Customer Reviews

Cosmic Game

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This album is a bit of a departure from "The Richest Man in Babylon," but I doubt you'll miss the change. The emphasis is back on world beats and smooth electronic sounds. Gone are the haunting vocals of Emiliana Torrini (from Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes), but there are some great appearances by other artists like Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction) and The Flaming Lips. For my money, this album is not as beautiful as previous entries in the Thievery discography, but it is a nice downtempo album that emphasizes the duo's talent at making music and not just making sounds.

If you're looking for a repeat of "The Richest Man in Babylon" you might be initially disappointed, but don't let that deter you from picking this album up. If you're a longtime Thievery fan, then you know what to expect and this album delivers in gold.

Thievery Corporation's 2005 release, "Cosmic Game" is one of those albums you gotta play a few times to fully get into. The truth is the duo combine quite a few more elements in here than in previous productions. There's the Middle Eastern and Oriental feels blended in with the classic bossa-based and chillout Thievery element, along with a fair amount of Reggae-based beats. The final mix sounds like Deep Forest-meets-Faithless-meets-Groove Armada, in some way, if that description makes any sense to you.

It's one refreshing album that will make you feel happy. Some of the songs do convey a sense of interstellar trip, so I guess the name was pretty well chosen. By all means, give it a chance. It truly grows on you.

Indeed, sir, there I was moseyin' out of the Barnyard Starbucks, when I hyear some pulsatin' beats droppin' out of a passing car. But not just yer regular chill beatz: these were drippin' with the very finest world-beat, coolin' down the block. I mean, my caramel latte suddenly became an ICED caramel latte, dig? So when I find out my crew the Thievery Corporation has a new CD out, I done wang-dang-doodled my way over to get me some. And hoo boy! This done hear hit me where I live! Perhaps a bit more poppy than 'Richest Man in Babylon,' but dang if I can't get enough of 'Warning Shots' (which sets the dance floor on fire where I dj), or Perry Farrell's turn on 'Revolution Solution.' TC have a way of turning the people ON to WORLD FLAVA, and I got no problem sayin' that WORLD FLAVA don't taste like chicken! A great CD, no doubt!

with so many different artists collaborating on this cd, i don't know where to begin

i must say though, that having the flaming lips open with ' marching the hate machines into the sun' was a great beginning..

retaining a classic 'theivery' feel, you can really get the 'world music' vibe, with hints of reggae, indian, alt rock , etc

each track is well produced, and at the risk of sounding like a fanboy, there's none that i woudl skip over; the cd was just mastered so well that they all flow into each other


they've always been on my radar ( since i first heard the french version of lebanese blonde ) but this is my first disc from them, and i have no regrets

After owning this album for many months, I am still quietly amazed. Can an album be political, spacey, aggressive, relaxed, serious, sexy, rocking, jazzy, trippy, and funky...yet flow and blend together seamlessly? It can, and The Cosmic Game makes it look easy. Like true gourmet chefs with a nice supply of exotic spices and ingredients, the masterminds at Thievery Corporation have crafted an amazing delicacy.

My first impression, like that of many reviewers, was that this was business as usual for these guys. But there's something to be said for that. This group challenges itself to constantly enrich and inform its aesthetic, reaching further and expanding its repertoire of styles and source material. The fact that it doesn't look like they're trying is a testament to how good they are. This album builds on what they've learned, ambitiously stretches, and ultimately succeeds.

Garza and Hilton are nothing if not adventurous. They continue to enrich our lives with their masterful synthesis of rhythm and music. The Cosmic Game is another of their recipes definitely worth sampling.

I got this the day it came out and it was quite good. What it really reminds me of is a cross between Mirror Conspiracy and Richest Man in the sense that it has the lyrical tone and overall darker/moodier sense of Richest Man (not that it sounds evil or anything) with the more electronic sounds and catchier hooks of Mirror Conspiracy (which is easily their most accessible album). What I always love reading are the split opinions of everything they've done since about 2000 or so. It seems that the reviews are either a) the latest release is the best thing they've ever done or b) Sounds From...was the best thing ever done and everything since then sucks and is repetitive. True, SF was a great and very original sound at the time, but it's very spare, and had they repeated it, that would have been a terrible idea. So, as I see it, they first tried making catchier songs on Mirror Conspiracy, then tried adding new layers on Richest Man. Now, they've simply taken all the ideas they've had before, condensed them, and came out with Cosmic Game. This isn't a bad idea (Radiohead's Hail to the Thief did the same thing, with great results is my opinion). True, they've done the brief-pair-of-latin-flavored-songs-in-the-middle-of-the-album thing for the third straight album, but since the songs are short and good, so what? It's a trademark. I was glad to see the addition of new singer gunjan to many tracks, as she(?) has a lovely voice and adds for atmosphere, although Pam Bricker was missed (and will be, as she apparently passed away on Feb 20th). I did like the use of horns on this album (a little too much Shaft-flavored horn for me on the last one; they do jazzy-flavored much more naturally), and I thought that David Byrne hasn't sounded this fresh in a long time (he really should do more guest spots, this and that Lazy song from last year were good). What I think is best about Thievery is that they're good for listening to or dancing to. They make well-crafted songs, pack multiple hook lines into each song, and aren't trying to create a completely new sound every time, but letting the music go where it goes. So basically, if you like Thievery, this album will be exactly what you're looking for. If you think nothing will ever top Sounds From... this probably won't change your mind. If you're new to them completely, give it a listen. I'd never heard of them until about 2000, and loved every single song I heard, even the b-sides, so you never know.

