Entertainment

Thievery Corporation (ESL music) set to release Radio Retaliation 9.23

By: Brittany Somerset

WASHINGTON, DC – Dynamic D.C. based duo Thievery Corporation, AKA Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, are all set to drop their latest album Radio Retaliation on September 23rd on Eighteenth Street Lounge Music.

In reference to his collective nom de plume, Thievery Corporation’s Rob Garza says “Our deepest source of inspiration comes from our record collections.” Garza, along with Eric Hilton, make up the dynamic duo, Thievery Corporation. Always great admirers and curators of dusty grooves and vintage vinyl, Thievery Corporation borrow from the classically sensual and blunted sounds of their favorite Jamaican dub, reggae, rocksteady, Brazilian bossa nova, vintage film soundtracks, and psychedelic rock, to forge new sophisticated sonic territory.

Recording at the Consulate studios in Washington D.C., Thievery Corporation have managed to blossom in the heart of the Empire, a city the duo often refer to as “the real Babylon.” The group is a major presence in a scene legendary for fierce independence, musically and politically. Formed in the summer of 1995 at D.C.’s Eighteenth Street Lounge – the now world-renowned venue that is still a creative incubator for DC underground music – Rob Garza and Lounge co-owner Eric Hilton bonded over strong drinks, reggae, rocksteady, lover’s rock, dub, bossa nova and jazz records, then decided to see what would come of mixing all these together in a recording studio.

The duo caught the ears of underground DJs with their first two 12” vinyl EPs, “Shaolin Satellite” and “2001: A Spliff Odyssey.” 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 chillaxed contemporaries. Though the terminology has varied (trip hop, downtempo, chill out, atmospheric drum and bass, space age bachelor pad music, and myriad other permutations), they have been at the top of their game since the release of their first single.

Rastafarian sibling singers, Zebo and Roots, received their first major buss, performing live vocals with Thievery Corporation, and later joined their troupe full-time. Thievery kicked it up a notch, when singer Notch recorded with them.

After the warm, minimalistic, yet multi-layered, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi, Garza and Hilton raised the production value significantly with the highly acclaimed, “The Mirror Conspiracy,” which contained the seminal international hit “Lebanese Blonde.”

The next Thievery offerings were the conscious and thought-provoking, “The Richest Man In Babylon,” followed by the dub remix album “Babylon Revisited,” “The Cosmic Game,” “Abductions and Reconstructions,” and “Versions.” The title, “Versions” gives a nod to the Jamaican production tradition of creating “versions” of the original tracks. Their newest album, tentatively titled, “Radio Retaliation” will be out on September 23rd, of 2008.

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