Welcome
This site is a tribute to the collective genius of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton who over the last ten years have made 4 amazing albums and have remixed countless others, the year is 2005 and they have released Cosmic Game, the most political album to date, which captures all the experience the pair have gained from the last decade.
10 years ago the pair had two different lives, Eric Hilton had just opened Eighteenth Street Lounge and was a guitarist whilst Rob Garza had his own record label - Ju Ju Thievery Corporation and was a trained Classical Pianist. They were introduced as they were both DJ's and it quickly became noticable that their friendship would grow because of their love for music. Both artists were in love with Bossa Nova (a form of Brazilian music).
The two started work on 'designing' their own unique style using Reggae, Bossanova and Jazz to create the sounds you can hear on Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi. They decided to release the record on the label Eighteenth Street Lounge Music and using part of Garza's Ju Ju Thievery Corporation label they named themselves Thievery Corporation.
In 1997 the pair released Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi which included songs like 2001 Spliff Odyssey, Shaolin Satellite, .38.45 (A Thievery Number), it was a massive success worldwide, but suprisingly not in their hometown of DC. This album would be played in clubs all around the world and would put Garza and Hilton on the map.
They released Mirror Conspiracy in 2000 which showed how they had evolved, they started making the most up-to-date versions of their own genre. The listeners were now getting lost in songs like Le Monde and Lebanese Blonde, the duo had never advertised themselves but they were still becoming bigger and bigger despite being very private. They have maintained their secrecy but their popularity has never changed thanks mainly to word of mouth.
In 2002 they released The Richest Man In Babylon, which included an amazing booklet containing pictures from Daniel Cima, this truly was a piece of art. This album was much more eclectic than it's previous with a bit of everything. This album features the voice of Emiliana Torrini who features in the albums opening track 'Heavens Gonna Burn Your Eyes', and 'Until The Morning'. Pam Bricker sings 'All That We Percieve' another emotional track. Omid (Hope) is an excellent example of how diverse this album gets, it varies with Synth's and Dance beats yet remains very peaceful and moody. The Richest Man in Babylon was released as a single and also features both Rob and Eric. This album was huge and led to the duo playing massive venues around the world including Glastonbury, England.
2005, Cosmic Game released, the 4th installation of the Thievery decade.
This was always going to be special but with collaborations with the likes of the Flaming Lips and Talking Heads legend David Byrne, this is more than just another album. The record is also more political too with thoughts about the recent going's on within the US with the aptly named Marching The Hate Machines Feat. The Flaming Lips. The album is more of the same with some good reggae beats but with less Bossa Nova. However the bass lines are very strong and with some good Africonised beats this album is definately one to be listened to over and over. Everytime I listen to it I find something new. The first single to be released is Warning Shots and then Sol Tapado which are available from the ESL website.