*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 genre list out a bit. Also, when I think of world music I picture some guy in an alpaca poncho playing a wooden flute ... or some kid playing the steel drum for his 10th grade presentation.ST: You're right ..."world" either means "novelty" or "Ladysmith Black Mambazo".EE: Hey! Ladysmith kicks ass. Those guys have been a band for like 70 years.ST: Whoa, whoa. Focus.EE: Sorry, but their work on the Graceland album seriously got me through puberty.ST: You had a weird puberty, then. Most people woulda picked something that at least had boobs on the record cover.EE: Okay, okay ... Graceland and that one Santana album.ST: Now you're talking. Anyway! Dengue Fever!EE: You mentioned the word novelty above. I'm not entirely convinced they're not. And it has nothing to do with where the singer is from.ST: Okay, I know where you're going with this. It's not that they're "world" music (which they're not ... at least anymore), or that the singer is Cambodian (which she is), it's that they play a very specific type of music. One might call it spy-rock.EE: Oh! That's it. That's what I'm putting into iTunes. It totally sounds like the perfect soundtrack for every old 007 knock-off movie. All gold jumpsuited women, angry toughs with cheap sunglasses, and some little person in a tux.ST: Yep. We've even got the name of our spy and his theme song: "Mr. Orange" (track 11).EE: So, Mr. Orange, we meet again FOR THE LAST TIME!ST: There's Mr. Orange at the end of the huge lounge fight tossing his empty gun aside and planting a full-mouthed kiss on the sultry singer in the sequin dress he's handcuffed to.EE: She slaps him but he only gives a sly grin and says, "Mmm...I don't usually have time for foreplay," then she melts and kisses him even more passionately.ST: There's Mr. Orange, jumping off the roof and kicking the helicopter pilot in the face.EE: There's Mr. Orange being shot by the evil villain's laser-beam gun ... but wait! The beam bounces back and fries the villain! Mr. Orange produces the giant stolen diamond from his suit coat. "Looks like I have a friend in the diamond business," he quips.ST: Really, your enjoyment of this album depends on how well you play along. If you don't play well, it is just a novelty. And you don't have to imagine each song as a different scene in Mr. Orange's sexy adventures (though you could). It's a matter of accepting Dengue Fever on their terms and entering the bizarre little world they inhabit.EE: That's fair enough ... I imagine that Dengue Fever want you to play along ... they're playing in the first place. This may be novelty, not the novelty you'd expect ... but it is in a good way. I can't score it super-high because I absolutely have to be in the right mood to appreciate this, but Dengue Fever a mining this little untapped region of indie-dom and I'm happy for them.ST: They started out playing basically nothing but existing Cambodian songs, moved into original pop music, and now are developing this smoky world of Khmer-delia. Chhom Nimol's voice is a fluttery crystaline thing of beauty, and I love how far this band, as a whole, has progressed. For Venus on Earth they've eschewed hooks in favor of a cool loungey feel, and in the process a lot of songs get lost in the mix ... but as an album, it is well worth checking out. If for no other reason than to see how Mr. Orange escapes the clutches of Dr. Dread.EE: I pictured the bad guy being named Rhubarb Montgomery. But whatever.*Mr. Orange: The MOVIE, starring Weng Weng (rip)*