Eric Hilton (musician)

Eric Hilton
Eric Hitlon
Background information
Origin	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Genres	Downtempo chill-out dub lounge electronic trip hop
Years active	1995–present
Labels	ESL; Montserrat Music
Website	EricHilton.com

Eric Hilton (born Richard Eric Hilton on December 25, 1965, Silver Spring, MD) is an American musician, producer, composer, deejay, and hospitality entrepreneur. Hilton is best known as one half of the electronic music duo Thievery Corporation.

Hilton has been a creative force in the global electronic music scene since the mid-1990’s. Beginning in 1995, Hilton and partner Rob Garza released 10 acclaimed studio albums as Thievery Corporation. The duo’s song “Lebanese Blonde” was featured on the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack for the movie “Garden State”. The soundtrack also achieved gold record status from the RIAA.

As a solo artist, Hilton began releasing his individual recordings in 2020. Known for his signature bass lines, intricate beat work and deft production style, Hilton has continued to develop and expand upon the signature sound that he has championed for over 2 decades.

As a co-founder of Washington, DC’s legendary Eighteenth Street Lounge in 1995, Hilton has also had a significant impact on the hospitality and night life landscape of the Washington, DC area. Since opening Eighteenth Street Lounge, Hilton has developed and co-owned over 20 successful hospitality venues in the Washington, DC region - many of them with his partner and brother Ian Hilton.

History

Formative Years in DC

As a music obsessed kid in high school, Eric Hilton started DJ-ing at 18 years old, spinning soul and mod records, while also playing guitar and bass in various punk bands. As a frequent customer of Rockville Pike record store Yesterday and Today Records, Hilton’s musical tastes were expanded by purchase recommendations from future Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, who worked as a clerk at the store. Records by the British ska/reggae label 2 Tone, post-The Jam Paul Weller project The Style Council and Blanco Y Negro duo Everything But The Girl provided musical and stylistic influences, and led to Hilton’s discovery of and affinity for classic Brazilian and Jamaican music. Hilton was also heavily influenced musically and philosophically by the legendary Washington D.C. based independent record label Discord Records, whose DIY ethic would later inform Thievery Corporation and Eighteenth Street Lounge Music (ESL Music)’s approach to the record business.

Fifth Column 1989-1991

In a ‘out-of-the-blue’ call, DJ Christian Wolff, the head deejay at Washington’s, DC’s Fifth Column Nightclub, invited Hilton to audition for a deejay position. For the next 2 years, Hilton manned the decks 2-3 nights a week at this vibrant, electric downtown DC dance club. Spinning House Music, downtempo, instrumental hip-hop, soul and funk, Hilton honed his craft as he became a full time, profession deejay.

Exodus (1991-1993)

For 2 years, Hilton and his friend Farid Nouri transformed a downtown deli/restaurant into a massive weekend party called Exodus. The head deejay was Ali Shirazinia (Dub Fire) and the MC was Hutchy. The soundtrack at Exodus was Acid Jazz, Reggae, Dub, Dancehall, and Underground Hip-Hop.

Exodus Quartet (1991-1995)

In 1991, Hilton created Exodus Quartet, a downtempo electronic jazz influenced project that went on to release several 12” singles and a 1996 full length album “Way Out There” on Instinct Records, an early electronic dance and acid-jazz oriented label. Exodus Quartet’s music combines Hilton’s Mod, Brazilian, and jazz influences with a proto-trip hop sound that foreshadows his later work with Thievery Corporation.

Eighteenth Street Lounge (1995-2020)

Hilton opened the legendary Eighteenth Street Lounge in 1995 with friends Yama Jewyani and Farid Nouri. The club’s unique vibe gave birth to a downtempo scene in Washington D.C. that reflected trip hop music scenes that were blossoming in Bristol, Vienna, and Paris. Globally recognized musicians and DJs such as Gotan Project, Giles Peterson, United Future Organization, and others performed at the Lounge. The growing notoriety of ESL helped create worldwide awareness for both the D.C. downtempo scene and Hilton’s nascent work with partner Rob Garza in Thievery Corporation.

Thievery Corporation (1995-Present)

Eric Hilton is most widely known for his work with Thievery Corporation, the downtempo musical act he co-founded with Rob Garza in 1995. The duo released their debut LP ”Sounds From The Thievery Hi-Fi” in 1996, and went on to release ten studio albums and a large number of compilations, singles, and remixes. The song “Lebanese Blonde” was featured on the soundtrack album to the film “Garden State”, which received a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Thievery Corporation’s music transcended the decline of the trip-hop genre in the early 2000’s as they incorporated more diverse global flavors into their music, and became a fully fledged live act.

Solo Work (2020-Present)

In 2020, Hilton began his solo recording career in earnest, releasing seven full-length albums 4 years. The recordings featured a return to the trip hop sound he pioneered in the 1990’s. In interviews about the records, Hilton stated that his main desire is to make solo studio albums, and has no current plans to record or tour as or with Thievery Corporation (although he did not rule this out as a future possibility.)

Discography

Eric Hilton albums

• Peace Bureau Inner City Booms LP (2017)
• Infinite Everywhere (2020)
• The Impossible Silence (2020)
• Ceremony (2021)
• Lost Dialect (2022)
• Present Past and Future - EP (2022)
• Corazón Kintsugi (2023)
• Sound Vagabond (2024)
• Out of the Blur (2024)

External links

• Official website
• Montserrat Music
• Eric Hilton discography at Discogs