The Cambodian-American group has won just plaudits for its turn on "Khmer rock." While many world music/rock hybrids advertise their eclecticism, the tone here is one of unity: the psych stylings of both '60s L.A. and pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodian pop meld jammily.
Cambodian pop band
Dengue Fever releases "Venus On Earth", their eagerly anticipated third full-length CD on January 22, 2008 from
M80 Music. "Venus On Earth" features eleven new original tracks and will be distributed through Allegro/NAIL (
http://www.naildistribution.com/).
Dengue Fever's uncommon pop/world music sound has garnered critical acclaim well before their sophomore album "Escape From Dragon House" was released in 2005. However that same year, the editors of online retail giant Amazon named their record #1 International release of the year. In 2006, Mojo (U.K.) named the same album into their Top 10 World Music releases of the year. The New York Times, Associated Press, Pitchfork, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Reuters Television, Spin, NPR, Global Rhythm and other influential outlets have praised the band's psychedelic Khmer Rock sound. More recently, European outlets such as French magazines Monocle and Chronic'art, the London Observer, Song Lines have extensively covered the band, while Italian Vogue and fRoots (U.K) features have been confirmed.
Dengue Fever has spent much of the last two years touring the globe, winning over new fans in the United States , Canada as well as Europe . The band played high profile U.S. festivals Globalfest, Bumbershoot, Halleluwah, Global Union and the Chicago World Music Festival, as well as two European festivals, Sudoeste in Portugal and the Afischa Weekend in Moscow.
All tracks from "Venus on Earth" were written by Zac Holtzman and Dengue Fever and produced in Los Angeles by Paul Dreux Smith and Dengue Fever. Recording took place at Phase Four studios along with Jim Putnam (Radar Bros.) as well as Pan 3. "Venus" tracks listing is as follows: 1. Seeing Hands, 2. Clipped Wings, 3. Tiger Phone Card, 4. Woman in the Shoes, 5. Sober Driver, 6. Monsoon of Perfume, 7. Integratron, 8. Oceans of Venus, 9. Laugh Track, 10. Tooth and Nail and 11. Mr. Orange.
A documentary on Dengue Fever, entitled "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong" chronicles the band's first shows outside the United States in lead singer Chhom Nimol's homeland of Cambodia . It was the first time a Western-based band performed Khmer Rock in Cambodia since Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975.
Australian label Laughing Outlaw Records (www.laughingoutlaw.com.au ) released Dengue Fever's sophomore CD, the critically acclaimed "Escape From Dragon House" on September 29.