Chris Cargo started his production career in the late 1990s, and has been at the forefront of the electronic music scene ever since. He is best known for his melodic progressive house vibes, and has released music on seminal labels such as Renaissance, Whoop, Choo Choo and Automatic Recordings gaining consistent support from names such as Digweed, Cox, Christoph, Cattaneo, Lawler, Warren, Laurent Garnier, among many others.

We had the chance to speak with Chris as he just released ‘Emerald’ on Fall From Grace Records.

Electronic Groove: Hi Chris, thanks for taking the time to chat with us. You’ve been involved in music production from quite some time. Can you share with us a little bit about your initial days experimenting with electronic music?

Chris Cargo: Thanks to you guys. I began hanging out with studios in the 90’s and then made the leap to producing back in 1998. Those days there was a lot of outboard gear using various analog synths like the Juno 106 and early versions of Cubase on the Atari ST. Today things are a lot easier today you don’t need a 10000-page instruction manual to figure something out!

Electronic Groove: Moving to nowadays, you are about to release ‘Emerald’ on Fall From Grace Records. What was the inspiration to produce this EP?

Chris Cargo: I take inspiration from all kinds of areas in life, but I guess it all depends on what kind of mood or frame of mind I am in when I begin a track, I think with ‘Emerald’ I just wanted to make something that was more melodic.

Electronic Groove: Are you planning new releases?

Chris Cargo: This year is a bit crazy with releases, 1st up, of course, is ‘Emerald’ on Fall From Grace Records, then I have releases forthcoming on Art Reap, Manual Music, Iconic Music, Mango Alley and Flow Records, plus a heap of remixes.

Electronic Groove: With such experience and longevity, how has been your personal evolution with software compared to old-school synths when creating a new track?

Chris Cargo: Most, indeed nearly all my tracks are made now purely with software and not hardware as used to be the case during the late nineties.

Electronic Groove: Do you have any favorite studio gear or instrument at the moment?

Chris Cargo: Software-wise, currently my go-to synth would be the Hive and U-He Diva.

Electronic Groove: What’s your take on the evolution of dance music?

Chris Cargo: I’ve been around long enough to see it evolve from being very underground to mainstream, from small parties to massive ones back to small, and now massive parties again. I’ve heard sounds come and go, and genres merging without making sense! The main thing is that dance music does keep on evolving and the wheels very much keep on turning.

“With ‘Emerald’ I just wanted to make something that was more melodic”

Electronic Groove: How do you think progressive house stand in the history books?

Chris Cargo: Progressive house has kind of went through many ups and downs in its public perception, in the early nineties the sound was so exciting and innovating, true progressive house is something that pushes the boundaries, and in the early nineties it certainly did.

In the 2000’s the sound was kind of hijacked and changed into the commercial sound, but more recently it’s evolved again into its true manifestation of pushing the boundaries.

I don’t really think the sound can be pigeonholed into one genre anymore, the real sound of progressive house can be found as much in deep house, techno, or even tech house!

Electronic Groove: Can you share with us some of your favorite tunes on rotation?

Chris Cargo: Some tunes which currently are killing it for me are Filter Bear’s ‘Never In’ on Lowbit Records, Lehar’s ‘Dream’ on Diynamic and Chewy Rubs’ ‘Private Party’ on Fall From Grace Records.

Electronic Groove: What hobbies do you enjoy apart from music?

Chris Cargo: Walking in the countryside and running.

Electronic Groove: What other music do you like to listen when chilling and unwinding?

Chris Cargo: I like to listen to funk, soul and a lot of chillout ambient type vibes.

Electronic Groove: Thanks and have successful 2018!

Chris Cargo: Thank you and the same to you.

Chris Cargo’s ‘Emerald’ is already available. Grab your copy here.

Follow Chris Cargo:

https://www.facebook.com/chriscargomusic
https://soundcloud.com/chriscargo