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Thievery Corporation

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Thievery Corporation

Thievery Corporation is a Washington, D.C.-based recording artist and DJ duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton and their supporting artists. Their music style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, Indian classical and Brazilian (such as bossa nova) with a lounge aesthetic.

History

Formed in the summer of 1995 at D.C.’s Eighteenth Street Lounge. Rob Garza and Lounge co-owner Eric Hilton bonded over club life, dub, bossa nova and jazz records, then decided to see what would come of mixing all these in a recording studio. From this, the duo was born and their self started label Eighteenth Street Lounge Music began to emerge on an international level.

The duo caught the ears of underground DJ’s with their first two 12" offerings, "Shaolin Satellite" and "2001: a Spliff Odyssey" and with their 1997 debut LP, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi, they had already begun to define a new genre of electronic music and connect with an international community of like-minded souls. Though the terminology has varied (downtempo, chill out, left field and a myriad of other permutations), they have maintained their unique musical standards for the duration of their popularity.

In 2002, they released The Richest Man in Babylon on their ESL label. This fifteen track album is similar in sound and timbre to their earlier 2000 release, The Mirror Conspiracy, and features performances by vocalists Emiliana Torrini, Pam Bricker, and Loulou.

In 2005 they released The Cosmic Game, which has a darker, more psychedelic sound than The Richest Man in Babylon. The album also featured more high-profile guest singers on it, including Perry Farrell, David Byrne, and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.

In 2006, the group released Versions, a selection of remixes done by Thievery Corporation for other artists and toured the United States, playing at Lollapalooza.

The group released their fifth studio album, Radio Retaliation, on September 23, 2008.

The language of the group's lyrics are as diverse as English, Spanish, French, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian and Hindi. This reflects the group's global feel and collaborative structure.

Politics

Thievery Corporation's lyrics are highly influenced by current political events. Tracks such as "Amerimacka" and "Revolution Solution" from their album The Cosmic Game and Richest Man in Babylon from the album of the same title reveal the group's opposition to current political events and most notably initiatives taken by the contemporaneous Bush administration.

In September 2005, the group participated in the Operation Ceasefire concert, with the objective of ending the war in Iraq.

From their Press Release regarding their upcoming album Radio Retaliation [1] Garza is quoted

"Radio Retaliation is definitely a more overt political statement ... There’s no excuse for not speaking out at this point, with the suspension of habeas corpus, outsourced torture, illegal wars of aggression, fuel, food, and economic crises. It’s hard to close your eyes and sleep while the world is burning around you. If you are an artist, this is the most essential time to speak up."

Appearances in Media

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

  • 2001: A Spliff Odyssey (1996)
  • Dub Plate, Vol. 1 (1996)
  • The Foundation (1996)
  • Lebanese Blonde (1998)
  • DC 3000 (1999)
  • It Takes a Thief (1999)
  • Focus on Sight (2000)
  • Bossa Per Due (2001)
  • Revolution Solution
  • Warning Shots
  • The Heart's a Lonely Hunter
  • Sol Tapado
  • The Richest Man in Babylon
  • The Lagos Communique
  • Halfway Around the World
  • Incident at Gate 7
  • Encounter in Bahia
  • ESL Dubplate
  • Shaolin Satellite
  • Chaplin Swankster
  • Originality
  • Supreme Illusion

Compilations

Featuring artists

Thievery Corporation depends on various supporting artists to perform for them. The featuring artists they have invited or remixed include:

External links

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