Thievery Corporation’s ROB GARZA Soundtracks Dystopia and… Tetris?
GARZA
(featuring Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation)
Battles Post-Pandemic Dystopia with
Cinematic Video for “Summer Is Ours”
New Album Daydream Accelerator out Now
Garza Soundtracks Apple Arcade’s TETRIS BEAT
AUGUST 27, 2021 (New York, NY) — While most Armageddon soundtracks are shrilly accented by industrial and searing metal, producer extraordinaire (and one half of Thievery Corporation) Rob Garza has punctuated his vision with a cool, indie rock soundscape in his video for the single “Summer Is Ours.” Taken from his debut solo album Daydream Accelerator which is out today August 27, 2021 via Magnetic Moon, the cinematic video which premieres today posits the viewer in the year 2052 in a world reminiscent of Mad Max but with an unlikely love story at its full-hearted center.
photo credit: Lacy Terrell
“The ‘Summer Is Ours’ video, created with the Defector Films group in the desert just outside of LA, is a tongue-in-cheek vision that follows a young couple as they wander through a post-apocalyptic dystopian state while remaining blissfully unaware of the crumbling world around them,” explains Garza who appears in the video early on, only to be unexpectedly killed off before the soaring pop song takes flight. “The theme embraces the notion of remaining unaffected while discovering the inward ability to thrive in the moment amidst any chaos.”
Accompanied by buzzing Minneapolis alt-rock band Enemy Planes, the song was written as a beacon of hope while COVID-19 was raging. Garza adds, “The video takes its cue from the lyrics which were written collaboratively during the height of the pandemic lockdown with featured vocalist Enemy Planes and is an anthem for how to be okay when everything is most definitely not okay.”
Featuring artists such as buzzing L.A.-based alternative singer EMELINE (“Future Comes Too Late”, “Something That’s Different”), the aforementioned Enemy Planes (“Summer is Ours”, “We Want Blood”, “Way Out”), and Jamaican firebrand and Thievery Corporation vocalist Racquel Jones (“Talkin”), among others, Garza’s new ten-track collection Daydream Accelerator (co-produced with East Coast ensemble SMLE) percolates with a groove that bubbles underneath, uniting each of the tracks with an organic beat that syncs with its sonic textures.
Anchored by the percolating staccato rhythms of tech house stalwarts Walker and Royce, the velvety vocals of Miami/LA chanteuse Calica, the focus track “Can’t Kill Me” delivers an infectious slice of techno pop that amplifies Garza’s kaleidosonic musical amalgam. “I’m creating new and exciting music with artists like Stee Downes (‘Letting Go’) and Fare (‘Swim to Shore’),” he says, highlighting the other collaborations on the album. “This musical incarnation is important to me because it is something new and not just doing what I know.”
As a testament to his ability to craft music regardless of the genre while retaining his very characteristic “sound”, Garza was tapped to compose the music for Tetris Beat on Apple Arcade (available in the Apple Store for iOS here). The next generation of the tile-matching strategy game created by Russian software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984, Tetris Beat takes the popular decades-old computer game to musical heights and focuses on the visual rhythm of dexterity and matches it with the EDM and electronic pastiches that Garza is known worldwide to create.
“When Tetris approached me about creating music for Tetris Beat, I was interested in the whole concept as it has a more of a modern music focus put together with some really cool visual elements,” he explains. “I wanted to create a piece that has a tripped out otherworldly ambience and a strong rhythmical flow.”
This exploratory nature ultimately led to the creation of the pioneering electronic musical outfit Thievery Corporation. In the late ‘90s, Thievery became renowned for their ability to blend sounds both underground and global, incorporating Brazilian, Jamaican, Indian and other world influences. Over the past 25 years, Rob has brought legends to his recordings with Thievery Corporation with the likes of David Byrne, Perry Farrell, The Flaming Lips and more. Beyond the studio, Garza has toured internationally for over two decades, headlining some of the most prestigious music festivals in the world and sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in music.
Armed with his new video, Tetris Beat, and his new album, Garza’s universality has never been so well-represented and so visible. But the always humble and easy going Garza holds it in stride. “This is a personal musical statement that delves into more pop territory without being mainstream,” he explains. “I find this to be a very inspiring sonic space.”
Daydream Accelerator is available now on Magnetic Moon here:
https://ffm.to/daydream-accelerator.
Tetris Beat is available for download at the Apple Store here.
Daydream Accelerator Tracklisting
1 Summer Is Ours (feat. Enemy Planes)
2 Can’t Kill Me (feat Calica, Walker & Royce)
3 Future Comes Too Late (feat. EMELINE)
4 We Want Blood (feat. Enemy Planes)
5 Talkin (feat. Racquel Jones)
6 Ocean Morning Echoes
7 Way Out (feat. Enemy Planes)
8 Swim to Shore (feat. Fare)
9 Letting Go (feat. Stee Downes)
10 Something That’s Different (feat. EMELINE)
