Dengue Fever Typifies Cambodian Los Angeles Fusion
October 23rd, 2008 posted by Bender Rodríguez
A great blend of Cambodian rock that grew out of Vietnam War era radio
that emanated from the US bases, and Los Angeles surf music, throw in
some jazz from time to time and you have a fresh sound with solid roots
in the popular music from two continents.
I heard about Dengue Fever some time ago, when I heard "Ethanopium" in "Broken Flowers", and I remember looking for some music to download from BitTorrent but found nothing at the time. The other day, I heard a story on Al Jazeera's "Playlist" show featuring the band and their latest album, "Venus on Earth". I was driven once again to find some music, which I eventually did do, a three album discography of this multifaceted group. It was well worth the effort.
With "Venus on Earth", for the first time they have introduced some songs with lyrics in English, which I enjoyed, especially "Tiger Phone Card", a beautiful duet with lead singer Chhom Nimol and guitarist Zac Holtzman, who, I suspect , are involved romantically with each other (based mostly on this song and "Shave Your Beard", and their interactions on Al Jazeera). As a jazz aficionado, however, I hear the Cambodian lyrics more as another instrument and do not really care what they might be saying, and her voice is simply wonderful, haunting at times, gleeful at others, but always with a mellow nonchalance that is refreshing in a country of ecstatic flamenco freaks. Props to Holtzman as well for a solid voice and killer guitar riffs.
And check out that awesome album cover art. I love seeing women lounging elegantly on the back of a moto or bicycle like that, something you see here in Barcelona, but only with bikes, not motos.
Update: Bill the vampire was playing Dengue Fever on his car stereo in episode 5 of HBO's True Blood.
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