Thievery Corporation - Cosmic Game
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Free Music Notes for Cosmic Game
Free Music Review: Technosonic Gold
Hit: 5 Stars
Thievery Corporation's 2005 release, The Cosmic Game once again demonstrated the groups ability to combine and synthesize various genres of music into a unique sound. Tracks such as Amerimacka and Doors of Perception feature synthesized percussion and feel like club tracks, while the album also features more soothing Brazilian sounds in songs such as Ambicion Eterna and Pela Janela. Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, the Washington D.C. based duo who make up the group, had previously found success in their genre with their previous album, The Richest Man in Babylon, and therefore were able to attract more high profile artists in their next release, such as Perry Farrell and the Flaming Lips.
The Cosmic Game runs at sixteen tracks, and each features different elements and degrees of electronic music. In "A Gentle Dissolve", for example, you can hear the coming and going of electronic synthed effects that sound like outer space, while the track also features acoustic music. All of the tracks feature elements of electronica, whether it be computer generated sounds or unnatural fades. The singing is done by various artists of different backgrounds, giving a feel of nations such as India, Jamaica and Brazil to the songs of the album.
Unlike in music such as MICE or more delicately composed tracks, Thievery Corporation utilizes lyrics and words to counteract the electronic feel. The lyrics have value over top of the beats, providing a meaning the artists can express to the listener over their synthesized sounds. Some of the tracks, such as "The Heart's a lonely Hunter" and "Amerimacka" would fit in most dance clubs or house parties, while the album also features more subtle sounds in "Holographic Universe" and "A Gentle Dissolve". Fans of the album have commented on Thievery's departure from uptempo house music while embracing more of a relaxed feel.
Thievery Corporation follows in the footsteps of other electronische artists, while featuring recorded tracks of vocals and instruments. Much like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Thievery corporation combines the elements of electronically created sounds and those created by computers. You can really hear it in Warning Shots, where there is a drum beat and a recorded hip-hop like sounds while also effects and fades made by the computers. This track also splices the words of the singer up, unlike any of the other tracks.
The entire album is exceptional, with different tracks offering different things to various listeners. If I had to say though, I would argue that Amerimacka is my favorite song on the album. The song mixes a reggae feel with electronica, with a beat that anyone could groove too. Unlike the reggae Bob Marley covers Jamaican tourists come to loathe, Amerimacka does an amazing job taking the ska feel of reggae and combining it with electronic elements such as keyboards and synthesizers. The lyrics are kept together in full, but the sound effects add a great touch to an already cool song. I gave the album five stars for its use of different techniques of electronic and sampling methods.
Free Music Review: a good summing up of the last few albums
Hit: 5 Stars
I got this the day it came out and it was quite good. What it really reminds me of is a cross between Mirror Conspiracy and Richest Man in the sense that it has the lyrical tone and overall darker/moodier sense of Richest Man (not that it sounds evil or anything) with the more electronic sounds and catchier hooks of Mirror Conspiracy (which is easily their most accessible album). What I always love reading are the split opinions of everything they've done since about 2000 or so. It seems that the reviews are either a) the latest release is the best thing they've ever done or b) Sounds From...was the best thing ever done and everything since then sucks and is repetitive. True, SF was a great and very original sound at the time, but it's very spare, and had they repeated it, that would have been a terrible idea. So, as I see it, they first tried making catchier songs on Mirror Conspiracy, then tried adding new layers on Richest Man. Now, they've simply taken all the ideas they've had before, condensed them, and came out with Cosmic Game. This isn't a bad idea (Radiohead's Hail to the Thief did the same thing, with great results is my opinion). True, they've done the brief-pair-of-latin-flavored-songs-in-the-middle-of-the-album thing for the third straight album, but since the songs are short and good, so what? It's a trademark. I was glad to see the addition of new singer gunjan to many tracks, as she(?) has a lovely voice and adds for atmosphere, although Pam Bricker was missed (and will be, as she apparently passed away on Feb 20th). I did like the use of horns on this album (a little too much Shaft-flavored horn for me on the last one; they do jazzy-flavored much more naturally), and I thought that David Byrne hasn't sounded this fresh in a long time (he really should do more guest spots, this and that Lazy song from last year were good). What I think is best about Thievery is that they're good for listening to or dancing to. They make well-crafted songs, pack multiple hook lines into each song, and aren't trying to create a completely new sound every time, but letting the music go where it goes. So basically, if you like Thievery, this album will be exactly what you're looking for. If you think nothing will ever top Sounds From... this probably won't change your mind. If you're new to them completely, give it a listen. I'd never heard of them until about 2000, and loved every single song I heard, even the b-sides, so you never know.Free Music Review: Their best, most consistent effort
Hit: 5 Stars
I've followed TC for some time and have several of their discs. I've always liked their atmospheric, eclectic approach but got put off by the overly rudimentary, "paint by numbers" approach of much of their earlier material. TC sometimes lacked sonic depth and it was often all too obvious where electronic drum tracks were being used. Also, TC's hard-left stance gets a bit doctrinaire.
