll both be playing with Miss Ill, Bok Bok&Manara, Mememe and Count Chocula at our FREE FRIDAYS.
LIVE: MY TIGER MY TIMING + TERRY LYNN
DJS: MISS ILL + BOK BOK & MANARA +MEMEME + COUNT CHOCULA
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FREE ENTRY ALL NIGHT
We love our yard parties; a lame excuse to put an absolute stonker of a line up in the middle of the week, for no good reason other than it’s summer and we, at Cargo, feel the good people of London need pop music and candyfloss to make their lives better.
And as always with Cargo there’s extras at no hidden cost, in fact no ruddy cost at all, makes you wonder what Cargo gets out of all of this, right?. Well what we get out of it is the collective look on all your collective mugs at the end of the day when your mum or dad comes to pick you up and we tell them that you’ve been “as good as gold” and that you can “come round anytime”, even if you have been that kid that’s broken the family heirloom, jumped on the sofa in the “posh” sittingroom and shat yourself in the kitchen all in the space of an afternoon…
So this time round there’s free candyfloss, free live art, free entry and discount booze… oh and one hell of a live line up, including…
A rare tamer of the beast that is pop music. Easy to do, hard to do this well (without turning into Jamie Lidell or Jamiroquai.)
We loved her when she was Mpho Skeef, she’s dropped the last name and dropped one hell of an album too. Plus anyone who covers Kate Bush as well as this gets the key to Cargo anytime.
A cut above electro-pop from three girls and a guy. Defying you not dance, bringing you to boogie climax. Their recent collab with Groove Armada and accompanying video is intriguing from every angle…
Their lyrics are as stupidly brilliant as their videos. YACHT (Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans) prophesies about everyday topics –lost pennies, dish washing, parties and summer songs– with danceable sounds. They spill humour in every beat. Reading their Myspace is better than listening to any Irishmen’s joke –and no mention about their witty videos.
I bet Jona could be the next Michel Gondry. He has taste and ideas. Take a glance to his serious solution for not appearing in Internet pictures: flickr blockers sun glasses. And don’t miss his bizarre car facial yoga remedy. This boy is just hilarious! I’m sure he’s that sort of guy who is good in everything he puts his heart into. And YACHT is his life project; so imagine.
On stage they’re mental. Their mise-en-scène is a must. Casting directors, what are you waiting for? Someone should make the most of their talent! They “perform music” with weird movements, sometimes epileptic, sometimes just inhuman, but always energetic, expressive and contagious. Check the symptom of their dancing infection in the next video. We’ve warned you, follow the music flow at your own peril.
***YACHT has also been the first interviewee of our brand new Love & Hate Q&A:
♥ When you first wake up in the morning, what’s the first song or sound you most like to hear?
Like a Scientologist birth, we practice vows of total silence before noon. This allows us to focus our intentions for the day clearly without the impediment of vocalizing them.
What’s the noise that annoys you the most in the whole wide world?
Mediocrity.
♥ Which are your top 5 bands at the moment?
Tell us one song you hate but can’t get out of your head because the lyrics keep on coming back to you.
Ah, but that’s the nature of a mantra! We have many mantras which we repeat to ourselves in order to clear our minds. However, the one which comes back to us the most, which we can’t get out of heads — that one is our secret mantra. We swore in a somewhat complex ceremony that we’d never reveal it, and we won’t do so here.
♥ What is the weirdest place you would like to perform in and why?
We are constantly seeking “weirder” places to perform. The typical audience-performer divide in a traditional rock club setting bores us and leads the audience into complacency. We don’t want to further the stale illusion that the artist sacrifices talent for money, and that the audience sacrifices money for talent.
What concert would you like to forget the most and why?
We believe that each and every concert holds a greater purpose, even if, at the time, it feels like a disaster. What are we without our past? Edmund Burke said “Those Who Don’t Know History Are Destined To Repeat It,” and we believe that applies to one’s personal and artistic history.
♥ What do you enjoy the most about playing in a band?
The expanding platform to disseminate our messages. You can hide so much in pop music.
Can you think of any reason that would make you quit music?
Quitting music can be an exercise in planned obsolescence. If YACHT ever quits, it will be a well-planned, thoughtful end designed to sever an avenue of stagnant creative thought. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, we could usher in new projects without the burden of history. That’s the only correct reason to quit anything.
Camera, lights, action!
LIVE : YACHT + GRAMME + SPECIAL GUESTS
DJS : ALLEZ ALLEZ + ADVENTURES CLOSE TO HOME DJ’s
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FREE ENTRY
Do you remember the Little Miss Sunshine road movie? Devotchka composed and performed the majority of the music for the film’s soundtrack –nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack–, and we have him playing live on the 11th of August at Cargo! He’ll be showcasing his latest studio album, A Mad & Faithful Telling.
