Bringing the long summertime…

Los Amigos Invisibles - everyone's favourite Venezuelan disco love-funk ensemble- have spent the last two years elevating their status as global scenesters and dance music aficionados by remixing Beastie Boys, Basement Jaxx and Fantastic Plastic Machine, and collaborating with Dimitri from Paris. Now they kick off the summer of '03 with a brand new album, Venezuelan Zinga Son, a hot slice of new Latin dance produced by house music legends Masters at Work.

"We had admired Masters at Work since the Nuyorican album (Nuyorican Soul, Giant Step, 1997) and they had been to some shows of ours," explains keyboard player Armando Figueredo. "So the fit seemed right."

In working with Masters at Work, the Amigos have taken their carnival of sexed up lyrics, wah-wah guitar riffs, and hot conga rhythms and refined it with a dance floor sensibility, crafting an album that combines the booty shaking of disco, the deep rhythms of house, the sass of salsa, and the plush-sofa vibe of electronic lounge.

The result is Venezuelan Zinga Son - a title, which the band says loosely, translates as ' the largest fuck session in Venezuela.' Zinga Son is the ultimate summer mix tape, the perfect soundtrack to a long day at the beach and an even longer night at the club, an uptempo dance mix that still sounds laid back, an album that honors its Latin roots but is not tied to them.

"This album is what we live for," says lead singer Julio Briceño. "It's a dance album, but it's also a great album to chill out to on the beach."

The album's extensive jams and reprises are the result of the studio techniques of Masters at Work.

"They would just have us play the same song again and again but each time a little differently. And they would stand there, kind of directing or conducting as we played."

The results can be heard in the airy vocals of Una Disco Llena, the effortless jam of Venezuelan Zinga Son, the smoking percussion of Calne, the extended Bacchinalian dance groove of Bruja and on the album's tribute to rare disco - a cover of Touchdown's '82 dance hit: Ease Your Mind.

Infused with the albums warm summery beats and early '80s keyboard sounds are the street sounds of Caracas, and a bit of nostalgia for the warm weather and easy life of the Caracas that the Amigos once knew.

As Briceño croons: "Listen princess, I'm the one who wants to have fun. And what I bring is a long summertime…"

Venezuelan Zinga Son. Bringing the long summertime…

"The pan-global joyride of the year." - Time Out New York

"Los Amigos Invisibles have 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've put the joy back into dancing, sending a warm current into the cold alienating waters of industrial strength techno." - LA Weekly