Thievery > Electronic Music

Words by Erez Reuveni
Image provided by Brian Liu

Thievery Corporation is renowned for its internationally-influenced electronic music. The Washington D.C.-based group, consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, formed in 1995 when Rob and Eric met at the Eighteenth Street Lounge and discovered a mutual love for Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobin and 1960s bossa nova sound.

The duo began collaborating on several tracks that would later contribute to their first album, Sounds From the Thievery Hi-Fi, an eclectic mix of house grooves, experimental hip-hop beats, Jamaican dub, and bossa nova. The album gained the group immediate credibility and launched Thievery Corporation as one of the premier DJ/Producer duos, all from the pulpit of their own independent record label, Eighteenth Street Lounge Music.

Their most recent album, The Richest Man in Babylon, continues their tradition of drawing upon a diverse set of musical influences and genres. Their passion for bossa nova is fused with a chill-out sensibility. Passionate female vocals are spliced with exotic instrumentation, and sitars augment a series of vocals sung in Farsi. The album is often seductive and enchanting, introspection and politics subtly mixed with funky beats guaranteed to get your head bobbing and your feet moving.

Their sound has matured and grown over the years through the release of several compilations and three studio albums. Thievery's musical styles are distinctively varied. The duo insisted on creative control of their music, thus forming Eighteenth Street Lounge Music. Rob Garza notes, "The record label is a vehicle for putting out our own music. We wanted to have creative control and just enjoy the whole process of doing it ourselves." The label has grown into something much larger than either Rob or Eric ever anticipated. "We started doing compilations and putting out a few artists, and now it has grown into something a lot bigger. We have artists from all over the world. It just comes down to what we like."

And what do Rob and Eric like? What influences their music? "We like a lot of music from the mid and late 1960s. It was just a very experimental time with music in general. There was just a great source of experi-mentation, especially when you listen to soundtrack composers like Henry Mancini or Francis Lye. They might do things like mix bossa nova or have a sitar in their music. The sense of freedom, musically, is definitely a source of inspiration for us."

The freedom to create innovative music is what fuels Thievery Corporation. While electronic music is generally cold and mechanical, Thievery takes inspiration from various musical genres to create music that is engaging, relaxing, and entertaining. Their belief is that music is an entity available to all. So music should be constantly examined and interpreted, creating new musical hybrids to explore. "Our record collection is very diverse. There is definitely an Indian influence, Middle Eastern music, Afro-Cuban music, Jamaican dub, all sorts." Thievery skillfully blends these various influences, crafting records that have been labeled everything from "the thinking man's chill-out album," to "down-tempo utopians."

Labels aside, it's actually quite difficult to categorize the group's music. Thievery also draws inspiration from the jazz singers and musicians from the 1960s. One of their recent albums, Sounds From the Verve Hi-Fi, pays homage to Verve Records' storied catalogue of jazz musicians ranging from Ella Fitzgerald and Charlie Parker to Astrud Gilberto and Maria Toledo. On the album, Thievery takes classic jazz songs and mixes them using their producers' sensibilities. The result is a sultry elegy exulting the memory of Thievery Corporation's antecedents. Ironically, the group first got attention in Europe before ever being noticed in the United States. Their music seemed to fit more within the rubric of European giant Kruder and Dorfmeister, who they are often compared to, than within the confines of the emerging electronica of the States. Rob notes that at first "we weren't selling any records here." Thievery's music received a warm reception in their hometown of Washington D.C., but failed to garner widespread recognition outside the underground scene following their debut release. "The people here (in D.C.) are very receptive to what we do. Every time we play in Washington, it's really crazy, and gets out of hand." In the years since, word of mouth about the consistent excellence created by Rob and Eric has led album sales to snowball. Shows are now packed and Thievery received recognition in their home country.

Thievery are ardent Mac users. Rob notes, "For serious artistic applications, I've always found the Mac preferable to the PC. The PC was created as a business computer. I actually have a G4, the standup model, and a Powerbook too." In fact, Thievery creates some of its music on their Macintoshes. DJ Kicks, a 1999 compilation disc on which the group mixes such artists as Dj Cam, Up, Bustle and Out, and Rockers Hi-Fi, was done entirely on Rob's Powerbook. "We use Digital Performer. In the studio we also have a Mac, and use Logic."

As for future plans? Thievery Corporation would like to host a DJ gathering in the Caribbean sometime in 2003. "We haven't worked out the details, but we're going to invite some friends who've appeared on our records and some other people we'd like to work with." In addition, the group will continue to produce top-notch quality music that defies categorization.