Thievery Corporation Radio Retaliation

Article by Colin

Get set for some Radio Retaliation - Thievery Corporation is here with a new album, their most intensely political to date.

Thievery Corporation grew out of a shared love of dub, bossa nova and jazz. Band members Eric Hilton and Rob Garza released their first singles on 12" vinyl in 1996. They subsequently put out four albums - Radio Retaliation is their fifth studio outing - and remixed the likes of The Doors, Sarah McLachlan and David Byrne. But what does Radio Retaliation sound like? And what does it stand for? "It is definitely a more overt political statement," says Garza...

Thievery Corporation made the record out of concern at the creeping corporatisation of our everyday lives and the consolidation of big business interests and its homogenising effects on culture. "Apart from a few independent bastions, there is no musical or informational freedom on the US airwaves anymore," argues Hilton. "Music is suffering and society is suffering too. Radio Retaliation is about an exodus of conscious people who are willing to acknowledge something is wrong with the 'official version' in news and culture."

For Thievery Corporation, to speak out about the injustices in the world ("outsourced torture, illegal wars of aggression, fuel, food and economic crises") is now more important than ever. "If you are an artist," continues Garza, "this is the most essential time to speak up."

And speak up they do. Radio Retaliation is a potent mix of musical influences, such as The Clash, Public Enemy and Fela Kuti, and non-musical influences - most notably the Zapatistas. The album's uncompromising artwork features the image of a Mexican Zapatista fighter. "They wear masks to shield their identity from right-wing death squads who prey on them and terrorize them, threatening to kick them off their land or worse, " says Hilton, "People's movements, like the Zapatistas, are a great source of inspiration for us and that's clearly reflected on the new record."

All this for a band who originate in the heart of the empire - Washington D.C. Whilst both members grew up listening to western music (Garza's youth was soundtracked by the likes of Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, The Beatles and Hugo Largo, while Hilton spent his formative years hooked onto UK punk, such as The Specials, and later The Style Council), as they moved deeper into music, both began to mix up dub, dancehall, bossa nova and soul-jazz. Despite the politics, their first love is the music they make: "Our deepest source of inspiration comes from our record collections", says Garza.

Radio Retaliation reflects the duo's love of eclectic styles, mixing together sounds from Jamaica, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. It's a multi-cultural sound that succeeds in being accessible and forward thinking at the same time. And if you are worried that it's two Americans imitating these sounds and styles, think again. Says Hilton: "We worked with artists from around the world. The roots of our inspiration have always come from what is happening globally, and at the moment there is so much happening, on every level."

Nigeria's afro-beat heir Femi Kuti, Indian sitar virtuoso Anushka Shankar and the freewheeling Chuck Brown are present and correct, along with long-time collaborators Lou Lou, Sleepy Wonder and Zee.

But for the band, the real thrill will be when they take the album out on the road, at the beginning of 2009. It will, they say, provide them with the ideal opportunity to challenge preconceptions head on and provoke conscientious thought among their audience. "To see a Persian singer singing in Farsi, as America debates on a war with Iran, next to other band members from all corners of the earth singing in Spanish, Portuguese, French and so on, it makes people wonder," says Garza. "And if you can get people to question the things around them, just a little, then that's not such a bad thing."