All of this changes with Cosmic Game. Continuing the trend first etablished with "Richest Man in Babylon," the overall level of musicianship is much stronger, the grooves are more convincing, the drum parts much livelier, and the use of reverb, delay, and other effects is both more discreet and more musical. The whole package creates, for me, far and away their best and most compulsively listenable disc.
Certainly, to start with, this is their best dub album, with the lovely lilting chords of Track 6, "Amerimaca," poised against the commentary of how the Bush administration has perverted the ideal of American liberty and optimism. Track 13 is another dub gem. TC have thoroughly mastered the timing and reverb-soaked fade-outs typical of dub, but also make them more musical somehow than many other dub artists. In some cases they remind me of Bill Laswell, while being a little more accessible. (The political pretensions are similar as well.)
Tracks 5, 11, 12 and 14 may be the best groove tracks TC have ever written. All are smooth, atmospheric and perfect for late-night moonlit drives across rural highways. Track 5 particularly makes admirable use of Indian vocals and sampled sitar, and creates what I think is the best Indian-oriented tune (out of many) they've done. As I see it, by track 4 this disc hits cruising altitude and stays there the rest of the way. (I'm not a big fan of Perry Farrell, so his "revolutionary" rant on Track 3 did nothing for thsi reviewer.)
The CD wraps up with a touching example of how TC can sensitively back a female vocalist, in this case Lou Lou with "the Time We Lost Our Way," with its staggering, almost drunken rhythm and deceptively simple guitar figure.
Others compare this disc to their earlier work; this is valid but I feel this disc is musically their strongest. It shows growth in every direction from better, warmer instrumentation to better use of effects and an overall warmer, less mechanistic sound.
Free Music Review: The duo's talent ages like wine!
Hit: 5 Stars
The three CDs released by the Thievery Corporation are among the best I have listened to. While "Mirror Conspiracy", their first CD, is a classic, "The Cosmic Game" is the high point of their career thus far. Although there are many tracks that do not reflect their previous work, they are exemplary.
A few favorites:
-"Marching the Hate Machines" a song to definitely "just chill to." Every time I listen to it, I feel I must lay back casually and forget my surroundings until its ultimate blend into...
-"Warning Shots" by far the most surprising song produced by the Thievery Corporation. The most beautiful rap song I have listened to. This song is incomparable to really anything.
-"Satyam Shivam Sundaram" in my opinion, the best track on the CD. This song is music at its best. The spellbinding lyrics are so magical, I don't want to know what they translate to... it could break the spell.
-"Amerimacka" is completely and utterly amazing. Melodious poetry put into reggae terms. Notch's vocals are sure to place a anyone into an audio-induced trance.
-"Sol Tapado" a cool, refreashing brazilian tune. Though I live in Colorado, every time I listen to this in my car, I feel as if I'm driving under palm trees. Copacabana Beach compacted into a song.
-"The Cosmic Game", "Holographic Universe", "The Supreme Illusion", and "A Gentle Dissolve" are some of the most mesmerizing instrumentals ever made. The epitome of what the Thievery Corpration is known for.
The Thievery Corporation keep getting better with every CD. They have yet to let me down with their molding of sheer audio beauty. If you thought nothing could top "Mirror Conspiracy" or "The Richest Man in Babylon" then you ain't heard nothin' yet. The "Masters of Bass" (as I like to refer to them) have done another outstanding work. Don't let the stars fool you... ten stars out of five.
Free Music Review: the best theivery yet?
Hit: 5 Stars
The ingredients - electronic beats, dub, soft Brazilian tones, sitars, and women singing in foreign languages - are entirely the same, but Thievery Corporation have never sounded so genuine. Despite the same old sound and a busy release schedule leading up to it, The Cosmic Game comes across as fresh as a debut and surprisingly indifferent toward being the in thing. What it is is music for music's sake, all laid out with the utmost care, giving listeners a fully thought-out album that makes the "forward" button on your CD player purposeless. Effortlessly flowing from the indie-grooving "Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun)" with the Flaming Lips to reggae to samba to psychedelia and beyond, the album is trimmed of all fat. Instrumentals with clever grooves sometimes overstayed their welcome on previous Thievery albums, but here they're whittled down to interludes when need be and positioned as chillout segues between the more striking numbers. The druggy, Perry Farrell-inna-reggae-style "Revolution Solution" is one of these stunners, but the superstars don't own all the highlights. As dank, Jamaican-flavored horns echo into the distance, siren Sista Pat lures listeners into the deep world of "Wires and Watchtowers" while soulful crooner Notch takes things uptown on the cool "Amerimacka" before the Corp turn the tune into one of their stickiest dub outings yet. The pleasant "The Heart's a Lonely Hunter" deserves mention because David Byrne guests on vocals, and while it's very good, it's the most forgettable number on this outing. The track brings a very slight reminder of when Thievery Corporation have let ambition trump the meaningful and meaty, but the otherwise purposeful and certain Cosmic Game is so darkly delicious you have to admit it's their masterwork.