Context: I own a lot of music from Thievery Corp. , K&D, Moby's instrumental work, Rob Dougan and others. But of all the different kinds of "groove" I listen to and work to all day long, Thievery are my favorite artists / duo. If you own and enjoy the Mirror Conspiracy, you're going to love this IMO.

These guys are truly incredible the way they manage to integrate a wide variety of sounds into a completely seamless and natural sounding whole. This CD flows together as a single work probably better than any other that I own. And I own a ton of instrumental music. Urban, Jazz, Ethereal, you name it. It's just impossible to get sick of this music. It reveals something new almost every time I listen to it, which is not always true of modern instrumental music. Often it just fades away into the background after a while. Not this, however....

I don't often use the word "rewarding" in reference to music, but this CD qualifies in almost every respect. Worth every penny.

These guys are going to have a hard time topping "The Mirror Conspiracy," but this album is pretty good. I particularly like tracks 3, 5 and 6. I was not fond of the last track because it reminded me too much of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." Not that I don't like Al Green. I just appreciate originality. But there are several other good tracks on here. Buying "The Cosmic Game" was definitely not a mistake.

"The Cosmic Game" is a deep, smooth, and highly appealing "downbeat" workout which will delight to you in a perfect "DUB" TRIP inside to your brain. Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have pretty much stamped their trademark dub-meets-lounge sound throughout the "pop" world, and with considerable success. Reflecting last year's (2003) excellent mix CD ('The Outernational Sound'), this time around (studio album number four) the duo have expanded their sonic palate to tackle a more blatantly "pop" sound, albeit a supremely sophisticated one, and one that reflects their lush downbeat leanings.
Taking in everything from jazz funk to slick dancehall to rich bossa nova, and even lashings of psychedelic sounds, plus numerous vocal collaborators including the incredible The Flaming Lips, dancehall toaster Sleepy Wonder, the beautiful voice of Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell and David Byrne and the voice of Notch, featured on the Corporation's last album, takes a step deeper into the pocket by heavily buttering his toasts on "Amerimacka"; amazing song. The vocal contributor who leaves the most indelible mark is Gunjan, a superstar in India but virtually unknown to American audiences. She sings on four tracks and shines on all of them, especially the hauntingly beautiful "Shiva" and "Warning Shots," a cross-cultural track that artfully blends East Indian and Jamaican grooves.
Once again Thievery Corporation demonstrates a grandeur and stylistic prowess that remains all but peerless in today's saturated world of downtempo electronica.

This excellent collection of smooth lounge music breaks no new ground, but the groove that Thievery Corp. settles into here is a very good one. From the first shimmering notes of Marching the Hate Machines to the end of the aptly titled Gentle Dissolve, we are lulled by soothing, flighty arias, funky beats, and perfect knob twiddling. The final product: a dreamy lounge experience that is the perfect sound track for your local Starbucks or, one presumes, latter day opium dens. But I repeat myself. The one misstep is the too harsh intro to The Supreme Illusion. Don't jolt us out of the illusion, guys.

Yes, for good or for ill, this is music that will be piped incessantly through the Starbucks of the world. But can you really complain when that soothing delivery system is injecting the veins of the masses with lyrics like "So let's start by / Making it clear / Who is the enemy, here" in Marching the Hate Machines into the Sun? No, you say, that's pretty insipid. Point taken, but the theme continues in Warning Shots, "They try their best just to mash up the resistance / Warning shots and sirens from a distance / Riot gear and barricade for an instance," and in Revolution Solution, "The paradox of poverty / Has left us dismayed / Sliding democracy / Washing away / The toil of the many goes / To the fortunate few." Yeah, I know, no one will listen to those interesting lyrics. But, some credit to Thievery Corporation for including them.

The knock against this cd might be that it is too disposable. There are, it is true, few tracks that I play on their own (Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun, Warning Shots, Amerimacka, and Sol Tapado), but this is less an indictment of the quality of the rest of the tracks than it is an endorsement of the album's continuity. When I hear this album, I want to hear all of it. I suspect you will too.

Slipping back into that comfortable Lebanese Blonde groove may not be the mark of an adventurous artist but it is of a competent performer. This performance does not disappoint.