Thievery Corporation by Michael J

GRAMMY U Presents A BEAUTIFUL DRUG: THIEVERY CORPORATION BY MICHAEL J. MEISEL CONTINUED FROM MAIN PAGE PHOTOS BY: MIC MEISEL What a magic carpet ride. The ground has been stolen right from under standing feet. You can travel to Nepal, Lebanon, Jamaica, Taiwan, Africa, Brazil, France, Spain, and Portugal with a clear head full of Thievery without disruption. And to think that a trip to Tampa wouldn’t consist of full body thermal imaging scans, palmed pat-downs, inconsideration, and snarky attitudes from airport security. Well, that’s just unsullied insanity, right? Nevertheless, a pure, uninterrupted overdose of harmony is what you’ll get when you enter the galaxy of Thievery Corporation. What better place than at the renowned, makeshift paradise, than Universal Studios in Orlando to acquire such an Outernational Sound? The show breaks out with chants and applause from a bouncy group. A younger crowd; most under 35. There are suits, hippies, ravers, and gangsters alike. Some are positioned at the numerous bars located around the venue; some are so far out already that they’ve been dancing to the pre-show radio mix. Some are out having a smoke and conversing, some stand cupping their lovers hand or waist, some stand alone. The band takes their places on stage. Instruments line the mesh net-like tarp covering amps and turntables. Roars explode at the presence of the anti-establishment act. It seems unreal, too good to be true even. DJ’s, bassist, drummers, and sitar/guitarist composing the “Intro” ignite a mesmerizing instrumental. The love-mattress inflates toward the mantra of the overly excited crowd. Silence commences for a split second. A gong shatters the bitty silence of anticipation. A dip and twirl. Laser lights hued in cheroot greens, plum violets, and oceanic blues spark and shine through the venue. A sitar riff spliffed into cuisine delight with bass intellect and DJ influence adds a special ingredient to the brewing delicacy. People are dancing, snapping photos, consumed by the marvel standing before them. “Warning Shots” follows the intro in hue of the crowd hysteria. Then, Sista Pat, one of the seven interchanging vocalists, comes on stage veiled; fueled with the positive energy of “Lebanese Blonde”, a late Pam Bricker vocalization. She dances in an Indian, gypsy-like, African improvisation to the sounds of a sultry sitar mixed with trumpet, saxophone, and conga drums. Along with her uncanny vocals, the cross-genre reggae/dub/electronica/ fused into an ecstasy of dance puts Thievery at Ivy League level as far as I’m concerned. After “Lebanese Blonde”, Sista Pat, Notch, and band perform “Originality”, a spellbinding track infused with horn choruses and an island dance melody. Hypnotic Sitarist and guitarist, Rob Myers, was especially captivating. Switching from sitar to lead guitar throughout the evening, he lures you into the humidity with fresh flanges, wahs, distortions, and with help from DJ’s Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, a finessed touch of looping. Everything sounds more interesting when a sitar is involved. It expands a sound from the norm into a multi-faceted cosmos. To give you your money’s worth, although tickets were fairly cheap for two renowned international acts at an expensive venue, supreme movement and crowd interaction was non-stop. A frenzied audience erupted as “Lebanese Blonde” fazed into “Blasting through the City” with Notch and Sleepy Wonder and Sitali, dressed in sailor uniforms. With reggae, dub-step prose the 11 members of Thievery continued to hype the audience with “Radio Retaliation”, “The Numbers Game”, “Assault on Babylon”, and “Amerimaka”. Lou Lou Djine takes to the stage next with such elegance to sing “Le Femme Parallel”, a beautiful number off of Radio Retaliation. She sings warmly in Portuguese about love in peril. She then sings another song in Spanish, and another in rusty English. Lou Lou makes you want to cry, dance, and make love concurrently. There are many female vocalists capable of instilling such beauty, like Beth Gibbons of Portishead, but Lou Lou takes the cake when it comes to emotional movement. Followed by Lou Lou comes Natalie Clavier, an exquisitely talented vocalist from Buenos Aires, to sing “Azul”, remixed live by Thievery. “Mandala”, an instrumental extraordinaire, is the next song. The crowd is ecstatic. “Janine”, “The Supreme Illusion”, and “The Shining Path”, three more knee-shaking and dance provoking instrumentals bounce the arena next with utter ecstasy. Some will call the psychedelic a culture shock, but if a combination of numerous genres and international presence makes something a shock of culture, then so be it. It’s called education. Sista Pat reappears on stage next to sing “Wires and Watchtowers” with the twins dancing aside in a two-step swagger. Adding to the aesthetic, bassist Ashish Vyas, anchoring the stage throughout the entire set with sitarist/guitarist Myers and the DJ’s of Thievery, strummed the bass wildly while dancing barefoot across the stage and wielding his instrument around like a hypnotic sword. Think of an enthusiastic person with an air guitar, but with talent. Patrick De Santos then took the stage to indulge the vast Hispanic crowd in Orlando with “Sol Tapado”, off of The Mirror Conspiracy. Shortly after, the entire entourage of Thievery Corporation, 13 beautiful individuals, ransacked the stage to perform their closing piece, “Sound the Alarm”. There was no encore, as Thievery was billed with Massive Attack. The set needed to be changed in a hurry. This passionate, intimate, energetic, international dynamic full of an unforgiving Florida heat in a late October evening was a lot to absorb, but those who linger in the moment will never forget. They will reminisce the time they witnessed Thievery Corporation for the rest of their lives. Thievery paved the way, for what most presumed, an explosive attack from Massive. Thievery Corporation creates musical magic. They stray from attempting to upset their listeners with angry interpretations. Instead, they use complex multi-cultural techniques fused with international artists and instruments, combined with languages ranging from English to Spanish to Persian to French to Hindi to Russian, and so forth. Singing about love, hate crimes, war injustices, anti-establishment, civil and human rights oppositions, political liberalism, and government upheaval in upbeat, sometimes poignant, reggae/electonica mixtures, their messages express a better resolution of going against the grain. So, what’s your decree? Michael J. Meisel is a freelance journalist/music critic who currently attends Madison Media Institute for Entertainment and Media Business. .

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