![]() ![]() Los Amigos have released two albums: The New Sound and Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey Into Space. The group focused on recording and signed with David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. They tried to duplicate their club success in New York, where they all eventually settled in 2001, but they found that unless one is "a Ricky Martin," it takes at least two years to establish one's reputation in clubland. The club grew to become one of the hottest spots in Caracas. The six friends released their debut album, A Typical and Autoctonal Dance Band, in Venezuela in 1995 and promoted themselves by hosting their own club events, with José Luis and Julio spinning house and funk. Torres is into Prince, George Clinton, Me'Shell N'Degeocello and the Cure. Percussionist Rora loves salsa guitarist Pardo digs disco vocalist Briceño praises funk. Like the Simpsons and their different personalities, each Amigo brings a different sensibility to the family's musical dynamic and overall identity. They jammed together in 1991, "and now, we've been all the same people playing together for all these years, just like a family-like husband, wife, kids, cousins," says Torres by phone from New York. A mutual friend suggested they meet each other. The six members were attending two different high schools, performing in separate trios. Representing Venezuela are Los Amigos Invisibles.Īccording to "Guelcome," the mission statement off its 1998 stateside debut, The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera, the group presents a "fusion of different elements of Latin dance and sex culture." Los Amigos Invisibles, which consists of drummer Juan Manuel Rora, bassist José Rafael Torres, keyboardist Armando Figueredo, guitarist/songwriter José Luis Pardo, rapper Mauricio Arcas and vocalist Julio Briceño, has a typical enough backstory, albeit with a decidedly international twist. ![]() Though Deee-Lite is no longer active, the tightly knit universe of international funkiness expands, inhabited by such denizens as Japan's Fantastic Plastic Machine and the Nortec Collective from Mexico. IN THE LATE '80s, Deee-Lite, that delicious club confection, sang about a global village in the age of communication, like jacking an Ethernet cable to George Clinton's prophecy of "one nation under a groove" and DSLing a dance-floor-compatible vibe to all four corners. ![]() The long, strange trip of Los Amigos Invisibles The folkified psychedelic ska of “Las flores,” the avant-mambo of “El puñal y el corazón,” and the smoky jazz miniature “El balcón” showcase a band intoxicated with their own power to inspire and subvert.Metroactive Music | Los Amigos InvisiblesĬaracas Rock: For their latest CD, Los Amigos Invisibles recorded with house-music architects Masters at Work. Since its release nearly 30 years ago, it has been compared repeatedly to The Beatles’ White Album, and for good reason. Produced with fastidious care by Gustavo Santaolalla, the session illuminated the once-in-a-lifetime chemistry that unites singer Rubén Albarrán (appropriately nicknamed ‘Cosme’ on this LP), keyboardist Emmanuel del Real, and siblings Quique and Joselo Rangel on bass and guitar. Re proved, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the music being dreamed up by young Latin musicians within the imperialist context of rock’n’roll could be as original and revelatory as anything by Radiohead or The Clash. An astonishing second album, Tacvba’s stylistic tour de force has the spirit of Mexico ingrained in every single one of its 20 tracks, from the chaotic norteño sendup of “La ingrata” to the retro bolero candor of “Esa noche.” At the same time, it sums up the broader colors and contradictions of Latin American culture with the same lack of inhibition of a magical realism novel: the darkly hued humor, innate fatalism and permanent sense of wonder. ![]()
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