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Call it disco. Call it acid jazz. Call it funk. Hell, call it gozadera, electroparranda, or a Venezuelan journey into space. Call it whatever you like, because when you try to stir up an adequate description of the Los Amigos Invisibles sound, any of the above — and countless others — captures one aspect or another of the band’s sprawling psychedelic vision. However, if you ask frontman and Miami transplant Julio “Chulius” Briceño, he’ll probably just tell you it’s “a Latin-funk house band.” And that’s good enough, Mr. Briceño.
Since its inception in the early ’90s — a direct response to Caracas’s burning need for dance music that wasn’t salsa, and alternative music that wasn’t punk — the group has been fighting the good fight, bringing its positive party message to the world while dropping a solid stack of studio albums. In ’95, the sextet released its debut, A Typical and Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band, and then followed up in ’98 with The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera. From those early days through its most recent release, 2009’s Commercial, this band has remained fully committed to filling the dance floor. And Los Amigos aren’t quitting anytime soon.
