The Horse, a noble animal. Carrying many a fateful yesteryear hero to the spoils of victory and to the swooning wench. Nowadays this majestic Equus is relegated to being rode by midgets for ‘sport’ or to pen in football fans to regulate the flow at tube stations. Oh how the mighty have “foalen” (puny pun).

However some musical bands are using them to distinguish themselves from the pack. Which is a novel idea. Unfortunately two bands had the same idea at the same time. The Race Horses are from Wales and make mildly psychedelic jangley guitar pop. The Dark Horses are from England and make eerie, reverb laden dark-pop. Luckily, they don’t sound that much alike. Luckily for us, they are both playing at The Eat Your Own this Friday.

THE RACE HORSES

THE DARK HORSES

However it’s this bright four pieces band from Aberystwyth that catch our attention. They mostly sing about baking, for instance, like “Cake” or song: “Cacen Mamgu” loosely translated as “Grandmother`s Teacakes”. Prepare to sound like an idiot singing along to the catchy-as-hell choruses at their gig at the EYOE’s FREE Friday the 9^th of October.

Cake

LIVE: RACE HORSES + DARK HORSES + ISLINGTON BOYS CLUB + THERE ARE MORE OF US THAN THERE ARE OF YOU

DJS: RORY PHILIPS + EYOE DJS

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She’s a go getter; a naughty 18 year old MC from Harlem with a big dirty mouth. Although she doesn’t consider herself a diva, she boasts about doing exactly what she wants to do –and she really knows where she’s going. This cute girl writes all her own music, except for “Supplier” (diplo made that beat) and “Barbie Shit” (produced by Feel-X) –and just for the record, in “Seventeen” she raps over Laditron. If we made a word cloud with her whole discography probably two words would stand out from the rest: “tits” and “dicks” – and maybe “ass” or “bitch”. She raps mostly about sex, about her boyfriend’s package… pretty redundant teen topics –but her music is fresh, fierce and brighter than any other female rapper’s we’ve heard in ages –and there have been lots. If you bump into her on the night of her show at Cargo, think before you speak – with just two rhymes she could wreck you. And don’t challenge her to a Scrabble afterparty – you’ll lose. You’ve been warned!

FRI. 25th SEPT.

LIVE: AZEALIA BANKS + QUAD THROW SALCHOW + PINEY GIR + COLOURING IN + GOLD PANDA + THE RAYOGRAPHS

DJS: TIM LOVE LEE + CRISPIN DIOR

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When they were no more than two snotty teens, on telly they were showing series like The Goonies or Transformers and films like Karate Kid, The Neverending Story or Teen Wolf. And there they were, sat right in front of the screen –who knows for how long! No surprise then that now they love the 80s: the fluorescent colours, the backcombed hairstyle… and, thanks to the music, they’ve managed to never stop being the kids they use to be.

Futurecop – Karate Kids (video by TNUC) from TNUC on Vimeo.

Check out Futurecop!’s answers 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?

M people – Move it! I automatically sing this song when I wake – this is actually true and I don’t even have the song. It’s all in memory!

 Tell us one song you hate but can’t get out of your head because the lyrics keep on coming back to you.

Black Eyed Peas – Boom

♥ Which are your top 5 bands at the moment?

New Moscow

Trackademics

New Boyz

Keith Masters

Taylor Swift

 What concert would you like to forget the most and why?

Yo Yo in London. It was one of our first ever gigs, and we had an idea to buy a massive light which we would shine through our futurecop! poster so it light it up. Seemed like a good idea at the time however it went horribly wrong because it was too bright and we couldn’t turn it off. It looked like someone was filming an asian wedding! –we couldn’t stop laughing on stage about it – it was hilarious. Our manager wasn’t too impressed lol

♥ What do you enjoy the most about playing in a band?

