Thievery Corporation - Outernational Sound (CD)

Cafe lounge with an international twist.

By Nubian ∑agle ©™  Feb 20, 2007

Pros: A collection of laid back grooves compiled by Thievery Corporation

Cons: A tough sell for many mainstream listeners.

Rob Garza and Eric Hilton dig into their music collection (a rather eclectic one, apparently), and throw together 20 tracks for "The Outernational Sound," a gumbo pot of mellowed out grooves that will satisfy any set of tastebuds. The range... of textures and moods runs all over the globe, from Indian influences ("Mathar" by Indian Vibes), old-school American funk (Major Force's "Re-return of the Original Artform"), Latin grooves ("Simbarere" by Antonio Carlos Jocafi), as well as chilled cafe lounge, African rhythms, and a dash of Asian influences. There's also an interesting cover of the Beatles' "Within You Without You" by the Alan Lorber Orchestra, the jazzy "Play it Cool," and Block 16's "Slow Hot Wind." TC wouldn't do a compilation of this nature without promoting their own material, so we have a reggae remix of "The Richest Man in Babylon," the title track of their must-have 2002 album. At times, however, the collection gets a bit too eclectic and some of the songs don't mesh well together on the same album, but this is overall a satisfying collection expertly compiled by the undisputed masters of cafe cool. Read more Less