Radio Retaliation

We Say...

Review by Richard Gehr

The beautiful people are restless. Radio Retaliation retains the glazed-velvet façade, groin-grabbing bass beats, talented guest vocalists and nicely balanced international spice of Thievery Corporation's four prior albums, but this time producer-DJs Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, judging by their lyrics, are pissed. Closer in sound and sense to 2002's reggae-driven The Richest Man in Babylon than to 2005's psychedelightful Cosmic Game, Retaliation is a multinational dancefloor call to arms. There's definitely a party going on, but only after everyone has debated the ballot versus the bullet with their neighborhood MoveOn cadre.

The fightin' words of Fela Kuti, Manu Chao and the Clash echo the loudest through Thievery's righteous (if relatively quiet) riot. Fela's son, Femi, could be quoting his father when he sings of, "Guns and debt/ Life and death/ IMF" over Afrobeat rhythms in "Vampires"; Jamaican crooner Sleepy Wonder rages and croons against Babylon atop the Sly and Robbie-inspired riddims of the title track and "Sound the Alarm"; and Go-Go godfather Chuck Brown is all about "takin' back the power, gonna share the wealth" in "The Numbers Game."

Luscious instrumentals like "Mandala" (featuring Anoushka Shankar's sitar), "Retaliation Suite" (acid afrojazz), and "The Shining Path" (shimmering lounge-adelica) are the less-retaliatory flip side to Thievery's sonic uprising. Likewise, Brazilian singer Seu Jorge's "Hare Krisna" (a plea for inner peace) and chanteuse LouLou's "Sweet Tides" once again find the Corporation smack dab in the eye of a quiet storm, making music so elegantly designed that any corporation would want to attach it to a car, a perfume or a hotel lobby, so universal is Thievery's appeal.