Quite a few reasons actually. Firstly its kind of a break from the real world.  Also it feels really good when your sharing ideas and emotions from your head, then sharing it with the world and people actually loving it. But mainly because it allows you to act and dress up like a kid again lol

 Can you think of any reason that would make you quit music?

If it was not fun anymore, we’ve come across a lot of people who try to change our ideas (and the music) to make it ‘commercial’ but I hate that I just run away from it, we make music to make us happy first, whether its commercial or not. Plus its hard work being someone else anyway.

Futurecop! will be playing in our 18^th’s FREE FRIDAYS, together with Ocelot, Milke, Newislands, Tom Neville DJ, Rene DJ and the infernal beats of Designer Drugs DJs.

LIVE: FUTURECOP! + OCELOT + MILKE + NEWISLANDS

DJS: DESIGNERS DRUGS + TOM NEVILLE + RENE (WONKY POP)

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Crystal Fighters mix electronica, nu-rave and folk music. They use Basque traditional instruments with synths, loops and voices moisturized by a thousand filters. They’re energy in the purest form and they’re revolutionising the local party scene with their “I love London” tune.

If they don’t make you sweat through your t-shirt and laugh like a child, maybe you should consider applying for a living statue down on the South Bank.

Folk music is a remote, partially undiscovered island. Spain is a deep dark cave within said remote, partially undiscovered island .. Catalan Guillamino has already tried it by mixing sardana (traditional catalan dance in which people hold their hands together and turn around in circles) with electronica, jazz and rock; but the experiment didn’t hit the dancefloors, maybe because sardana itself is anything but exciting.

Anyways, who would have said that a txalaparta could make us move like it does? Before this five piece band came along I thought playing the txalaparta was just the worst possible revenge to inflict on your biggest enemy’s hangover. But now I believe that it will replace the ukelele as the must-have instrument for every Shoreditch haircut band. Let’s see how long it takes for bands to bust out the castanets on stage.

We have two exclusive remixes for you to download
Cargo Free Friday faves: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix of Xtatic Truth
The Musical embodyment of our yard’s photo booth: Photomachine Dub of Xtatic Truth

Meanwhile, witness the folkdance revolution take shape with the Crystal Fighters live on the 11^th of September’s FREE FRIDAYS. If you come with a txapela, find me and I’ll buy you a drink and some tapas.

LIVE: CRYSTAL FIGHTERS + TERRY LYNN + JOANA AND THE WOLF

DJS: EDU K + ALI HISLOP + THE MONO

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Sometimes it’s terribly hard to explain with words what and why a song makes you think or feel. Especially when we’re talking about a band so fresh and new that no music critic has yet had enough time for constraining them with silly labels. Yet.

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So we don’t really know why, but the angelical zombie Samuel and his human dragon make us move. Samuel & the Dragon have something truly special: maybe the singer’s ripped voice, the gentleness of their electronic melodies, the good use of the silences, the scenography, the visuals and the magic atmosphere they create on stage; lights off as if we were attending a classic cinema projection. Maybe the secret of all that sum of pop beauty is a careful mix of all these  ingredients. A wicked magic formula that makes us have butterflies in the stomach. And that symptom never fails.

Listen to them to understand it.
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If you want to know a little bit more of this –not for much longer– unknown gem, read Samuel answers 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?
Blackbirds.

What’s the noise that annoys you the most in the whole wide world?
Radio 1 newsreader’s vocal intonation.
♥ Which are your top 5 bands at the moment?
Micachu and the Shapes
Imagine IAM
Pillers of the Community
Us…
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Climie Fisher

 Tell us one song you hate but can’t get out of your head because the lyrics keep on coming back to you.
The Washing Up song from Big Cook, Little Cook – in fact I don’t hate it I quite like it.

♥ What is the weirdest place you would like to perform in and why?
Doing a tour of old disused Woolworths shops would be good.. High street warehouse party tour – before they all turn into pound shops.

