At 16 tracks, get yourself settled for a long, smooth ride before slipping Thievery Corporation's latest album "The Cosmic Game" into your player. The duo have done an excellent job reaching back to their roots while still evolving their trademark sound. The Cosmic Game is sure to hit you in that elusive sweet spot lying somewhere between India, Jamaica and several points south of America.

1. Marching The Hate Machines (Into The Sun)(feat. The Flaming Lips)
2. Warning Shots (feat. Sleepy Wonder and Gunjan)
3. Revolution Solution (feat.Perry Farrell)
4. The Cosmic Game
5. Satyam Shivam Sundaram (feat. Gunjan)
6. Amerimacka (feat. Notch)
7. Ambicion Eterna (feat. Verny Varela)
8. Pela Janela (feat. Gigi Rezende)
9. Sol Tapado (feat. Patrick de Santos)
10. The Heart's A Lonely Hunter (feat. David Byrne)
11. Holographic Universe
12. Doors Of Perception (feat. Gunjan)
13. Wires And Watchtowers (feat. Sista Pat)
14. The Supreme Illusion (feat. Gunjan)
15. The Time We Lost Our Way (feat. Loulou)
16. A Gentle Dissolve

Opening in unquestionably classic style with support from Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, "Marching The Hate Machines (into the sun)" comes on with all the slinky finesse of Kid Loco at his best, combined with the moodiness mastered by Portishead in their song "Roads". With this sonic aperitif Thievery Corporation demonstrate just how to take control of a room.

Now that you're ears are primed and tuned the Corporation lay down the funk and breakbeats with "Warning Shots". All over the map, literally, owing to the assertive, ragga stylings of Sleepy Wonder, the Indian beauty of Gunjan, and London style breaks, this song features the amalgam of sounds Thievery Corporation has built an empire on. Definitely nice! As Warning Shots spins softly to a close I'm not sure if I need to repeat it or let the next song hit me...

I let the next one hit me and having already heard "Revolution Solution" from its iTunes release, I knew what I was getting. Janes Addiction frontman Perry Farrell contributes (to my continued surprise) an incredible vocal style to this song. Although it's down-tempo energy doesn't rise or fall much, there are enough breaks and bridges to keep the sound fresh to the end.

Throughout The Cosmic Game you'll hear a decidedly middle eastern theme. At times it's subtle, but often it's blatant, as with "Satyam Shivam Sundaram", featuring (once again) the exquisitely sweet voice of Indian singer, Gunjan. With her vocal presence in The Cosmic Game more subdued than in other songs I've heard from her, it is a perfect match to Thievery Corporation's sound. Satyam Shivam Sundaram sits squarely between the duo's infamous "Indra" and their more recent sessions with vocalist Emiliana Torrini.

"Amerimacka" brings on heavy Caribbean style with vocalist Notch, a native of Connecticut (USA), who has made a good name for himself in reggae and dancehall circles. Considering Notch nearly gave up his music career for engineering you'll be glad he chose to lend his suitably smooth voice to the bassy riddims of Amerimacka.

Owing to the duos DJ sensibilities, the ones that know every few songs you need to slow things down a little, some of the songs on The Cosmic Game are clearly designed to just sit back and listen to while you do nothing at all. This is definitely the case with "Ambicion Eterna" featuring Columbian vocalist Verny Varela.

"Pela Janela" and its super-rich bassline under shuffled latin beats and guitar, along with the sultry, dusky voice of Gigi Rezende, make it one of the strongest melody-driven songs on the album.

As the Latin sounds continue in The Cosmic Game's rise and fall of moods, "Sol Tapado" brushes up against a "world music" sound (due to the vocal style of Patrick de Santos) that makes me a little too nervous to enjoy what would otherwise be a nicely done song.

If you've heard Thievery Corporation's remix of David Byrne's "Dancing On Vaseline", you know this combination of artists can produce an amazing sound. Although it took time for the pulp fiction lyrics and quirky beats to grow on me, their collaboration here on "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" is deeply infectious.

Oh my God! You need to hear this bassline! "Holographic Universe" is an understated confection of layered percussion and a lilting, lounge-esque vocal loop that are sure to get your head nodding. Although its structure doesn't really go anywhere, the combination of sounds are so good I'm not sure I care.

"Doors of Perception" starts off as an ambient, Sheila Chandra styled sleeper but comes up out of the cuts blazing some mean bass and breaks... try it, you'll like it.

Sista Pat, a native of Guyana, South America raised in Brooklyn, New York (USA) joins Thievery Corporation on "Wires And Watchtowers" for the dub'est song on The Cosmic Game. Its slow, deep bass, and echoey, dub flavor is sure to taste good with any spliff mood.

As Gunjan returns on "The Supreme Illusion" you're greeted by the kind of deep, eastern percussive rhythms that normally precede Natacha Atlas. This track is guaranteed to make your head nod with a nice combination of simple, deep bass, sporadic breaks and ambient vocal washes.

Having collaborated with them on The Richest Man In Babylon, Loulou joins the Corporation once again with her lighthearted, yet melancholy French melodies in "The Time We Lost Our Way". A love song for love that's gone, the mix of muted horns, slow, dreamy beats, and cotton candy soft vocals are sure to match the reminiscent feeling that only follows a lost love.

As if it were a silver-lined sequel to The Time We Lost Our Way, "A Gentle Dissolve" closes out The Cosmic Game as a laid-back, bassy, hope-tinged instrumental that proves it is perfectly titled and nicely placed.

All in all The Cosmic Game is an excellent Thievery Corporation album that naturally progresses the Thievery sound while giving props to their roots.

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