Fresh off the back of their last success at CARGO featuring rave legends The Ratpack, HOW’S MY RAVING? return for their second event as part of our massive FREE FRIDAYS series. This time they have secured the exclusive London live debut performance from Bolton’s BLACKOUT CREW, and we had a sit down with DJ GUY who will also be playing on the night.
You’ll be Djing after the mighty Blackout Crew, can you give us any insight to what we can expect from your set?
I’ll be spinning a pretty fast and lairy mix of Chicago Ghetto House, Miami Bass, Detroit Ghettotech, funky old electro tracks and whatever else leaps to mind at the time. Expect scratching, big bass tracks and lots of dirty vocals.
You were part of the Non Stop DJs, run the Global Fire label and are widely regarded as the king of UK Booty, is there much of a scene in the UK and can you tell us about it/ who’s involved?
There’s not many people doing exactly what I do in the UK – my style’s directly inspired by all the booty DJing from Detroit, so you get the occasional UK DJ that takes a bit of that sound and mixes it with other stuff like breaks or techno etc. but my sound’s more of a concentrated booty assault I think.
What new releases or mixtapes do you have coming out?
It’s been a good year so far with my One In The Front track on the Deekline & Wizard album and my “Ghost Dick” release doing the rounds right now. More booty releases will be dropping on Global Fire towards the end of the summer with some vocal and remix collaborations which I’m excited about.
Who is your all time favourite DJ?
I’ve not really got a single favourite, but a mixtape by Detroit’s “12 Tech Mob” crew and Derrick May’s “Mayday Mix” were both hugely impressive eye-openers for me.
Where do like to hang out outside of Djing? Any top recommendations for good spots in London?
I like the English Maid a lot -it’s a moored pub boat near Lambeth Bridge. The beer selection is shite but it’s a great place to drink on a sunny afternoon. There’s a nice view on the river and you get to see the occasional dead swan.
Click here to download this Hot City mix:
Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul (Brothomstates Remix)
Hot City – Setting Me Free
Shadow Dancer – What Is Natural
Zomby – Helter Skelter
Piddy Py – Prickly Rose
R1 Ryders – Rubberband
Untold – Anaconda
And here to download Disco of Doom‘s mix.
Chemical Brothers ‘Dot It Again’ Disco Of Doom RMX
Major Lazer ‘Pon Di Floor’
KRS 1 Soundofdapecan Riva Starr Rechunk
Tom Real ‘Project X’
Zombie Nation ‘Worth It’ Arveen & Misk Remix
Fukkk Offf ‘I’m A Freak’
Atomic Drop ‘Gangstas’
Burns ‘Turbo’ Jokers Of The Scene Remix
Disco Of Doom ‘Warpig’
Buckfunk3000 ‘High Volume’ Disco Of Doom Remix
Popof ‘Shades’
LIVE: THE BLACKOUT CREW + DISCO OF DOOM
DJS: A1 BASSLINE + DJ GUY + HOT CITY + LIVE FROM BAGHDAD
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Eelus swang by Cargo last month after almost a year of trying get him down here, to create a piece in our yard. As usual with Mr E, he left us with a beautiful yet slightly sinister slice of his artistic world. Mila Doré had a sit down with him to ask him a few questions about his style and his background.
Mila Doré: You first started making hand drawn posters of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Which one was your favourite and why?
Eelus: It was all about Master Splinter for me. He was like a rodent Mr Miyagi. There’s just something cool about a rat with ninja skills. I used to have pet rats too, they’re intelligent critters!
MD: Where else do you find the inspiration? (comics, films, real life…)
E: I’m big into horror and sci-fi, that’s always been my main inspiration. Most images for me are usually have one foot grounded in one of those areas. At the minute I’m reading a lot about natural geometry, Phi, the Golden Section and the basic invisible ordering of the universe. I’m becoming fascinated with the fact that even though the world to us seems chaotic and unstable, there’s a strict design and formula holding everything together. A secret language that governs everything we see or do. The same shapes and numeric equations are used from things as tiny as a virus cell all the way up to the shape and construction of an entire galaxy. For example, the orbit of Venus around the Earth creates an almost perfect pentagram every 8 years, mind blowing!
MD: Why did you choose stencils and not oil painting or ceramics?
E: I basically became interested in the same way I’m sure many others did, Banksy. I moved to London knowing nothing of stencils and street art and had my eyes opened in a big way. After being just a fan and observer of the scene for a while I decided I’d like to create my own work purely for my own satisfaction and curiosity. I used my background in design and illustration and just started making stencils of characters from my sketchbooks and from photos of friends and from magazines. I just seemed to get it, it felt right to me, something in my head clicked from the very first stencil I did. I really enjoy the process, the stages you have to deal with to produce the final piece. You need to be good at every stage to make a great stencil. You can’t be an amazing illustrator or painter but be shit with a scalpel, it just won’t work. It’s such a basic medium too, I guess I enjoy the challenge or getting what’s in my head out onto a wall or canvas using a limited colour palette and basic materials. Plus I’m very impatient and struggle with concentration problems at times. Something like oils is such a long messy process, I love the immediacy and simplicity of spraying a stencil.
