Thievery Corporation

Biography

Thievery Corporation is an American electronic music duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton. Their musical style mixes elements of dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern music, hip hop, electronica, and Brazilian music, including bossa nova.

History

Thievery Corporation was formed in the summer of 1995 at Washington D.C.'s Eighteenth Street Lounge. Rob Garza and Lounge co-owner Eric Hilton were drawn together over their mutual love of club life, as well as dub, bossa nova, reggae, EDM, and jazz records. They decided to see what would come of mixing all these in a recording studio, and from this, in 1996 the duo started their Eighteenth Street Lounge Music record label.
Downtempo and lounge-influenced electronic music gained wider popularity in the late 1990s through artists such as Thievery Corporation and the rise of chill-out rooms in club culture.
The duo drew attention with their first two 12-inch offerings, "Shaolin Satellite×Shaolin Satellite1996 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracksAShaolin Satellite7:36B1The Assassination5:38B2The Way of the Dragon6:50" and "2001: a Spliff Odyssey", and with their 1996 debut LP, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi.
In 2001, they released Sounds From The Verve Hi-Fi, a "best of" compilation of 1960s–1970s material of Verve Records that includes Jazz, Bossa Nova and Latin Jazz works from artists like Cal Tjader, Wes Montgomery, Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66, Luiz Bonfá, among others.
In 2002, they released The Richest Man in Babylon on their ESL label. This 15-track album is similar in sound and timbre to their earlier 2000 release, The Mirror Conspiracy×The Mirror Conspiracy21 August 2000 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Treasures2:272Le Monde3:133Indra5:254Lebanese Blonde4:505Focus on Sight3:496Air Batucada4:477Só com você2:488Samba Tranquille3:089Shadows of Ourselves3:4010The Hong Kong Triad3:0311Illumination4:3912The Mirror Conspiracy3:4613Tomorrow3:4514Bario Alto3:5515Guide for I and I3:58, and features performances by vocalists Emilíana Torrini, Pam Bricker, and Loulou Ghelichkhani.
In 2004, they released The Cosmic Game, which has a darker, more psychedelic sound than The Richest Man in Babylon. The album also featured more high-profile guest singers on it, including Perry Farrell, David Byrne, and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.
In 2006, the group released Versions, a selection of remixes by Thievery Corporation for other artists. They toured around the United States, playing at Lollapalooza. The tour was photographed by Rob Myers, Thievery Corporation's sitar and guitar player, in the Blurb photo book Thievery Corporation 2006. In 2006, the band also recorded "Sol Tapado×Sol Tapado2005 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA1Sol Tapado3:50B1Pela Janela3:41" for the AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin Redux produced by the Red Hot Organization. As well, in the 2006 release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour for Xbox, their music was featured as the soundtrack to the game. Also in 2006, Puma Ptah, then known as Ras Puma, joined and toured with Thievery Corporation and continues to tour with them today.
The group released their fifth studio album, Radio Retaliation×Radio Retaliation23 September 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Sound the Alarm3:412Mandala4:013Radio Retaliation3:274Vampires4:575Hare Krsna3:366El Pueblo Unido3:297(The Forgotten People)3:11833°3:489Beautiful Drug3:2810La Femme Parallel4:2911Retaliation Suite2:5412The Numbers Game3:0413The Shining Path3:3814Blasting Through the City3:3415Sweet Tides4:49, on September 23, 2008. It was nominated for the Grammy for best recording package. Thievery Corporation's tour started out with five consecutive sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.
They were the opening act on August 1, 2009, for Paul McCartney at FedExField in Landover, Maryland.
On July 27, 2010, Babylon Central, the cinematic directorial debut of founding member Eric Hilton, was released. Set (and shot) in Washington, D.C., the film follows tripwire events in the interconnected lives of its characters, each influencing power brokers' schemes to manipulate international currencies.
In June 2011, Thievery Corporation released their sixth album, Culture of Fear×Culture of Fear26 June 2011 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Web of Deception4:332Culture of Fear3:133Take My Soul3:524Light Flares3:025Stargazer3:456Where It All Starts3:217Tower Seven7:498Is It Over?3:239False Flag Dub3:0510Safar (The Journey)1:4311Fragments4:1112Overstand3:4013Free4:03, which also featured the vocal stylings of Puma Ptah, then known as Ras Puma, on the tracks: "Overstand" and "False Flag Dub."
In January 2012, Thievery Corporation launched a remixes contest in conjunction with Dubspot. The same year, Eric Hilton from Thievery Corporation produced the debut album, Archives, for Washington D.C. based reggae band "The Archives."
The band released Saudade on March 25, 2014, via ESL Music.
On January 11, 2017, the band released the song "Ghetto Matrix" from their album The Temple of I & I×The Temple of I & I10 February 2017 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Thief Rockers3:292Letter to the Editor3:543Strike the Root3:324Ghetto Matrix3:475True Sons of Zion4:056The Temple of I & I4:197Time + Space4:338Love Has No Heart4:25Disc 21Lose to Find3:172Let the Chalice Blaze4:443Weapons of Distraction5:074Road Block3:375Fight to Survive3:576Babylon Falling3:567Drop Your Guns3:44, which was released on February 10, 2017, again via their own ESL Music label.
On April 20, 2018, the band released Treasures from the Temple via ESL Music.

