Artist Roster |
Los Amigos Invisibles
Official Website : |
www.amigosinvisibles.com |
MySpace: |
Territory of Representation
Exclusive representation in Europe (excluding Spain), Africa, Asia (excluding Japan) & Australia
In a nutshell
Los Amigos Invisibles are a band from Venezuela - relocated to New York City - that plays a blend of disco, acid jazz and funk mixed with latin rhythms. They are often labelled as “Jamiroquai with a latin twist”.
On Thursday November 5th 2009, Los Amigos Invisibles won their first career Latin GRAMMY as their latest album titled “Commercial” (released in the USA in June 2009) won “Best Alternative Album”. It was the band’s fifth career GRAMMY nomination. After having toured extensively in the United States and both Central and South America, Los Amigos Invisibles are now looking forward to bring their electrifying live sets to Europe.
Biography
The Venezuelan band is comprised of Julio Briceño (a.k.a. "Chulius", vocals, percussion), José Luis Pardo (a.k.a. "Cheo" or "DJ Afro", guitar, songwriting), Armando Figueredo (a.k.a. "Odnam", keyboards), Mauricio Arcas (a.k.a "Maurimix", congas, percussion), José Rafael Torres (a.k.a "Catire", bass), and Juan Manuel Roura (a.k.a. "Mamel", drums, percussion).
In 1995 they released their debut album, “A Typical and Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band”, which was a huge success in Venezuela. They played in clubs around Caracas for the next two years until David Byrne's Luaka Bop label signed the group and released “The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera” in 1998. Two years later came their third release, “Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey into Space”. In 2000 they relocated to New York City and in 2003 they released their masterpiece “The Venezuelan Zinga Son, Vol. 1” (Luaka Bop released the album in 2004 in the U.S.) which was nominated for the Latin Grammy in the category of Best Alternative Latin Album.
2005 saw the Venezuelan release of “Super Pop Venezuela”, a collection of Venezuelan covers produced by famed DJ Dimitri from Paris . The album was released in August 2006 in the U.S. by Gozadera records and quickly earned them a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Latin Rock, Alternative or Urban Album”.
While the album was praised as an “Exceptional”, “Supercharged” album of “Pure dance-floor heaven”, their live shows were also getting rave reviews:
• “Los Amigos Invisibles are indefatigable party-starters in both their native Caracas and their adopted New York. The band latches on to grooves from across the decades... the music is a testament to smirking international cool... Versatility is Los Amigos' most winning trait... with a rhythm for every occasion” – NY Times
• “Los Amigos Invisibles emanate pure groove… walking bass lines, percolating percussion, scratchy guitar and relentless drums of a band that knows no difference between arty fun and sensual fire” – Rolling Stone
• “[LAI] get audiences lathered up into a licentious Latin dance frenzy…anyone who has seen the group live can attest [to] Los Amigos as a genre-jumping musical powerhouse” – Miami New Times
“Super Pop Venezuela” was chosen by the editorial staff of Amazon as the only Latin album to make the top-10 of “The Best Music of 2006”. Positioning Los Amigos Invisibles alongside artists such as Bob Dylan, Neko Case, KT Tunstall, John Mayer & Gnarls Barkley, Amazon called the album a hilarious, booty-shaking journey into the group's seductive, endlessly inventive brand of lunatic genius. Likewise, "Super Pop Venezuela" was also recognized in the Chicago Tribune's Year-End Latin music Top-10.
Following the release of their first live DVD in 2008, 2009 saw the release of their latest album simply titled “Commercial” in reference to the band’s desire to make a more accessible record for even bigger crowds. The album features a variety of special guests from Jorge Gonzalez (of Chilean rock legends Los Prisonieros) and Mexican songstress Natalia Lafourcade to Senor Coconut vocalist Argenis Brito and Los Tetas’ C-funk. Los Amigos also enlisted production work from friends like Dimitri From Paris and Cachorro López (Belanova, Miranda). On November 5th 2009 the album earned Los Amigos Invisibles their first career Latin GRAMMY as it won in the category “Best Alternative Album”. It was the band’s fifth career GRAMMY nomination!
(source: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Amigos_Invisibles & John Reilly - Rogers & Cowan / edited by Quentin Geerinckx )
