[.ca] Dengue Fever

Travel to an exotic place without leaving home:
This album transcends any currently playing mainstream radio. Amazingly good and although I'm unfamiliar with Khymer, I want to sing along or at the very least swing my hips to the music. Definitly different, but also definitely great.

THE VERY BEST CD OF 2003:
Dengue Fever plays exotic, energetic, evocative, emotional music. Their re-arrangements of 60's Cambodian garage rock standards are -without exception- stellar. The singer, Chhom Nimol, has the strongest lungs and most emotive voice I've heard since Bjork from her days in The Sugarcubes. College radio has already caught on. MTV2 (Subterranean) better take note. It wouldn't surprise me if Dengue Fever joins the ranks of the Gipsy Kings and Sigur Ros by crossing over in the US without singing in English.

Khymer? What is "Khymer"?:
Now, if you're familiar with my taste in music, and many of you are, you'll know that I like music from all over the place. This here CD hails from folk what hail from Cambodia. In Cambodia they have their own language and in that language they call their language "piasa khmai" Then the French came along and couldn't get their gallic mouths wrapped around "piasa khmai" and could only get as close as "Khmer." When we use English, then the name of the language is Cambodian. If we use French, then the name of the language is "Khmer." In Cambodian, the name of the language is "piasa khmai." What is "Khymer"? These tunes will take you back to Phnom Penh during the UNTAC period, when expat bars were pumping out western music, yet across the road, in that little shack of a place where the locals were apparently having a lot of fun... there was Cambodian rock and roll happening. You didn't have to go all the way to kilometer 11 for good music, just walk across the street to the local thatched bar and listen to this stuff. Great tunes, funky lyrics (in a slurry Takeo accent) and not a smidgen of pretension. Buy this CD and give it to your grandmother!

Excellent and unique:
If you haven't had a chance to check out this CD, you definitely should. The sound is really unique (if you're not familiar with Cambodian music) and amazingly beautiful. The lead singer has a great voice and the musicians who back her up are all extremely talented. It's become one of my favorite CDs in the car and at home.

Brilliant:
It's amazing that the late Cambodian superstars Sin Sisamouth & Ruos Srey Sothear are finally being acknowledged and appreciated outside of the Khmer community. Both are paid homage to on this debut CD from Dengue Fever. That being said, this is a brilliant CD in it's own right!! This group is exciting and fresh!! Lead singer Chhom Nimol(a star in Cambodia who apparently lives in L.A. now) is incredible and so is the band! I really hope they keep putting out music this good! The cover of the track from Ethiopiques was a really nice touch also! I highly recommend this CD to fans of asian pop & great rock-n-roll & well, to coin a hackneyed phrase, worldbeat!! I mean that in the best sense of the term! I hope they tour nationwide!!

• Lost in Laos
• I'm Sixteen
• 22 Nights
• Hold My Hips
• Flowers
• Thanks-A-Lot
• New Year's Eve
• Ethanopium
• Glass of Wine
• Shave Your Beard
• Pow Pow
• Connect Four