Influences

Throughout their career, the duo has repeatedly expressed their fondness for Brazilian culture in interviews and liner notes of their releases, especially of the 1960s Bossa Nova music movement. Some of their earlier recordings were accompanied by artwork paying specific homage to classic releases by bossa nova artists like João Gilberto (his self-titled 1973 album) or Tom Jobim (Stone Flower). Their 1997 debut album is also dedicated to the memory of Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim, who died three years earlier.
The languages of the group's lyrics throughout their career include: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian and Hindi. This reflects the group's world music influences.

Politics

Thievery Corporation has taken left-wing political stances on various issues, opposing war and what they regard as exploitative trade agreements, while supporting human rights and food programs.
In September 2005, the group participated in the Operation Ceasefire concert, with the objective of ending the Iraq War.
From their press release regarding their album Radio Retaliation×Radio Retaliation23 September 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Sound the Alarm3:412Mandala4:013Radio Retaliation3:274Vampires4:575Hare Krsna3:366El Pueblo Unido3:297(The Forgotten People)3:11833°3:489Beautiful Drug3:2810La Femme Parallel4:2911Retaliation Suite2:5412The Numbers Game3:0413The Shining Path3:3814Blasting Through the City3:3415Sweet Tides4:49, Garza said:

Radio Retaliation is definitely a more overt political statement [...] 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. It's hard to close your eyes and sleep while the world is burning around you. If you are an artist, this is the most essential time to speak up.
Radio Retaliation's album cover features Subcomandante Marcos, a Mexican insurgent who is the spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. The album explores various left-wing themes, such as the song The Shining Path, named after the Peruvian Maoist communist party The Shining Path.
Thievery Corporation are vocal advocates for the World Food Programme, seeing hunger as "...something basic, really elemental, that transcends boundaries around the world."

Members

Full members

Rob Garza – bass, guitar, keyboards, production
Eric Hilton – bass, guitar, keyboards, production
Touring and studio musicians

Jeff Franca – drums
Rob Myers – sitar, guitar
Frank Orrall – percussion, drums, vocals
Dan Africano – bass
Touring and studio vocalists

Natalia Clavier
Loulou Ghelichkhani
Shana Halligan
Racquel Jones
Mr. Lif
Notch
Puma
SEE-I
Laura Vall

Compilation albums

Abductions and Reconstructions (1999)
Rare Tracks: 18th Street Lounge (1999)
DJ-Kicks: Thievery Corporation (1999)
Thievery Corporation and Revolution Present: Departures (2000)
Sounds from the Verve Hi-Fi (2001)
The Outernational Sound (2004)
Versions (2006)
Red Hot + Latin: Silencio = Muerte Redux (2006)
It Takes a Thief (2010)
Thievery Corporation 30 (2026)

Singles

Singles released on ESL Music, unless noted.

Eric Hilton albums

Peace Bureau Inner City Booms LP (2017)
Infinite Everywhere (2020)
The Impossible Silence (2020)
Ceremony (2021)
Lost Dialect (2022)
Corazón Kintsugi (feat. Natalia Clavier) (2023)
Sound Vagabond (2024)
Out of the Blur (2024)
Midnight Ragas (2025)
A Sky So Close (2026)