Thievery Corporation, a DJ and production duo from Washington, crafts songs by tearing apart others' work. Although there's a critical debate raging right now over the legitimacy of remixes as art, it's clear that Thievery is side-stepping questions that attempt to separate art from artifice. For them, the dance music universe -- populated by sampling machines, white labels and faceless producers -- is a place where all sound is public property. As remix artists, they can take a tepid original like Byrne's and transport it to a dubbed-out electrosphere where mid-tempo beats sip on cocktails and puff away on tight spliffs.

Thievery Corporation "Abductions and Reconstructions" ESL Music

"Abductions and Reconstructions," Thievery's second full-length record, complies brutal dissections of songs by remix-friendly hipster outfits like Pizzicato Five, Stereolab and Gus Gus. Of the 15 remixes that work out best -- like on Waldeck's "Defenceless" -- Thievery yanks the juiciest elements out of each song and sexes them up with hazy house and dub.

Thievery transforms "Transmission Central," a composition by a phenomenal Birmingham, England, outfit called Rockers Hi-Fi, into a deep, ragga-house track, suspended in acoustic percussion and ska-style horns. They completely remove the alt-pop context from Pizzicato Five's "Porno 3003," then lift the vocals and frugally re-disperse pieces throughout the sensual, spacious, cocktail house beats. And on Black Uhuru's "Boof N Baff N Biff," Thievery Corporation immerse the song in lush Jamaican Studio One-style dub with loads of reverb and echo, then gradually knock it onto the dance floor with a swinging bass groove.

The cumulative effect is enough to squelch any of those remix debates. If they're creating new art, they're po-mo visionaries the semiotics crowd can adore and analyze to death. Meanwhile, dancers who seem to care a lot less about these issues of supposed authenticity can smile to themselves: If remixers are really thieves, the two guys in Thievery Corporation are the fucking dons.
salon.com | June 4, 1999

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