Author: Los Amigos Invisibles

Format: Import

Release Date: 12-09-2000

Details: Amazon.ca Los Amigos Invisibles pull out all the stops on their second album, Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey Into Space. Deliberately eclectic and multi-styled, the Venezuelan six-piece take their cue from the Western dance music that infiltrated the clubs of Caracas in the 1980s and '90s. Although they respect Latin styles, all of the tracks on Arepa take their cue from French house, disco, funk, hip-hop, drum & bass. Where others fail in similar experiments, Los Amigos Invisibles' effort is sure-footed with only the occasional detail imparting a feel of false modishness. The album checks in with the title track, a swooning melancholic groove that could give anything on the Compost label a run for its money. Then it morphs into the summery funk of "La Vecina" before giving "Que Rico" the Salsoul disco treatment. There are nods to the Latin dancefloor where the band successfully rips up the rulebook: tracks like the merengue of "El Sobon" and bossa nova "Si Estuvierras Tu" hint at the band's versatility and sense of fun. But it's songs such as "Amor" and the steamy "Piazo e' Perra" which really articulate where their affinities lie. These breezy slices of Latino-house are beefed up by a Masters At Work-style production, proving that Los Amigos Invisibles certainly know how to rock the dancefloor. Solid and wonderfully irreverent, Arepa is sweaty and raucous dance music that feels enigmatically out of time. -- Maxine Kabuubi

UPC: 724384954123

EAN: 0724384954123

Languages: english

Binding: Audio CD

Item Condition: UsedVeryGood