Thievery Corporation was formed in the summer of 1995 at Washington D.C.'s Eighteenth Street Lounge.[1] Rob Garza and Lounge co-owner Eric Hilton were drawn together over their mutual love of club life, as well as dub, bossa nova, ReggeEDM, and jazz records. They decided to see what would come of mixing all these in a recording studio, and from this, in 1996 the duo started their Eighteenth Street Lounge Music record label.[2]
The duo drew attention with their first two 12-inch offerings, "Shaolin Satellite" and "2001: a Spliff Odyssey", and with their 1996 debut LP, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi.
In 2006, the group released Versions, a selection of remixes by Thievery Corporation for other artists. They toured around the United States, playing at Lollapalooza.[3] The tour was photographed by Rob Myers, Thievery Corporation's sitar and guitar player, in the Blurbphoto bookThievery Corporation 2006.[4] In 2006, the band also recorded "Sol Tapado" for the AIDS benefit album Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin Redux produced by the Red Hot Organization. As well, in the 2006 release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour for Xbox, their music was featured as the soundtrack to the game.[5] Also in 2006, Puma Ptah, then known as Ras Puma, joined and toured with Thievery Corporation and continues to tour with them today.[6]
The group released their fifth studio album, Radio Retaliation, on September 23, 2008. It was nominated for the Grammy for best recording package.[7] Thievery Corporation's tour started out with five consecutive sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.[8]
On July 27, 2010, Babylon Central, the cinematic directorial debut of founding member Eric Hilton, was released. Set (and shot) in Washington, D.C., the film follows tripwire events in the interconnected lives of its characters, each influencing power brokers' schemes to manipulate international currencies.[10]
In June 2011, Thievery Corporation released their sixth album, Culture of Fear, which also featured the vocal stylings of Puma Ptah, then known as Ras Puma, on the tracks: "Overstand" and "False Flag Dub."
In January 2012, Thievery Corporation launched a remixes contest in conjunction with Dubspot.[11] The same year, Eric Hilton from Thievery Corporation produced the debut album, Archives, for Washington D.C. based reggae band "The Archives."
On January 11, 2017, the band released the song "Ghetto Matrix" from their album The Temple of I & I, which was released on February 10, 2017, again via their own ESL Music label.[13]
On April 20, 2018, the band released Treasures from the Temple via ESL Music.[14]
Throughout their career, the duo has repeatedly expressed their fondness for Brazilian culture in interviews and liner notes of their releases, especially of the 1960s Bossa Nova music movement.[15] Some of their earlier recordings were accompanied by artwork paying specific homage to classic releases by bossa nova artists like João Gilberto (his self-titled 1973 album) or Tom Jobim (Stone Flower). Their 1997 debut album is also dedicated to the memory of Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim, who died three years earlier.
Thievery Corporation has taken liberal political stances on various issues, opposing war and what they regard as exploitative trade agreements, while supporting human rights and food programs.
In September 2005, the group participated in the Operation Ceasefire concert, with the objective of ending the Iraq War.
From their press release regarding their album Radio Retaliation, Garza said:
Radio Retaliation is definitely a more overt political statement [...] There's no excuse for not speaking out at this point, with the suspension of habeas corpus, outsourced torture, illegal wars of aggression, fuel, food, and economic crises. It's hard to close your eyes and sleep while the world is burning around you. If you are an artist, this is the most essential time to speak up.
Thievery Corporation are vocal advocates for the World Food Programme, seeing hunger as "...something basic, really elemental, that transcends boundaries around the world."[17]
