Thievery Corporation "The Cosmic Game" (ESL)
By Tim Den
Wednesday. Apr 27, 1:29 AM
A genre's forerunners reinvent themselves.

Just try and deny Thievery Corporation’s impeccable drum sound. Go ahead, I dare ya. Can’t do it, eh? That’s cuz they’ve been lab tested for irresistibility to the millionth degree.

In all seriousness, there’s good reason why these guys have sold over a million records on their own label. Thievery Corporation’s fusion of reggae, dance hall, bossa nova, jazz, and chillout / downtempo electronica caused a genre revolution when their record The Mirror Conspiracy came out a few years ago, and – after the disappointingly passive and oftentimes cheesy The Richest Man in Babylon – The Cosmic Game is here to prove that they’ve still got the tunes to maintain their Leader of the Pack status.

Opting out of the “you’re now shopping at Banana Republic” “smoothness” of The Richest Man in Babylon in favor of a psychedelic (both lyrically and synth-wise) persuasion, The Cosmic Game successfully expands Thievery Corporation’s identity by abandoning some of the unit’s trademarks for new frontiers. The sheen of productions past is now often replaced by fuzzy, swirling atmospherics perfect for The Flaming Lips to use as a backdrop… and waddaya know, they do! Opener “Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun)” velvetly (?) supports Wayne Coyne’s voice as it journeys through warped time tunnels and acid trip trails, all the while steadily thumping a stoned heartbeat. It’s a good indication of things to come, as Perry Farrell and Bryan Ferry both make appearances to further solidify the album’s hallucinatory tone. Gone are “sophisticated” European overtones, white-collar professionalism sleekness, and suave sexiness that help sell business suits: replaced by defiance of authority (“Revolution Solution,” “Amerimacka,” “Wires and Watchtowers”), a taste for the abstract (“Holographic Universe,” “Doors of Perception,” “The Supreme Illusion,” “A Gentle Dissolve”), and an urgency to go beyond what they’ve been pigeonholed by the public (easily digestible electronica). The results are an (while not entirely new) improved Thievery Corporation: one that knows more than a few party tricks and how to get your girlfriend into bed.

By acknowledging the limits of their former palate, wanting to grow beyond their content contemporaries, utilizing uncharacteristically electronica elements, and then actually making the whole thing work, The Cosmic Game has just taken Thievery Corporation to a whole new level. While minimalist bars in Wicker Park are still trying to mimic The Mirror Conspiracy, the originators have ascended to a whole new dimension entirely.
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Tim Den

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