Dengue Fever Plays Friday Night at Emo’s
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It may strike you as exotic at first, when you hear Dengue Fever‘s very fabulous vocalist Chhom Nimol singing in Khmer. Yet there’s more to it than that. The LA-based sextet has carved an extraordinary niche for itself by running amok with a number of music styles, creating what may seem like an unlikely mashup, but it’s brilliant.
Their albums have an enticing mix of psychedelic surf rock and very cool ‘60s Cambodian pop. The band first got together when guitarist Zac Holtzman‘s brother (and the band’s organist) Ethan Holtzman returned from a Cambodia trip in 1997 with a bunch of those pop cassettes. Zac found himself hooked.
Their latest album, Cannibal Courtship, takes things a step further with some jazz, Afrobeat and wickedly dark humor (if the track on today’s Austin Music Minute, “Cement Slippers,” should be any indication…!), and features Nimol singing in both Khmer and English.
You will absolutely love seeing Dengue Fever live. They’re playing Friday night at Emo’s, 603 Red River, on the outside stage. Spain Colored Orange opens the show.
And some more information about performances going on at Emo’s Friday night: On the inside stage, Grand Child is having its album release show, sharing the bill with The Eastern Sea, Pompeii and For Hours and Ours. Great bands all around. Do check it out.
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