DENGUE FEVER "Venus On Earth"

The music band, Dengue Fever, and Miss Chhom Nimol on the far right.

Dengue Fever is a flulike, mosquito-borne disease common in Southeast Asia and other tropical climates. It's also a Los Angeles band that, while similarly exotic, is far less harmful to the health. The quintet consists of five Angelenos, spearheaded by brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman and Cambodian-born singer Chhom Nimol. They specialize in fusing Cambodian pop music with gleefully trashy garage, surf and psychedelic rock. The band's 2005 album, Escape from the Dragon House, was sung almost entirely in Khmer. But, while the dulcet-voiced Nimol sings in her native tongue on "Venus on Earth," the disc also works in English interludes, such as the telephonic love song "Tiger Phone Card" and the spy-music instrumental "Oceans of Venus," while navigating the fine line between the exotic and the accessible with winning grace.
-D.D.