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Thievery Corporation’s latest album, “Radio Retaliation,” sticks to the electronic, trip-hop style the D.C. duo has produced in the past, but is not without some new flavors. Almost every track features a different artist, each more unorthodox than, say, T.I. when lending a hand to T-Pain.

As the title would suggest, “Radio Retaliation” contains more than a few politically-driven songs. But the message never comes across too forcibly. As the name of the genre might suggest, the trip-hop tracks just coast along.

Overall, the album proves an easy listen and features a diverse set of artists. However, it is not by any means a poppy album, and is probably better suited to those with more off beat tastes. — (via The Flat Hat)

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Washington DC's Thievery Corporation have, for the past decade, provided a sleek, seductive sound that grew out of the trip-hop craze of the late 90s. Based around two DJS with impeccable taste, Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, they operate out of their Eighteenth Street Lounge club, marrying diverse beats with a parade of impressive left-field guest vocalists. In the past, artists as notable as David Byrne, Perry Farrell and Bebel Gilberto have all lent their voice to Garza and Hilton’s beats.

There is something dignified about the Corporation's approach, which is part deeply exploratory and part 'if-it-ain’t-broke-don't-fix-it'. And it's when these two styles clash you have the heart of their operation – say, here when the horns kick in on Mandala after Anoushka Shankar has played her fiery sitar, it is at once familiar and quite unsettling. Go-go avatar and fellow Washingtonian Chuck Brown's contribution on The Numbers Game shows how hard and funky the ensemble can be; Femi Kuti underlines the group's ever-present political agenda with his spirited vocals on Vampires. The dreamy ambience of single Sweet Tides and the blank beats of Beautiful Drug demonstrate why the Thievery Corporation are still very much at the peak of their powers.

But the group are at their most successful when they are using in-house vocalists Sleepy Wonder and Notch, on their dub-soaked confections such as the affectionate Tenor Saw homage Sound The Alarm and Blasting Through The City, which reconnects us back to the Thieverys' earliest work, most notably 2001: A Spliff Odyssey. — (via BBC Music)

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Label: Primary Wave Music
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 2008
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Reggae, Latin
Style: Dub, Trip Hop

File under: Downtempo
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