MD: What do you find exciting about being on the streets?
E: I’m excited about people’s reactions to my work. I’m putting it out there to be judged, loved, hated, criticized, buffed. If you pick the right spot your piece could be seen, thought about and even discussed by hundreds of people in 1 day. That’s what excites me.
MD: How does it differ when you show your work in a gallery?
E: When you place a piece outside, you’re not trying to make money or please a gallery owner or potential buyer. I mean I know you’re not doing that when you paint a canvas too, you should always paint for you and you alone but if you’re painting a wall, you have another special level of freedom. I used to find showing pieces in a gallery really intense. I would get really excited if people liked the work or bought the work, and I’d become really down and withdrawn if bad things were said or if nothing sold. I’m learning to get better with all that now and starting to really enjoy creating art for myself and purely for the sole reason of creating.
MD: Who are your references in street art?
E: As I mentioned it was Banksy that first introduced me to street art and him and Eine that gave me my first break allowing me to sell my work through Pictures On Walls. My main ‘street art’ favourites are people like Herakut, C215, Titifreak, Blu, Word To Mother, Lister, David Choe, Mr Jago, Mike Giant, Skinner. I tend to be more influenced by people outside street art though, everyone from Aubrey Beardsley and Henry Fuseli to James Jean, Mike Mignola, Tom Gauld, Ashley Wood, Stanley Kubrik, Arthur C. Clarke, and last but not least H.P Lovecraft.
MD: Which is the best graffiti you’ve ever seen?
E: this:
MD: What do you think street art contributes to people in big cities?
E: I think it gives people an everyday opportunity to see art and engage their brains on something they probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. A lot of people never bother going to galleries or museums because they can be put off by the atmosphere or because they have a preconceived idea about what to expect, but with street art, it becomes part of your everyday world whether you like it or not. You could pass a piece on the street on the way to work and that piece could stop you in your tracks, make you take out 1 minute of your busy day to stop and think about it and it could stick in your head for the rest of the day, week, month. It could create discussion between colleagues and friends, make you share ideas and thoughts and just generally get people talking and discussing art where they wouldn’t have otherwise. I got an email once from a woman who had spotted one of my angels that I painted in Dublin. She was walking past there with her son and she said she got the feeling it was there watching over her and her family, giving her hope for the future. I thought that was amazing, it makes it all worthwhile.
MD: Compared to other cities in the world, what do you think about London’s street art scene?
E: I think there’s a lot of great stuff going on but I also think there’s a lot of shit being put out there. I haven’t done anything outside for a while now mainly because I feel like the streets are awash with bad stencils. It’s true that everyone has to start somewhere, you can’t be expected to knock out great pieces from day one, I know I certainly didn’t, but I also didn’t go spraying weak work all over the shop. I won’t put anything outside now unless the location has been carefully considered, planned and thought out and the piece is good enough to be put out there, to make a positive difference to that space and environment.
MD: If you could paint any wall in London which one would it be and what would you paint there?
E: I guess it wouldn’t all be about the biggest most high profile wall. Like I said it would have to be a wall that would interact successfully with the piece, become a collaboration between myself and the street. Sometimes the best wall spaces are the ones hidden away that only a small handful of people will ever see.
MD: What’s the best one you’ve already painted?
E: I think the 2 most successful pieces for me have to be the Main large wall I painted at the Cans Festival in London last year and the Lost Angel in Dublin. They came out exactly as I wanted them, I had a great time painting them, met some great people on both occasions during the process and I’ve had a really positive response from the people who saw them.
MD: What’s the thinking behind Cargo’s wall?
E: I have to say there’s no real concept behind the piece other than the woman is supposed to represent a kind of witch, living out in the forest. I just wanted to make the most of the opportunity and paint something that was just for the sake of painting. It was interesting for me to work on such a landscape format, most of my stuff seems to be portrait for some reason. It was also nice to relax and have fun with it knowing there were no print or canvas sales coming off the back of it.
MD: Could you tell us your favourite place in London to get inspired?
E: London has inspiration everywhere. I live on the South East coast now and make the trip to London around once a week to catch up with stuff. On that day I have an almost inspiration overload. I do a tour of the galleries and see what other people are doing, I walk the streets and take photos, I nip into books shops on the way and stock up on magazines then I spend time with friends in the pub in the evening. Every part of that day in London for me is inspirational.
