[.ca] Den Of Thieves Sound Of Eight

From Amazon.com:
Washington D.C.'s Eighteenth Street Lounge functions not only as the town hot spot, it's also the label name and recording studio for Thievery Corporation and their cadre of like-minded "outernationalists." Fusing pieces of Latin lounge, trip-hop, and acid jazz, the Den of Thieves compilation features the label's smooth, loose downtempo, as airy and cool as white linen on a hot day. With a diverse lineup, Thieves wanders all over the globe, from Nicola Conte's Rio-in-spring remix of Ursula 1000's "Samba 1000" to the baroque trance-jazz of Blue States. Elsewhere, the Karminsky Experience delves into sitars and ambient breakbeats for "Exploration," while Federico Aubele lets the dub flow for "El Amor De Este Pueblo." But no matter where Thieves meanders, it keeps the mood on the edge of tranquility enough to keep your head nodding yet not enough to break up the conversation. --Matthew Cooke

just in time for summer, a new ESL comp:
the eighteenth street lounge are one of the original american organizations to carry the torch for downtempo and nu-jazz. spearheaded by the ever-popular thievery corporation, the label end of the business (there is, yes, an 18th street lounge -- in washington, dc), ESL has been taking it's cues from the european and italian music scenes and discreetly putting out quality releases of stylish, modern electronic music with heavy jazz, dub and latin stylings for about 5 or 6 years now. while their roster of artists is small, the quality of the music coming from ESL is almost always consistently high. the latest in their series of ongoing label compilations, 'den of thieves' gives us the latest offerings from the label's current stack of hitters. things kick off grandly with newcomer frederico aubele, who's 'postales' is an organic blend of latin guitar and sensual vocals anchored by a hip hop beat and set in tone by some subtle accordian that immediately brings to mind gotan project. aubele shows up again towards the end with 'el amor de este pueblo', a dubbed-out take on world music that shows the new label signing certainly has some talent. thievery corporation themselves show up with an unreleased track, 'language symbolique', which perfectly showcases their always amazing production values (by label knob-twiddler desmond williams, if i'm not mistaken, who shows up himself with the track 'brooklyn blues' from his debut record, 'delights of the garden'). it's a track that really highlights their distinct spliffed-out, haute-couture sound and makes you wonder why it never made it on to 'richest man in babylon' ... another highlight is the kaminsky experience and their wicked 'exploration', a 5-minute bass-and-sitar dancefloor excursion, as well as their dreamy 'departures -- all lush vibes and soft strings. also popping up is the secret weapon of the ESL flock, thunderball, who show up with two tracks -- one with liftoff called 'welcome back cooper', a funk-sitar workout, and also 'panther', a new track as near as i can tell and another stunner from these guys. if you don't have their two long-players, 'ambassadors of sound' and 'scorpio rising', i highly recommend them ... they have a great boombastic, bass-heavy sound that draws euqally from quality drum & bass and funky seventies soundtrack scores -- top-shelf. there's a few misses here, but overall it's a nice selection and a worth companion to the other ESL collections. people always say to put these records on at dinner parties, but personally i find them to be perfect morning music -- try a saturday between 10 and 12 and see what it does for your day. one question: when are we gonna get a second installment of 'easy tempo'? easily their best compilation so far, even tho it is all music from the 60's and 70's ...

Excellent Relaxing CD:
ESL pulls off another excellent compilation that showes off their artists work. This cd is full of great lounge/groovy tunes. It starts off with a great track from the Argentinean guitarist Federico Aubele, some great guitar work. A great listen all the way through; it ends with a great piano focused track from Arkestra One. Do your ears a favor and check this one out.

Cool Thievery Tunes:
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed - but that is mainly becuase I was hoping ESL's next compilation would be like their Jet Society. However their focus on the lounge scene has seen them and the music sort of evolve. Having said that, this is a good cd - great dark lounge. ESL is going for another cool easy like soundtrack feel in this one and I think they did a pretty good job of doing it. You can put this in, set the lights low, sip a coffee and be at ease. This is good music and features some very talented artists, and IMO Thievery seems to be going back into the right direction. Although I do still question how they are so very much into the India sounds. Stand-outs on this CD to me is, of course, Samba 1000. This is a classic Nicola Conte remix. The track starts a build sort of reminiscent of the Oscar Peterson rendition of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Wave" before turning into a breezy sort of bossa. Other standouts are The Karminsky Experience's Exploration - good sort of up-beat track that touches on all sorts of musical styles. Fans of Thievery's DJ Kicks should recognize it as the great cut before "Coming From the Top". I also like the coolness of Desmond Williams Brookly Blues and Arkestra One's Into the Light is a terrific yet strange sort of song to me. Songs that didn't quite fit the mold - Blue States has better from his new album, and Hommage by Les Hommes is a good tune, but there are other good tracks from their feature release that could've gotten a nod. All in all, good cd. I'd recommend it. Likewise, I think if you like this you'd dig their DJ Kicks cd - and vice versa. It's slower than the DJ Kicks, but it reminds me of the ambience of that release. Enjoy!

• Postales - Federico Aubele
• Language Symbolique - Thievery Corporation
• Hommage - Les Hommes
• Samba 1000 (Nicola Cone Mix) - Ursula 1000
• See the Light - Sofa Surfers
• Bare Bones - Blue States
• Exploration - The Karminsky Experience
• Welcome Back Cooper - Thunderball VS Liftoff
• Brooklyn Blues - Desmond Williams
• the Panther - Thunderball
• El Amor De Este Pueblo - Federico Aubele
• Departures - The Karminsky Experience
• Arkestra One - Into the Light