Customer Reviews

Sounds From the Thievery Hi-Fi (Reis)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having re-released their other albums as digipaks, Thievery Corporation did so with their first album. This is technically a re-release of the 1999 re-release, with Transcendence, Scene at the Open Air Market, Encounter in Bahia, Assault on Babylon, and One. They have removed the track Manha (which doesn't appear on the original CD anyway), which is not a big loss, and adds two tracks: Sun, Moon and Stars (from the Incident at Gate 7 single), and The Sleeper Car (from the 38.45 single). Sun, Moon, and Stars is a very nice uptempo song with a reggae-style beat, and The Sleeper Car is a very laid-back relaxed song. This is a great purchase if you didn't have these songs. Now, if they would just get around to compiling all their other B-sides, we'd be in business.

This is a great CD, every track is different but good. I have all their other CDs and this one completes my collection. Most music in this genere fall into one of two catagories. The more pop-oriented bands like Morcheeba, Zero 7, Hooverphonic, etc. or the more unusual ones like Stereolab, Spicehouse, Portishead, etc. Theivery Corporation is somewhere in the middle. They have good songs put together in unique ways. Their music is always refreshing. My favorite songs on this CD are; The Oscillator, Sun, Moon, and Stars, Incident At Gate 7 and Transcendence. If you like Trip-Hop/Chill, you can't go wrong with any of their albums.

excellent mais vous me ,pétez les couilles avec votre description de merde!!! vous voulez quoi de plus???!!! allez tire toi!

I had never heard of this group. Very interesting music, always engaging. I'm listening to it now, always a pleasure;chill jazz, not mainstream at all.

I love, love love this disk. Very early 90s hip hopish in the beat department, its their first cd and maybe their best.

While Thievery Corporation's first full album is less sophisticated than their later outings its rawer, less "crafted" style means that its best tracks have a distinctly more exciting edge. "The Glass Bead Game", "So Vast is the Sky" and ".38.45" just jump out of the speakers with their highly infectious mix of electronica, hip-hop & dub while "Shaolin Satellite's" drivingly addictive beats and multi-layered swathes of organs & sitars put it up there with the very best of the whole electronica/dance scene. Others drift, often much too languidly, between genres giving a rambling and disjointed feel to the album as a whole but, if you're a fan of Thievery Corporation or of high quality downbeat "world" music then what's good on it is too good to miss.

The Washington, D.C. pair of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, known as the Thievery Corporation, came onto the electronic music scene with the release of their first album, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi. The duo attempted to bring various genres of music together into a broad-ranging electronic lounge experience. They succeeded completely with their first effort, and continued that success with their subsequent albums. Dub music, hip-hop beats, and trippy sequences combine with ambient textures and electronic tones smoothly to create an album that flows back and forth from great dance tunes to trippy ambient music. At times it may seem slightly disjointed, but the sheer variety of music experienced in one album easily makes up for this. If you are at all interested in hearing these different genres of music combined masterfully, you must listen to this album.

Thievery Corporation takes a wide array of traditional instruments, changes them in the studio, and then combines them with other electronic noises. This creates a sound that moves from being very electronic sounding to more natural sounding at times. You will hear piano, drums, and trumpet mixed in with occasional vocals and electronic tones created solely in a studio. Although Garza and Hilton draw from many instruments and genres, some stick out more in this album than others. The album is full of very strong beats, often reminiscent of various hip-hop bass lines. Thievery sometimes ventures even further into the realm of hip-hop, such as in the song "Shaolin Satellite," which features hip-hop inspired vocals that lend a dance side to the track. In addition to hip-hop, one of the most common features that pop up song after song on this album are dub and reggae sequences. When the background beat strays away from a slightly more recognizable hip-hop tone, a sped up combination of dub and hip-hop beats takes over. This is most notable in the song "38.45 (A Thievery Number)." In addition to this, most of the vocals throughout the album are reggae and dub inspired. "2001 Spliff Odyssey" and "Assault on Babylon" both rely heavily on this and sound more like dub than almost anything else. Both the hip-hop and dub facets of the album work to create sharp and creative sounds, but the incredible lounge aspect of the album comes from the broad ambient noises in the background of each song. Whether it is a dance tune or a slower lazy song, electronic tones spread across the background of each track. Notable especially in "Transcendence," "The Glass Bead Game," and "The Oscillator," these textures tie the whole album together and create an easy listening but very complex work.

In summary, if you are looking for music that transcends any one specific label and combines the best aspects of dub music, hip-hop, reggae, and electronic music into a dance and lounge combination, then this is an album you need to add to your collection as soon as possible. You will not be disappointed by the work put in by Thievery Corporation.

My addiction to this stuff is way over the top. I need to get in touch with these dudes so i can croon discordant and seductive!!! If i couldnt describe myself in words, which i cant, this type style of flow would do it. Excellent. Picked this up last nite at Tower. Each album ages sweet! Now to finish my collection.

*Rubbing hands greedily.

The whole track has a very slow moving, heavily drugged out feeling, definitely NOT their best mix.