MD: Tell us two or three places to go in London if we want to see good street art.
E: I used to have a studio in Hackney Wick, that places is constantly dripping with fresh paint. Other than that you’d probably wanna do a tour of the east end. Hit Shoreditch, Old Street, Hackney Rd areas, it’s always been the street art heart of London.
MD: Are you pessimistic or optimistic?
E: Depends what day you catch me on. Some days I can be the Lord of Doom and Gloom but then on others nothing can go wrong. I’m making more of a conscious effort recently to stay positive and optimistic at all times. At the end of the day I’m my own boss, I do what I love doing every single day of my life, I have an amazing supportive family and great friends, a roof over my head, I don’t really have anything to be pessimistic or negative about. The current financial situation in this country is the only worrying thing, a lot of people are obviously feeling the pinch.
MD: Which is your biggest fear? And your most unachievable dream?
E: My biggest fear is losing my creativity and having to go back to working for someone else. That depresses the hell out of me. My most unachievable dream is to become bitten by a radioactive animal or insect which results in me having bizarre super powers, massive responsibilities and crazy enemies. To direct sci-fi films would also be amazing but I have a suspicion that may never happen.
MD: If you could go back in time, would you do anything differently?
E: I would use a darker grey on the background for the Cargo wall 
Apart from that, absolutely nothing. You have to go where the journey takes you, roll with the punches and learn as much as you can from everything you do and everyone you meet.
MD: If you had to choose: Demon or angel?
E: Demon. Nietzsche said that In Heaven, all the interesting people are missing’.I couldn’t agree more.
MD: If you were god and suddenly woke up after a long sleep and saw the current chaos, what would be the first thing you’d do?
E: I’m not sure if I believe in ‘God’ but maybe there is some kind of grand Creator, It’s a nice theory. It seems to me that if something has created us, it’s almost like they’ve bought a Kitten, they’ve let the kitten loose in the house then completely forgotten about it. So when he/she comes back and finds the house has been trashed, he can hardly be surprised. In all honesty if I was said Creator, I’d get my majestic caddie to hand me my Godlike putter and I’d tap us into the nearest black hole (obviously in 1 shot) and start again. I guess me trying to be optimistic isn’t going too well just yet.
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For more information on Eelus go to:
http://eelus.com/ or his One Big Freak Show blog
Thanks to Unusualimage for use of his flickr images.
Today Cargo turns into an independent cinema metaphorically speaking; only you’ll have to bring your own popcorn.
If they were a film, Manchester based 1,2,3,4s‘ symphonic pop would rightly fit in a road trip movie. The landscape: a sunny Western countryside. The mood: cheerful. The car: a sidecar for five. Their dear driver: Led Zeppelin. The voice of Caroline Thorp is sometimes as delicate as the Little Miss Sunshine, other times she could sound as introspective as Into the Wild film, as mental as Thelma&Louise’s madwomen or as violent as Death Race.
You may be wondering why this band made me think about films. And the answer is in their origins. Actually, three of 1,2,3,4s’ members are the ecstatic and guitar-led offshoot of the band Matinee Orchestra –which is also worth listening to–, in their own words: “more in line with the soundtracks to lonely American films such as The Straight Story or The Hired Hand”.
The session starts at 7pm (BBQ included). Please switch off your mobile phones.
LIVE: PHANTOM + 1,2,3,4s
DJS: MAGISTRATES + DISCO BLOODBATH + YOUNG TURKS + WONKY POP
7-3
Free b4 11, £3 after
Could you imagine what morphology nature would acquire to defend itself from devastating human attacks? French street artist Ludo was at Cargo last month decorating our wall with his answer to the question.
His ephemeral creation was part of his “Nature’s Revenge” series. With his eye-catching street art he reflects about the relationship between humans, weapons and nature. In his work you can see skull grapes, hand grenade plants, cauliflower bombs, rose thorns, sunflower guns, carnivorous plants, omnipresent security organic cameras that watch us like if we were in the book 1984, and leaves changing from vital green to sad gray, emerging from the concrete, bricks and asphalt. A perfect imaginary to prompt the most spooky green nightmares. Be careful what you think about tonight.
See here some other pictures or check his site / flickr slideshow for the lazy ones.
Eight years is no small thing. Cargo’s yard has had most, if not all, of the cream of the UK’s street art scene and even a few from further abroad grace it’s battered walls. We don’t like to drop name but *cough* Bansky, Shepard Fairey, Herakut, Miss Pink, Nick Walker, D*Face, KLANG!. So we decided we were mature enough to launch our very own Flickr account. We want to share with you all those great pieces of art that have been breathing life into the walls of our yard for so long.
Par example:
Click here if you fancied more than these yummy appetizers. Here for the slide show.
