Thievery Corporation’s latter albums have escaped my attention due to a lack of prominent buzz, but if memory serves me rightly, the DC-based duo initially earned a following due to a unique genetic mutation. Their speech, along with everything they hear, has a literal delay effect. So it happened that it wasn’t their intent to essentially put the “trip” in “trip-hop” — that’s just the perspective they were endowed with!
For instance, when LouLou Ghelichkhani was recruited for the track “Le Monde” on Thievery’s wonderful album The Mirror Conspiracy, the digital recording of her vocals revealed their true form; then Rob Garza was all “WTF?” and started patching in a bunch of shit until things started to sound “normal.” So describes the method underlying all of Thievery’s work, and so explains their total disinterest in going to the Grand Canyon for the sake of hearing one another yell, like, completely normally.
Saudade, their next full-length album set for release April 1, might see a diminishing of that mutation. It’s said to be their first record devoted entirely to the bossa nova sound that initially brought Garza and Eric Hilton together on a collaborative level, and which can appreciated relatively easily throughout much of their discography. Separately, Thievery’s affinity for creating studio fire hazards continues, as the album features more than a dozen guest musicians, including the aforementioned LouLou, Federico Aubele, U.N.K.L.E. drummer Michael Lowery, and more. Summarizing, Garza notes, “It’s a bit of a departure for us, but at the same time these are our roots, this is what brought us together. It’s us coming full circle from electronic music back to something organic before we move on to our next chapter.” Distinctly Thievery nonetheless:
• Thievery Corporation: http://thieverycorporation.com
• ESL: http://www.eslmusic.com
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