Melissa Lane

"We play instruments. We play completely live shows. But we are a dance band. That is the key to Los Amigos Invisibles--we are a band that loves the club scene." Jose Torres pauses as he reflects on the philosophy that has chartered a fourteen-year odyssey for five guys from Venezuela and sums it up by comparing it to Gilles Peterson's record crate: "He selects totally different styles but they are all fulfilling one purpose. It's the same for us. We don't want to limit ourselves. We want to play whatever we have to in order to have a great party--like a DJ, but also bring the energy of a live band."

He and his friends were living in Caracas when acid jazz ushered out the eighties, intimating better things for the decade ahead. The idea of a live band soundtracking the decadent dance party usually reserved for nightclubs and lounges fascinated them, and by '91, they donned a mic, drums, keyboards, guitar, percussion and a penchant for seventies jumpsuits.

After five years, they managed to record their first album "A Typical and Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band," but the distribution from EMI Venezuela petered out pretty quickly. So, they aimed their message-in-a-bottle at New York by placing twenty CDs in a Manhattan record shop. As fate would have it, none other than David Byrne picked one up. With distribution resuscitated by Byrne's Luaka Bop, Los Amigos split their time between New York City, Caracas and touring extensively.

Serendipitously, that time coincided with the rise of Masters At Work's Nuyorican Soul sound, which immediately made them relevant. But even after three albums, several Grammy nominations, and a catalogue of work that includes Louie Vega's "Elements of Life," Dmitri from Paris' "Crushing Attitude" and remixes for everybody from Bassment Jaxx to John Scofield to the Beastie Boys, they still get pigeonholed as "Latin"--or worse yet, "Rock en Espanol." Torres sighs, "Even though we're playing the same rhythms and style as Jamiroquai, we are not considered dance or pop or mainstream in the States, we are Latin and that's it."

But the Amigos lose no speed on their fantastical disco-funk trek. They will soon release their fifth album "Super Pop Venezuela" wherein they cover eighties Venezuelan pop songs, inflecting them with French-style house, loungey downtempo and Afrobeat. As Torres puts it "It's no Ricky Martin album--it's got edge."

Los Amigos Invisibles perform live with DJs Afro, Jesse De La Pena, ReMode, Dave Moreno and a special dance performance at Green Dolphin Street, 2200 North Ashland, (773)395-0066 on November 10 at 9pm. $25 presale tickets, $30 at the door.

(2005-11-08)

Also by Melissa Lane

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Tip of the Week
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Spin Control
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New Pop Idol
(2005-09-13)

Tip of the Week
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Tip of the Week
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Purple Reign
(2005-08-23)

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