On October 1, 2002 ESL Music will release the latest Thievery Corporation full length LP entitled, The Richest Man In Babylon. Rob Garza and Eric Hilton consider it their most introspective work to date. Existing somewhere between rock, dub, psychedelia, latin, and electronic music, this new album finds Thievery Corporation elevating their signature sound with more contemplative and thought provoking songwriting.

The diverse sounds found on The Richest Man In Babylon should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Thievery Corporation, for both Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have very diverse musical backgrounds. "Electronic music is very often cold and mechanical; this is not attractive to us in the least. Our influences come from organic productions and I think this is especially evident on the new album," says Garza. This is perhaps why people have had a great deal of difficulty in placing Thievery Corporation into any preconceived musical genre. "I think that ours is a sound which takes from so many forms of music that it's fairly hard to pin down. It is made electronically, but I don't think it sounds that way," explains Hilton.

While neither considers himself a musician by definition, both members of the duo have musical backgrounds. Hilton was playing in a neighborhood garage rock band at the age of 11. "I think we sounded a bit like the Ramones meet Deep Purple; we were very bad, but the kids who lived around us always asked us to play.” Later, in his teens. Hilton became in awe of early punk rock groups like The Clash, The Jam, and The Sex Pistols. But it was the discovery of the local DC hardcore sound that he thinks changed him forever. "I was so impressed by groups like The Teen Idles, SOA and Minor Threat. Not only did I love the sound, but I couldn't get over the fact that these groups were from my neighborhood. That was when I realized the power of doing-it-yourself."

After forming his own hardcore band in high school, Hilton’s tastes broadened his interests to include those of the two-tone and neo-mod sounds that were emerging in the UK. "I literally discovered my love of soul, jazz, bossa nova and Jamaican music through the revival groups of the new wave era. Groups like the Specials, Madness, Secret Affair, The Style Council, and others inspired me to go back to the roots of their music."