Twenty-five years into their genre-defying electronic music career, Thievery Corpora-tion’s founding principles of D.I.Y. and inclusion have become key themes in main- stream social conversation. After a dozen highly acclaimed full-length albums, remix

LPs, concert recordings, and over two decades of incendiary live performances that have thrilled audiences worldwide, Thievery Corporation’s music and message is more relevant and important now than ever.

Independence is one of the primary factors in why Thievery Corporation have had such a long and fruitful lifespan. While co-founders Rob Garza and Eric Hilton bonded over their mutual love of Brazilian music in Washington DC in 1995, it was the local punk scene that became their North Star. Hilton says: !Ian MacKaye is a real hero of ours, his DIY philosophy. We modeled ESL Music after Dischord Records, how we ran our label and did recording contracts.” Garza concurs: !Being independent enabled us to be here for 25 years. Never having a boss or needing someone’s approval, we’ve always said what we needed to say with no filter.”