Search - thievery corporation :: Mirror Conspiracy

Bl6r

bl6r | Charlottesville, VA | 04/20/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Technology has influenced all aspects of life, including art. Music, like all art, builds upon itself to create something new. That is especially the case for electronic music, which incorporates technology not only as a source of inspiration and a means to an end but is in itself part of the medium. Thievery Corporation marries technology and music in an organic, accessible way that maintains its artistic value without overpowering it with electronic elements.

The album The Mirror Conspiracy uses concepts and themes from other genres, giving it a more exotic, international feel. The most apparent use of nonlocal music is the heavy presence of bossa nova in "Air Batucada," "So Com Voce," and "Samba Tranquille." The Brazilian influence is difficult to miss, especially with heavy samba beats and lyrics in Portuguese. "So Com Voce" even features the lovely Bebel Gilberto, a bossa nova singer whose own music is a hybrid of traditional and modern bossa nova, a singer who is the daughter of the father of bossa nova (Joao Gilberto) and one who has worked with music greats such as Suba, a producer in Brazil. The song also features a saxophone (sounds like an alto, but I could be wrong) with a repetitive melody that provides a kind of familiarity and grounding amidst the rhythmic aspect of the piece. "Air Batucada" has a bossa nova beat similar to classic bossa nova pieces such as "Desafinado", which has been covered by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Damien Rice to Quincy Jones (I'm partial to big band). "Samba Tranquille" is not a melodically complex piece and is focused on the beat and samba rhythms.

Other international influences are at work here as well. "Lebanese Blonde" doesn't have quite the Middle Eastern feel, as the title suggests, but more South Asian in its heavy use of the sitar. "Indra" also uses a sitar opening and it sounds like "Mirror Conspiracy" has bits of sitar sprinkled throughout (I definitely could be wrong about that). Other exotic tidbits are present as well such as reggae in "Treasures," a style used by Thievery Corporation in other albums and by many other artists such as Lee Scratch Perry in sampling, and vocals in French in "Le Monde."

One aspect of this album I really love is the use of vocals with an ethereal feel. For the most part, the vocals are all done by females which lend a softer, translucent sound. The one exception is "Focus on Sight" which uses ethereal male vocals and has a harder, more grounded feel to it. Pieces such as "Hong Kong Triad" and "Samba Tranquille" don't have any vocals at all. The lack of vocals in these pieces further emphasizes the rhythmic and percussive aspects of the pieces as well as the entire album. "Tomorrow" also focuses on the percussion by downplaying the soft female voice for a repetitive phrase as texturally contrasting the steady, sedated hi-hat tempo of the first half until about 2:12 and then transitioning into a faster tempo, keeping time with a snare as the main rhythmic dynamic.

Pieces in The Mirror Conspiracy seems to greatly vary in musical influence, but are all share a commonality in their emphasis on percussion and rhythm and their forwardly exotic sounds. Thievery Corporation is an example of an artist using technology alongside traditional instruments to create art for a modern society.

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