Thievery Corporation harvests diverse strains of music from around the world and rolls them into genre-defying down-tempo tunes that are sure to get Moogfest goers' heads nodding and hips swiveling.
Made up of potent production duo Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, the self-described pioneers of "revolutionary outernational sounds" are coming to Asheville on the heels of releasing their first greatest hits collection, It Takes a Thief. The retrospective album features cuts from throughout their 15 year career such as "Warning Shots," "Sweet Tides" and "Lebanese Blonde," which was seared into American pop-culture imagination by being included in the Garden State soundtrack back in 2004.
Garza tells Xpress that it was tough for the legendary electro-lounge perfectionists to decide on what tracks to include.
"There were certain ones that were like, 'these are some of our favorites.' There were other ones that just kind of evoked a moment in time," he explains over the phone from their studio in D.C. "There were so many to go through, really, and we both just sort of sat down and went through our catalogue and picked songs we both agreed on and felt like they just said something about where we were at when we were recording them."
The duo has been bringing the songs to life this fall with the help of 12 singers and musicians, who play everything from sitar and bongos to guitar, bass and keys.
"It always makes for kind of a big circus," Garza says of their tendency to take large revolving casts of musicians on the road with them. "But it always keeps it fresh and entertaining."
Garza also notes that the collective will be using plenty of Moog gear and that they're all excited to be part of an event honoring Bob Moog's legacy.
"We're excited to come down to Asheville and play Moogfest. I mean, when anybody thinks of the synthesizer, they think of Moog," he says. "So it's great to be involved in this festival."
— Jake Frankel can be reached at 251-1333, ext. 115, or at jfrankel@mountainx.com.
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