Three albums in the novelty has worn off, but Dengue Fever has smartly chosen to keep evolving. While that means their unquestionably unique offering no longer startles, it's no less riveting -- Venus on Earth is at once the band's most accessible and most varied release. A recap: when first heard from in 2003 on their self-titled debut, Dengue Fever was like no other band, a bunch of L.A. hipsters fronted by a Cambodian-born woman, Chhom Nimol, who paid homage to that Asian nation's pre-Pol Pot cheesy psychedelic-cum-lounge-surf-garage pop sound of the '60s/early '70s, music obscure enough that only a tiny handful of Americans could honestly claim to have known the first thing about it -- certainly, the source material spun outside of the orbit of the so-called core world music audience. By the second album, 2005's Escape from Dragon House, Dengue Fever had tossed in a few more disparate elements, and with Nimol's high-range vocals riding atop this internationalist admixture and a basic alt-rock sensibility as a guiding force (minus the faux alt-rock attitude), Dengue Fever attracted an audience and garnered critical praise. For Venus on Earth, the mainstream beckons, or comes as close to beckoning as it's ever going to for a band as non-mainstream as Dengue Fever. Nimol's vocals are as beguiling as ever, Ethan Holtzman's Farfisa organ still swirls, Zac Holtzman's guitars still chime and chunk, and Paul Dreux Smith's drums clang happily along. With horns provided by David Ralicke and bass from Senon Gaius Williams, Dengue Fever has softened some of the rougher edges, injected some serious soul, and added more swing to their thing. "Oceans of Venus" could be an outtake from the first B-52's album, "Clipped Wings" a lost Blondie tune, and "Woman in the Shoes" is just one of the most cuddly pop songs in ages. The groovelicious Nimol-Zac Holtzman duet "Tiger Phone Card," a tale of a long distance Phnom Penh-NYC romance, is the pop smash Yoko Ono might have had in an alternate universe. Drenched in reverb, soaked in sweat, marinated in some phantom historical moment yet tethered to the now, Dengue Fever is more innovative and resourceful than 99-percent of the bands that receive 99 times the publicity.
http://terriblelovesongs.blogspot.comLast week I had the pleasure of watching my favourite band out of L.A. right now, Dengue Fever, play a free gig at Rough Trade East in London. Dengue Fever Perform @ Rough Trade East Taking to the tiny cramped stage they plunged straight into a mixture of songs from their recently released album 'Venus On Earth'. If you haven't already heard their music, I'd...
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'Venus On Earth' is the latest album from the LA based band Dengue Fever. They combine Cambodian pop music with psychedelic rock and the outcome is refreshingly good. Far from severe headaches and joint pains, Dengue Fever infects you with funky baselines, fuzzy keyboards and some really great songs. With keyboards occasionally reminiscent of a sound you could hear at a fairground and Bollywoo...
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*Today's two-person review is brought to you by Sage and Ethan.**Sage's Score*: 7.0*Ethan's Score*: 6.0ST: So today we're reviewing Venus on Earth by Cambodian psychedelic pop-lounge rock band, Dengue Fever.EE: Seriously. I tried entering that into the genre category in iTunes. I had to settle with "religious."ST: Not "world"?EE: Nah. I don't have much "religious" ... figured I'd spread my genr...
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On April 18th I caught up with Dengue Fever before their show at The Independent in San Francisco. Below is the first installment of my interview with them.Dengue fever are a psychedelic Cambodian rock band from Los Angeles. Fronted by the silky vocal styling of Chhom Nimol. Quite simply, their sound is dreamy and sexy.
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This Friday, I have an interview scheduled with Dengue Fever.I'll be catching up with the Los Angeles based group prior to their performance at the Independent in San Francisco.If you've never heard of Dengue Fever you should get around to it, they're a pretty far out and unique group. I'm rather excited to sit down with them and pick their collective brain. Their sound combines Cambodian pop ...
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Dengue Fever is the amazing L.A.-based alt-rock band featuring Cambodian-born singer Chhom Nimol. Their new album is Venus On Earth and here's a cool track off it.They were written up in the New York Times recently:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/arts/music/20smit.html?ref=musicDengue Fever are finally getting their due. Photo by Kevin Estrada.
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This is how I heard the music of Dengue Fever described once...and I couldn't have said it better.A wonderful blend of African,Middle Eastern,acid jazz, and R & B with elements of rock and pop mixed in for good measure...its nothing if not eclectic...and incredible.
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http://terriblelovesongs.blogspot.comLast week I had the pleasure of watching my favourite band out of L.A. right now, Dengue Fever, play a free gig at Rough Trade East in London. Dengue Fever Perform @ Rough Trade East Taking to the tiny cramped stage they plunged straight into a mixture of songs from their recently released album 'Venus On Earth'. If you haven't already heard their music, I'd...
More >
*Today's two-person review is brought to you by Sage and Ethan.**Sage's Score*: 7.0*Ethan's Score*: 6.0ST: So today we're reviewing Venus on Earth by Cambodian psychedelic pop-lounge rock band, Dengue Fever.EE: Seriously. I tried entering that into the genre category in iTunes. I had to settle with "religious."ST: Not "world"?EE: Nah. I don't have much "religious" ... figured I'd spread my genr...
More >
Former Chalky's Choice and current holders of Rough Trade Album of the Week Dengue Fever are the focus of John Pirozzi's latest documentary 'Sleepwalking Through The Mekong'. I love this band! Here's what you need to know from the Press Release: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong follows Los Angeles based Dengue Fever on their recent journey to Cambodia to perform 60s and 70s Cambodian rock n' rol...
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'Venus On Earth' is the latest album from the LA based band Dengue Fever. They combine Cambodian pop music with psychedelic rock and the outcome is refreshingly good. Far from severe headaches and joint pains, Dengue Fever infects you with funky baselines, fuzzy keyboards and some really great songs. With keyboards occasionally reminiscent of a sound you could hear at a fairground and Bollywoo...
More >
Notes of an Aboriginalien….. In the foreground of our mind, without even noticing, we seem to limit our way of interacting with other beings within terms we can explain to ourselves, with notable exceptions. When two humans interact and it is taken for the great depth it has to offer, it seems worlds collide! When we try to understand how we know this information and how we know what it means,.
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I've been on the road a lot over the past week and this poor old blog has suffered as a result. This is not to say I haven't been collating information and forming musical thoughts while I drive, but getting to a computer has proved difficult. So here's the Saturday summary on Monday, just a couple of days later than planned. For those of you who follow this blog, you might know that Room Thirt...
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Note that you can download the Dengue Fever track I picked tonight from my website's blog.There's some stuff in this show that is new to pat radio ( Umbrella Men, Moon High), and I lean on some old favorites. Various linkages are below. I'm reasonably sure we will have an in-studio guest next week...Stream: http://patradio.org/blix/wimpy.phpDownload: http://patradio.org/blix/program_106_Assor...
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Dengue Fever stopped by the Fearless Music studios in NYC last time they were in town. Check out the below performance of Sober Driver taken from their last album Venus On Earth .
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Seeing Hands |
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| 2 Clipped Wings |
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| 3 Tiger Phone Card |
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| 4 Woman in the Shoes |
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| 5 Sober Driver |
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| 6 Monsoon of Perfume |
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| 7 Integratron |
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| 8 Oceans of Venus |
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| 9 Laugh Track |
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| 10 Tooth and Nail |
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| 11 Mr. Orange |
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 "Venus on Earth")
