My Summerfest experience this year will start on Thursday night with a performance by Thievery Corporation. I'm driving in to Milwaukee after work, and for the first time we're staying overnight in Milwaukee for the fest - and I'm kind of excited about it. I've loved Thievery Corporation since I first heard them - which was just a few years ago... I now have seven of their albums.

I also had the chance to see them almost two years ago at the Austin City Limits Festival. I'd flown down that day - and caught the tail end of Gnarls Barkley, before enjoying a full set later that evening by Thievery.

Thievery Corporation is a D.C.-based DJ duo consisting of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton and their supporting artists. Their music style is dub, acid jazz, Indian classical and Brazilian (such as bossa nova) fused together with a lounge aesthetic.

This from thieverycorporation.com:

"Our deepest source of inspiration comes from our record collections," says Rob Garza; an apt reference to their collective nom de plume. Always great admirers and curators of dusty grooves and all but forgotten music styles, Thievery Corporation borrow from the classically sensual and blunted sounds of their favorite Brazilian bossa nova, Jamaican dub reggae, vintage film soundtracks, and psychedelic rock to forge into new sonic territory.

Recording at the Consulate studios in Washington D.C., Thievery Corporation have managed to blossom in the heart of the empire, a city the duo often refer to as "the real Babylon." The group is a major presence in a scene legendary for fierce independence, musically and politically from genre-defying pioneers as Chuck Brown and Fugazi to grassroots organizations such as Positive Force and the Future of Music Coalition. Formed in the summer of 1995 at D.C.’s Eighteenth Street Lounge – the now world-renowned venue that is still a creative incubator for DC underground music - Rob Garza and Lounge co-owner Eric Hilton bonded over strong drinks, dub, bossa nova and jazz records, then decided to see what would come of mixing all these in a recording studio." >> read more

I'm super excited to see Thievery again at Summerfest. Their performance at ACL was one of my highlights - but honestly it was a highlight-filled event. Here's a couple tracks from The Cosmic Gate - one of my favorites. This should give you a sense of the world groove these guys put down - together with their band of great musicians.

Go if you can. These guys are super-stars. Not to be missed!