 What concert would you like to forget the most and why?
Bob Dylan at Cardiff Arena – £45 quid ticket – car broke down on the way – horribly enormous venue – £6 for a beer – and he was shit – and I didn’t really want to go in the first place.

♥ What do you enjoy the most about playing in a band?
People actually liking the music. Making loud noises.
 Can you think of any reason that would make you quit music?

A sense of comfortability and contentment in middle age? Slippers and that kind of thing.

They’ll playing an early slot on the 28th of August for our FREE FRIDAYS.

LIVE: MAPS + PONI HOAX + HOOK & THE TWIN + SAMUEL & THE DRAGON

DJS: BEN RYMER + RUN HIDE SURVIVE

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Last.fm will be curating the night of the 14th of August at Cargo, featuring none other than the acoustic guitar and tender singing of Finian Greenhall, a.k.a Fink (Ninja Tune), singing songs from his brand new album “Sort of Revolution”.

Fink will be playing at 10pm, sharing stage with Charlene Soraia, the Londoner PENS, Berliner dubstepper’s JazZstepPa and the Last.fm DJ Team. Read our interview with Fink after the video:
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Here you have our Love & Hate quiz by Fink:

♥ When you first wake up in the morning, what’s the first song or sound you most like to hear?
Anything by John Lee Hooker, something clean and pure and bit jaded.

 What’s the noise that annoys you the most in the whole wide world?
That neighbour, who seems to live everywhere in the UK, who seems to spend every single morning every weekend using some kind of metal saw.
♥ Which are your top 5 bands at the moment?
The Horrors
The Joy Formidable
The Boxer Rebellion
Fever Ray
Florence And The Machine

Tell us one song you hate but can’t get out of your head because the lyrics keep on coming back to you.
Metronomy – “Holiday” – I don’t hate this song, I love this song,  but it’s a bit like Stockholm Syndrome where the hostage starts to empathise with the Kidnapper… also, I’m in Berlin and Paris a lot…

♥ What is the weirdest place you would like to perform in and why?
I would like to play at Montreal Jazz festival. I think Montreal is cool, and although we have nothing to do with jazz, I’d like for me and the boys to go over there and tonk them hard in the face with some real music with some balls…

 What concert would you like to forget the most and why?
St. Tropez, 06, The Plage De Rock festival… in the middle of a real Tornado (we were in the papers the next day) the entire stage and light rig was blown over – we rescued a couple of monitors and our kit, narrowly escaped un-electrocuted and set up in the café bar and did the gig very wet and very drunk (it even made youtube) – I called our manager to, erm, outline the scenario and he told us to “stop moaning and build some memories…”

♥ What do you enjoy the most about playing in a band?
Last week we played a festival in Biarritz, cute surf chicks everywhere, we smacked a great gig, then drank free beers and smoked free weed on the roof of the Radisson hotel by the pool, and… we got paid for it! I love that shit! When you do a good gig the feeling is great… to know that you would have paid to see you is a great feeling – not all gigs are like that, but the more you play the more you yearn to get onstage and push it…

 Can you think of any reason that would make you quit music?
I dunno, what are the hours?

LIVE: FINK + JAZZSTEPPA + PENS + CHARLINE SORIA

DJS: LAST.FM DJS + BLACK CAB SESSIONS

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We know more than one party where the announced secret special guest is only a fake worm used to lure a plentiful catch. But you know that we’re not that kind of fisherman. It’s time to take off the veil and let you drool with pleasure. Our surprise guest for our upcoming FREE FRIDAYS is none other than –drumroll, please!–  Tim Sweeney, DJ, ambassador of NYC’s DFA Records, and the man behind of what is probably the hottest two-and-a-half hour music radio show in the world right now, Beats in Space.

