Culture Of Fear
General
| Jul 2011
Reviews
miss piggy
Reviewed 2011-07-26
Reviewed 2011-07-26
Thievery Corporation: Culture of Fear Label: ESL Music
I've reviewed a lot of Thievery Corporation in the last decade. I hate to say it but I'm disappointed in this CD. They used to be magical, highly regarded producers of great downtempo electronica. They blended a variety styles from all over the world, from bossa nova to Indian classical to dub. However, this CD is virtually all dub, and this might be OK if they were merely dub artists. But as electronica artists I expect innovation and I don't see any here. All the breathy female vocal tracks sound alike (flat, kinda one-note). Even their supposedly "political" message is lost - I think there's currently more confrontational electronic music in dubstep and tech-house than this album. I will, however, recommend tracks 1,11,12,13.
1) Lush synths, funky spy-guitars, dubby bass, long break in middle, fem vox
2) Hip-hop track, political words, FCC *shit* @ 0:36 and 2:40
3) Dubby bass, swirly synths, female chanteuse vocals that are a bit one-note
4) Dub-breaks with bright melodic synths, snappy drums & snares
5) Stoned-out reggae-dub with similarly stoned-out vocals, warbly effects
6) Breathy ballad w/ female vocals, sweepy jazz drums and loopy lilting synths
7) Long & meandering dub-trip-hop track that doesn't really go anywhere
8) Again, sultry fem vox (can't tell her apart from Lou Lou) over spacey dub
9) Rasta-man vocals doing chants over conga-laden dub
10) Short little vocal ballad feat. the breathy Lou Lou
11) Thumpy broken beat trip-hop with their signature synth washes
12) Straight-up roots-reggae that's definitely a throwback to the old days
13) Sensual track w/ fem vocals, stripped-down broken beat & bubbly synths
I've reviewed a lot of Thievery Corporation in the last decade. I hate to say it but I'm disappointed in this CD. They used to be magical, highly regarded producers of great downtempo electronica. They blended a variety styles from all over the world, from bossa nova to Indian classical to dub. However, this CD is virtually all dub, and this might be OK if they were merely dub artists. But as electronica artists I expect innovation and I don't see any here. All the breathy female vocal tracks sound alike (flat, kinda one-note). Even their supposedly "political" message is lost - I think there's currently more confrontational electronic music in dubstep and tech-house than this album. I will, however, recommend tracks 1,11,12,13.
1) Lush synths, funky spy-guitars, dubby bass, long break in middle, fem vox
2) Hip-hop track, political words, FCC *shit* @ 0:36 and 2:40
3) Dubby bass, swirly synths, female chanteuse vocals that are a bit one-note
4) Dub-breaks with bright melodic synths, snappy drums & snares
5) Stoned-out reggae-dub with similarly stoned-out vocals, warbly effects
6) Breathy ballad w/ female vocals, sweepy jazz drums and loopy lilting synths
7) Long & meandering dub-trip-hop track that doesn't really go anywhere
8) Again, sultry fem vox (can't tell her apart from Lou Lou) over spacey dub
9) Rasta-man vocals doing chants over conga-laden dub
10) Short little vocal ballad feat. the breathy Lou Lou
11) Thumpy broken beat trip-hop with their signature synth washes
12) Straight-up roots-reggae that's definitely a throwback to the old days
13) Sensual track w/ fem vocals, stripped-down broken beat & bubbly synths
Recent airplay
Stargazer
radio seven — May 19, 2016
Web Of Deception
Good Day Sunshine — Sep 24, 2013
Web Of Deception
Good Day Sunshine! — Sep 03, 2013
Web Of Deception
Sunshine . . . on a Thanksgiving Eve Afternoon — Nov 21, 2012
Web Of Deception
Morning Glory "Best Of 2011" — Dec 28, 2011
Culture Of Fear
Happy Hour — Nov 17, 2011
Charting
2011-07-31 — 2011-10-02
Electronic
| Week Ending | Airplays |
|---|---|
| Oct 2 | 1 |
| Sep 25 | 1 |
| Sep 18 | 2 |
| Sep 11 | 3 |
| Sep 4 | 2 |
| Aug 28 | 3 |
| Aug 21 | 1 |
| Aug 14 | 1 |
Track listing
| 1. | Web Of Deception | ||
| 2. | Culture Of Fear | ||
| 3. | Take My Soul | ||
| 4. | Light Flares | ||
| 5. | Stargazer | ||
| 6. | Where It All Starts | ||
| 7. | Tower Seven | ||
| 8. | Is It Over | ||
| 9. | False Flag Dub | ||
| 10. | Safar (The Journey) | ||
| 11. | Fragments | ||
| 12. | Overstand | ||
| 13. | Free |