Thievery Corporation's fourth album, The Cosmic Game, finds the duo of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton in their most expansive mood yet, as their latest sonic exploration blurs the boundaries between rock, breaks, future-bossa, dub, and other mind-altering sounds. When dropped, The Cosmic Game is a psychotropic, aural concoction, which clearly opens a new dimension in the ever-evolving Thievery odyssey.

"When we finally got down to recording this album, we talked a lot about expressing more elements of our personal growth in our music. We also talked a lot about psychedelics and new ways of viewing reality and how they obviously affected music in eras past. During the months of recording, we spent a lot of time reading favorite authors and discussing 'so-called' conspiracy theories. I think this is fairly clear from the lyrics ," says Garza.

Certainly, a wide-ranging spectrum of sounds and subject matter lies at the center of The Cosmic Game, and Garza and Hilton have displayed even deeper musical sensibilities than their previous albums foreshadowed. After the warm minimalism of Sounds from the Thievery Hi-fi, Garza and Hilton raised the production value significantly with the highly acclaimed Mirror Conspiracy, which contained the seminal international hit "Lebanese Blonde." The next Corporate offering was the conscious and thought-provoking The Richest Man in Babylon, which easily distanced itself from the ever-growing crop of soulless 'chill out' compilations which had begun flooding the shop bins.

Having expanded on the sound of their last LP, The Richest Man in Babylon, Garza and Hilton have further crossed the sonic boundaries with forays into rock and psychedelia that are fused with their signature dub and tripped-out sound with collaborations with rock legends Perry Farrell, The Flaming Lips and David Byrne.

As well as the high profile collaborations, Eric and Rob have assembled a diverse cast of dancehall toasters, Brazilian percussionists and smoky-voiced chanteuses to create The Cosmic Game. This time, the downbeat revolution may not only get televised, it might get actual airplay. Which would be a long time coming for Garza and Hilton, After selling more than a million units independently on their own label, (ESL Music), touring around in all continents, and writing remixing, producing, deejayng, the corporation is fully realizing their sound.

Ironically, Thievery Corporation formed in Washington D.C., a city the duo often refer to as 'the real Babylon." One major by-product of life in the heart of empire is the diversity of the people it attracts to its riches. Underneath the power brokering, DC has quietly spawned a sophisticated musical multi-culturalism (especially in the Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle neighborhoods that became TC's home). The city also gave a base to Dischord Records and Positive Force, a scene whose fierce independence, musically and politically, forcibly affected every nearby young musician with a non-mainstream pulse.

Meanwhile, the Corporation's inwardly-reflective side bears the influences of the Indian and philosophic texts they'd been studying: Superstar vocalist Gunjan leads a trio of sitar-and-tablas-abetted tracks starting with ¯Shiva~ a hauntingly beautiful prayer to the Indian god. On "Doors of Perception" (Huxley's psychedelic insights set to music?) and "The Supreme Illusion" (Wei Wu Wei's objectivity of human experience?). Gunjan is beautifully haunting.

In classic Thievery instrumental style, "The Holographic Universe" combines 60's soundscapes and modern psychedelia to create a spacy flanger-funk. And the sun-splashed melody and huge rock drums of the title track are certainly destined for a cinematic debut. And before the last song lets you down easy, Lou Lou returns for the lovely, Bacharach-inspired "The Time We Lost Our Way."

All said, The Cosmic Game, is easily the finest Thievery Corporation moment to date; and that's saying a lot.

(moore of bio in official site)