This guy is a musical encyclopaedia. He was 15 when he first deejayed in the Baltimore rave circuit, having been introduced to the electronica world by his older brother. He’s been influenced by many different DJs, producers and personalities –Steinski (one of the biggest hip hop producers ever, from Double Dee & Steinski) and DFA’s fat cat Tim Goldsworthy among them. This guy knew how to climb up! He started with both of them as a trainee, sucked all the great musical sage they were exuding and now he’s playing fireworks all over the world, mixed a DFA set for Muzik magazine, and collaborated with Goldsworthy on various DFA’s compilations, just to mention some of his achievements. On August 7th we’ve caught him for an unforgettable dance music master class. He’ll make our asses move as ever, after teenagersintokyo and O.Children live shows! Being lazy tonight could be one of these bad choices your friends will always remember you for.

Listen to Beats in Space live mp3 stream here every Tuesday night from 10:30pm to 1am, or check out the archived shows.

LIVE: teenagersintokyo + O. CHILDREN

DJS: TIM SWEENEY + STOPMAKINGME

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Sweden is a place of precision. Whether it’s their economy, their furniture or their pop music, everything that comes out of that corner of Scandinavia is well thought out, exacting and immensely satisfying. This month, Cargo’s celebrating the arrival of two such immaculate exports: The release of the Tomas Alfredson’s stunning “Let The Right One In” on DVD and Blu-Ray (3rd August) and Miike Snow headlining our Free Friday (21st August). To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with Momentum Pictures and have some great prizes to give away including clothing by Denim is Everything and 5 copies of the DVD. Read on to find out how. (more…)

With his voice from the afterlife, Ben Duffy –one of the Fenech-Soler brothers– sings to us with what the biggest musical newspapers and magazines in country have called the next big promise, the future in the world of electro-pop. Big words. In a more brick and mortar way, I’ll tell you that for me they make just the perfect kind of music to enjoy like a child on the dance floor with the last disco dance steps and choreographies you learned in your spare time on Youtube. So, what are you waiting for? Take off your slippers right now or –better­– come with them on!

They say one of Fenech Soler’s biggest influences is the late 1960s R&B-dance vocal group from L.A., The Whispers.

But their sound is more glam, pompous and tight. And a little bit gay, if someone asked me. And the thing about the milk –at least we think it’s milk– over your hair (see next video) doesn’t help. Guys, you should know that doesn’t flatter you. Someone had to tell you.

On stage, Fenech-Soler play live with real instruments rather than relying on laptops and gimmicks. If you need more references, musical know-it-alls compare them to Vitalic, Phoenix or –just for their supposed upcoming fame­– to Justin Timberlake. Their song “The Cult Of Romance” is meant to be a winner, a radio hit. So, try to catch them live before a wave of screaming teenagers invade all their venues.

They’ll be performing at 10pm on Friday the 10th alongside David Sugar’s rave-pop, and DJ’s Tommie Sunshine, Discobelle DJs and Tronik Youth.

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Free Fridays are always personal affairs for the Cargo crew. It’s like putting your own iPod on at a party, it’s a nerve racking, soul exposing feeling but ultimately a rewarding experience. We just put on the acts that we like listening to and blindly hope everyone else likes them too. This Friday we have a classic case of ‘music we wanted to see played in a club, so we booked it in ours’

Tommie Sunshine. This man’s drums have that compressed to fuck sound that make your head a little smaller than it was before the song started. We’ve been playing his Major Lazer acid reggae remix a little too much than is good for us. Check www.tommiesunshine.com.

David E. Sugar played at our first ever Cargo Yard Party where me and 30 other people when nuts to him at 1.30am on a Wednesday morning. He’s been lodged in our hearts since then. He’s on a mission to produce a song a week for a year. Check www.davidsugar.com

Fenech Soler are on Alan Braxe’s new imprint and first turned our heads with their single “The Cult Of Romance” and the blissed out, stretched remix by Braxe himself but now prefer their ‘Airbrushed’ tune. www.myspace.com/fenechsoler

As normal, Cargo prescribes getting down early and leaving late. The piece of information is free. As is the night itself.