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Rating: Listening to this first work by Thievery Corporation means embarking on a true journey into a psychedelic, free universe where each of us can strip down, run, jump, and grasp the void. In these sounds, I discover something primordial, essential, the Garden of Eden, the very reason for living. In “Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi” there is something erotic, one senses that same transcendental feeling experienced after making love or after listening to an excellent performance of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” But with due differences: with this, I do not want to absolutely compare Thievery Corporation to the inimitable Vivaldi (the comparison would absolutely not hold). But with this, I mean to say that the same purity of sounds, contrary to what one might say about electronic music, trip-hop, chill out, is also evident in this first work by Thievery Corporation. And I highly recommend listening to this album in absolute silence, at medium volume, focusing on the images that attentive listening can evoke.
Eric Hilton and Rob Garza are two skilled, classy DJs, accustomed to seeking out new sounds and not mechanically selecting music already “created” by others to satisfy a generic audience of club-goers. Hilton and Garza work a lot on the single note, the rhythmic cadence, the quest for sound, but at the same time, they create accessible dreamlike situations, without losing themselves in indigestible experiments. And this is possible thanks to their deep musical knowledge ranging from the Ramones, Sex Pistols (it seems that Hilton played in a band as a teenager that mainly covered punk bands) to Johnny Cash (inherited from their parents). From the Clash to Henry Mancini passing through the greats of jazz until they are struck by two great masters: Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto. So what genre could be more appropriate for these two DJs? Only Chill-Out, a genre that allows you to combine electronic sounds with dub music, acid jazz, samba. It’s a kind of world music but more catchy or rather more accessible, suitable for every type of audience. But certainly, Thievery Corporation are not unique in making good chill out. In Italy, for instance, Nicola Conte is outstanding in this genre (listen to “Jet Sounds”) and is, moreover, a decent jazz musician (one example above all, the last album “Other Directions”) supported by prominent jazz musicians.
Ultimately, I can say (and I’m not alone) that the chill-out genre was born with this album that made the “Thievery Corporation” famous, creating a new musical space for experimentation that, today, is widely filled by many DJs but that, at the same time, has become a successful commercial phenomenon (see Buddha Bar) that has led to the premature destruction of this genre. Nowadays, the supply exceeds the demand (thinking in economic terms) and, naturally, the original spirit of the genre has been lost. But, fortunately, there is still hope for a renaissance of true chill-out with the capable Nicola Conte and with its creators.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
08 The Foundation (05:40)
We already??? Just as we are born knowing what we like
It is difficult to associate these horrors
with the proud civilisations that created them.
Sparta, Rome, the knights of Europe, the Samurai.
They work ship strength because it is strength
that makes all other valuables possible
He is a foundation of creation
storm, typhoon, tidal wave, and tempest
luring elements from creation???
telling the world???
12 .38.45 (A Thievery Number) (05:10)
.38 .45 the theivery number, the corporation. .38 .45 that's a rudeboy number
we come annihilate the blood clot nation, build it up from the foundation
since you must learn give your sense to me and watch me make burn
Hear me what I say
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