Alt-rock en español Thursday Night on the Pier

Tomm Carroll
Music Critic

August 13 -- The Latin beat goes on -- with a distinctly alternative twist -- at the Twilight Dance Series concert on the Santa Monica Pier tonight. The Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC), which was held this year for the first time in Los Angeles, co-produces an evening of three cutting-edge, Latin-inspired artists from around the globe: AciDa, Sidestepper and Los Amigos Invisibles.

Direct from Buenos Aires, Argentina, AciDa is a pop partnership between musicians Alina Gandini and Tweety Gonzalez, which was formed in 1999. After a group which with Alina was working had disbanded, she asked Gonzalez to consider managing and producing her solo project. Gonzalez, however, had a different idea: a band of their own. Their music is electronic -- Latino-techno -- as exemplified by their album La Vida Real.

Sidestepper, aka Richard Blair, is a British producer who blends the urban cool sounds of Europe with the seductive rhythms of Salsa. Blair has been DJ-ing around town this summer, but with the full Sidestepper band, he employs a horn section, as well as vocals and percussion.

The sound-shaper merged hi-tech, beat-heavy drum ‘n’ bass with traditional Latin percussion and horns to create a new progressive style of Latin dance music on his album 3 a.m.: In Beats We Trust.

Hailing from Caracas, Venezuela, Los Amigos Invisibles is a premiere lounge party band which cross-pollinates French house music with tropical swing. Together since 1991, the group released Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey into Space, a collection of Latin funk, pop-rock, ‘70s disco and lots of other influences, including kitsch. It was described by critics as the consummate party CD.

The band consists of Mauricio Arcas, percussion; Julio Briceno, voice; Armando Figueredo, keyboards; José Luis Pardo, guitar; José Rafael Torres, bass; and Juan Manuel Roura, drums.

Get ready for Alt-rock en español!