Thievery Corporation’s Cosmic Game

By Lily Moayeri
Published in the June 2005 issue of DJ Times Magazine
Volume 18 - Number 06

When Thievery Corporation began making tracks almost 10 years ago, their particular strain was identified as “trip hop.” Nowadays it is commonly called “downtempo.” Between those early days and today, their tunes have been tagged as everything from “leftfield” to “chill-out.” Nothing has ever been a perfect description, but their popularity and critical nods continue to multiply. It’s because of the richness of their deep, groove-laden music, not the rate of a BPM counter.

On The Cosmic Game (ESL Music)—the D.C-based duo’s fourth artist album—Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have become even more grounded in their global roots. Drawing on a variety of influences and fitting them into their blueprint of reggae basslines, they incorporate everything from sitars and tablas to rock guitars and Moogs.

“When it came to any style on [The Cosmic Game], we went more in-depth to each particular sound,” says Garza. “Anything like a dub track, for us, sounds more dubby on this album—same thing with an Indian track or a Brazilian track. We explored sounds more. We’re definitely feeling more comfortable in expressing ourselves in different genres.”

Considering the many organic elements in its full-bodied sound, Thievery Corporation’s studio is surprisingly spare. The basic set-up is with Emagic’s Logic Audio on an Apple Macintosh G5 computer. The keyboards are all classics: Fender Rhodes; Wurlitzer electric piano; Roland JP8000 synth; and a Korg MS-2000 analog synth. Additionally, they use a Danelectro bass and a few acoustic and electric guitars. For The Cosmic Game, many of the tracks were started from scratch with either Garza or Hilton playing bass or keyboards. After getting some beats going, they’d chop up their own performances (in ReCycle) and layer additional instrumentation such as arpeggios, textures, and rhythmical elements on top.

Alongside these disparate, yet cohesive elements, a myriad of vocalists contributed their talents. Some are marquee names—Perry Farrell, the Flaming Lips, David Byrne; others are becoming Thievery trademarks—Sleepy Wonder, Loulou, Vernie Varela. They also welcome a trio of new voices—Gunjan, Gigi, and Sista Pat. Each brings a unique stamp to the Thievery signature dub-heavy rhythms.

“We’re not limited by things a normal band would be limited by—having two guitar players, a bass player, a singer and a drummer—always having to work within those parameters,” Garza points out. “We can work with Loulou on a very sort of quiet moody piece, and then go to Perry Farrell. That’s the beauty of being able to maneuver, having a vision musically and trying to incorporate it.”

An example of this approach is “Warning Shots,” a vocal number featuring Sleepy Wonder and Gunjan. Production began with loops and beats—then the actual groove was filled out with basslines and keyboards. After initial efforts, the tune took a serendipitous turn. “It’s an unusual song,” says Garza, “because we had a groove going, [then we] called Sleepy Wonder, who did this raga-toaster thing on top of this rhythm we had. We layered in a different vocal sample. Then we called in this other person who gave us this bouncer-type voice. We put all these elements together, came up with something pretty cool, but we felt that it was missing something.

“We had this other song we worked on with Gunjan—it was basically a groove that started in the same way. We realized they were fairly similar in tempo and were in the same key. We basically spliced the two songs together. So you have this dancehall/hip-hop beginning, then it goes into this very tripped-out Indian variation at the end. For us, at that point, the song seems to take off, combining these elements. We just started adding Wurlitzer that we ran through a phazer and delay and melded the two things together.”

More than any other Thievery album, The Cosmic Game has self-generated sounds. But the live show will be another challenge. Melding a DJ/sound system approach with a genuine band, says Garza, has its drawbacks and advantages. “When you play vinyl onstage, all the rumbling of the sound system feedbacks with the needles,” he says. “You don’t want to bring a drum kit out because with a drum kit you’re pretty much getting one sound the whole night. That’s the beauty of sampling—you’re recording drums that were recorded in nice rooms in the 1960s that have these qualities that are really hard to recreate. Those will be played off of an Akai MPC3000 or CDJs.

“It seems like [when] we started, it was just the two of us playing a CD player, sitting down and just hitting play, not doing anything. Over the years, we kept adding elements and now it’s getting to the point were it’s pretty much live. We never thought we’d be a live band when we started out. The best nights are when we play on stages that are the size of a king-sized bed and everybody is on top of each other, but the sound is so heavy and great.”