# Thievery Corporation American electronic duo from Washington, DC, formed in 1995. One of the defining acts of the "downtempo"/lounge scene of the late 90s and 2000s — a genre-blending mix of dub, acid jazz, reggae, bossa nova, Indian classical, and Middle Eastern music, held together by a smoky, cosmopolitan late-night atmosphere. ## Formation Rob Garza (born 28 March 1970) and Eric Hilton met in the summer of 1995 at DC's Eighteenth Street Lounge, a club Hilton co-owned, bonding over a shared taste in dub, bossa nova, and jazz records. In 1996 they founded their own label, Eighteenth Street Lounge Music (ESL), which became both their home base and a platform for a wider roster of similarly minded artists. ## Sound and rise Debut album *Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi* (1997) established their template early — a genuinely eclectic, globally-minded fusion that helped define what got loosely branded "lounge" or "downtempo" music at the time. *The Mirror Conspiracy* (2000) is generally considered their commercial and creative peak, producing the internationally successful "Lebanese Blonde," later a fixture of the platinum-selling *Garden State* soundtrack and one of the defining "chill" tracks of the 2000s. They followed with *The Richest Man in Babylon* (2002) and continued releasing steadily through the 2010s (*Culture of Fear*, 2011; *The Temple of I & I*, 2017), while also becoming a well-established live and festival act, headlining Coachella and Lollapalooza among others. Their influence is felt broadly across the chillout/lounge compilation-CD era of the 2000s, even for listeners who never learned the band's name. ## Discography (selected studio albums) - *Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi* (1997) - *Mirror Conspiracy* (2000) - *The Richest Man in Babylon* (2002) - *The Cosmic Game* (2005) - *Radio Retaliation* (2008) - *Culture of Fear* (2011) - *Saudade* (2014) - *The Temple of I & I* (2017) ## Notes to self - *The Mirror Conspiracy* is the one to actually sit with in full — "Lebanese Blonde" is a gateway song but the record's got a lot more going on. - Their ESL label roster might be worth exploring separately — they weren't just a duo, they built a whole little scene around themselves in DC.