dj’s rob garza and eric hilton formed thievery corporation at d.c.’s 18th street lounge in the summer of 1995.  they mix associated artists with acid jazz, reggae, indian classical, and middle eastern.  the duo began performing together as a result of their mutual love of club life, dub, bossa nova and jazz records.

much of the band’s abstract, instrumental, mid-tempo dance music is accompanied by associated guests such as david byrne, the doors, perry farrell, wayne coyne (the flaming lips), emilíana torrini, pam bricker, loulou, femi kuti, seu jorge, anoushka shankar, jana andevska and chuck brown and their songs include english, spanish, french, persian, portuguese, romanian and hindi lyrics.

it’s no surprise that they describe their music as "outernational," with an "appreciation and empathy for all people around the globe".

they attracted attention of critics after the release of their 1997 debut l.p., sounds from the thievery hi-fi.  there was a three year gap between their next release as they were forced to postpone after tapes were stolen in a mugging.

on frequent occasion, thievery corporation’s lyrics are influenced by political and world events.  songs from "amerimacka" and "revolution solution" from their album the cosmic game (2005) and “richest man in babylon” from the 2004 album of the same name talk about their opposition to the policies of the bush administration.  In fact, the group participated in operation ceasefire, with the goal of ending the war in iraq.

thier fifth and latest studio album, the freedom of expression dominated radio retaliation, released september 23, 2008 and was nominated for a grammy for best recording package.  “radio retaliation is definitely a more overt political statement,” said rob.  “there's no excuse for not speaking out at this point, with the suspension of habeas corpus, outsourced torture, illegal wars of aggression, fuel, food, and economic crises”.

eric continues by saying, “apart from a few independent bastions, there is no musical or informational freedom on the u.s. airwaves anymore.  the traditional public commons have been sold to the highest corporate bidders.  music is suffering and society is suffering too.  radio retaliation is about an exodus of conscious people who are willing to acknowledge something is wrong with the ‘official version’ in news and culture.  therefore, we need to create our own channels".

you may recognize their music from the films garden state, and memento, and t.v.'s the west wing, veronica mars, and true blood and a bunch of ea sports video games that the kids love to play so much.

click here for an april 02, 2009 in studio interview/set recorded by wxpn for world café.  click here for a december 04, 2008 tell me more music interview and profile by npr.  click here, here, here, here and here for july 24, 2006,  may 25, 2005, february 22, 2005, november 22, 2002 and november 14, 2002 in-studio sets and interviews recorded by kcrw's morning becomes eclectic.  click here for an interview by kcrw's jason bentley.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if thievery corporation have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.