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"[Los Amigos
Invisibles] has taken the rhythmic sass in salsa, the bass-heavy fun in funk,
and even the note-bending bile in acid-jazz, and mixed it all up to produce
an infectious beat. [They] have put the joy back into dancing, sending a warm
current into the cold alienating waters of industrial strength techno."
LA Weekly
"We're a dance
band," says Jose Luis Pardo, the guitarist for Los Amigos Invisibles. Tuned
into groove culture from Detroit to London to Tokyo -- thanks to the Internet
and a busy tour schedule -- the Amigos began work on their new album AREPA
3000: A VENEZUELAN JOURNEY INTO SPACE with a disco sensibility. Admiring French
DJ/producers the band sought a heavier house sound in contrast to the retro
and lounge elements of THE NEW SOUND OF THE VENEZUELAN GOZADERA. "The lounge
thing sounds more Japanese," says Jose Luis. "The house sound is fresher,
the disco songs we do sound more like that. The album is more electronic in
certain ways."
Since their
ground-breaking US debut the Amigos have lived a double life. In their hometown
of Caracas, Venezuela, they've hosted underground club nights for years (the
most recent called 'Super Sancocho Variety'). Then, insouciant single-entendre
songs like "Sexy" and the doggy-style anthem "Ponerte En Cuatro" landed them
on MTV and radio, and before long, the six young men found themselves pop
idols. It wasn't hard, but their hearts remain on the dance floor and in the
clubs.
AREPA 3000 is
live instruments, start to finish. "Electronic music tries to simulate human
sounds," says the guitarist. "It's really easy to buy a groove box or an 808
to make us sound like techno. So we try to get those sounds from our instruments,
to go the other way. Make the human sounds sound electronic. When we do our
club shows, I'll spin before our set and we'll add live instrumentation. We
can play four, five hours like that." 
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