Thievery Corporation

Thievery Corporation

Thievery Corporation is a Washington, D.C.-based group active since 1995. It centres on Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, with Jeff Franca and GARZA also listed as members, and it works with supporting artists. The group is associated with chillout, downtempo, dub, electronic, electronica and IDM, and its music also draws on trip-hop, lounge, acid jazz, Indian classical music and Brazilian styles such as bossa nova.

Background

The group forms in the summer of 1995 at Eighteenth Street Lounge in Washington, D.C. Garza and Hilton, who co-owns the lounge, connect over club culture, dub, bossa nova and jazz records, then begin experimenting with these influences in the studio. Their own label, Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, emerges from this period and is named after Hilton’s club. The act also issues some singles and EPs through 4AD and !K7.

Early releases and albums

Thievery Corporation first attracts underground DJs with the 12-inch releases Shaolin Satellite and 2001: A Spliff Odyssey. Its debut album, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi, appears in 1997 and helps define a new strain of electronic music while building an international audience. The Mirror Conspiracy follows in 2000, and The Richest Man in Babylon arrives in 2002 on the ESL label. That album has fifteen tracks and includes performances by Emiliana Torrini, Pam Bricker and Loulou.

Later work and collaborations

The Cosmic Game is released in 2005 and has a darker, more psychedelic sound than The Richest Man in Babylon. It also features guest singers Perry Farrell, David Byrne and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips. In 2006, the group releases Versions, a collection of remixes it makes for other artists, and tours the United States, including a performance at Lollapalooza. Its fifth studio album, Radio Retaliation, follows in 2008. Culture of Fear, the sixth album, is released in 2011.

Style and language

The group’s lyrics appear in a range of languages, including English, Spanish, French, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian and Hindi. This multilingual approach matches its international outlook and collaborative structure.

Other activity

Thievery Corporation opens for Paul McCartney at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, in 2009. In 2012, it launches a remixes contest with Dubspot. Eric Hilton also makes a cinematic directorial debut with Babylon Central, a film set and shot in Washington, D.C., which is released in 2010.