Los Amigos Invisibles: Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey Into Space : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

When Afrika Bambaataa and Arthur Baker dropped "Planet Rock" back in 1982, its street adaptation of Kraftwerk's rigid rhythms meant the death of dance music's live rhythm sections. Los Amigos Invisibles bring back the randy grooves that blossomed between disco's demise and its computerized rebirth; Arepa 3000 is an urban riot of syncopation, sweat and studio trickery. Snaky synth lines decorate "Amor" and "Caliente," yet they're supported by the walking bass lines, percolating percussion, scratchy guitar and relentless drums of a band that knows no difference between arty fun and sensual fire. Despite its substantial chops, this Venezuelan sextet avoids retro purity. Leaving behind the fine acid jazz of 1998's The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozandera, Arepa 3000 takes on decades of club beats -- languid lounge ("Domingo Echao"), Smash Mouth-y rock ("Piazo e' Perra"), bouncy New Wave ("El Barro"), old-school funk ("Masturbation Session") and several Latin-kitsch flavors played with love, not irony or samples. This is the kind of tropical party platter that Beck would trade two turntables and a microphone to make. (RS 850)

BARRY WALTERS