*** Thievery Corporation

DJ KICKS

(!K7)

DC club DJs Rob Garzan and Eric Hilton, a/k/a Thievery Corporation, are caffeinated beatmasters who share a love of jazz, bossa nova, and other dance lounge exotica. DJ Kicks, a summer-cocktail compilation of works by Corporation-approved acts and the men themselves, represents what a typical martini-soaked night in DC's 18th Street Global Lounge might sound like, ambient lulls and all. Corporation's transcontinental lovefest takes us to Brazil, London, India, and Jamaica, bringing back head-turning if not head-spinning sounds while avoiding new-agey condescension.

The opening track, Les Baxter's "Tropicando," sets the tone -- a slice of cannily timed flute-punctuated bossa nova moist enough to steal Austin Powers's mojo. Further pleasures are provided by the shuffling Middle Eastern lines of Up, Bustle & Out's "Emerald Alley" and the Corporation's own "Coming from the Top," a horn-fueled suite that places Chemical Brothers iceboxed funk on the mainstage of an African drum-banging competition. Unfortunately, Garzan and Hilton assume the party's stalled at a 9 if the Punjabs and Brits aren't tapping along together; too many tracks flow from chill London syncopation to "exotic" Indian flourishes and back again. Despite these occasional snoozers, however, Kicks is a breezy Saturday-night disc.

-- Joseph Manera