2LP, Reissue
Primary Wave Music (2022) EU
When they met in the mid-1990s, Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton and Rob Garza instantly bonded over their shared passion for bossa nova. Dedicating their 1996 debut Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi to bossa nova pioneer Antonio Carlos Jobim, the Washington, D.C.-based duo have spent over two-and-a-half decades creating boundary-warping, complexly crafted electronic music partly inspired by bossa nova's intricate rhythms and lush textures. Thievery Corporation launched itself with the two underground hit vinyl singles, "Shaolin Satellite" and "2001 Spliff Odyssey," followed by their debut and soon became loosely associated with the "trip-hop" scene that had emerged a few years prior in the U.K. Laid back yet firing, Sounds From The Thievery Hi Fi was a smoky homage to all things out on the dark side, a multi-textured transformation of Rastafarianism, martial arts and fourth world beats.