Music release

Dengue Fever

Dengue Fever is the 2003 debut album of the Los Angeles band Dengue Fever, sung entirely in Khmer by Chhom Nimol.[1][2]

About the release

The album is made up mostly of covers of Cambodian rock and pop songs from the 1960s and 1970s, with two original songs in the same style.[1][3] The band's own site elsewhere calls the debut an album made entirely of covers of romantic Cambodian pop from the 1960s.[4] Chhom Nimol sings all of the lyrics in Khmer.[1] The band sets the Cambodian songs against psychedelic, lounge, surf and garage-pop sounds.[1][3] AllMusic files the record under indie rock, garage rock revival and surf revival.[2]

The album was recorded at Igloo between 2002 and 2003 and came out on June 24, 2003.[2] It runs 48 minutes and 47 seconds.[2] A deluxe edition followed on November 22, 2012, with five bonus tracks that were not on the first release.[5] A red vinyl record carries the 12 original tracks.[5] The band's next album, Escape From Dragon House, came out in 2005.[2]

Musicians

Chhom Nimol, who was born in Cambodia, fronts the band.[1][5] The other players are Zac Holtzman, his brother Ethan Holtzman on Farfisa organ, Senon Williams, David Ralicke and the drummer and engineer Paul Smith.[5]

Background

Ethan and Zac Holtzman formed Dengue Fever in Los Angeles in 2001, after they discovered Cambodian psychedelic rock.[1][3] They wanted a singer who could sing the Cambodian songs in Khmer, and they found Nimol through auditions in Little Phnom Penh, the Cambodian neighborhood of Long Beach.[1][3] The album draws on songs by Cambodian artists including Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea and Pen Ran.[1] Many of those artists died or disappeared under the Khmer Rouge.[1][3]

Track list

  1. "Lost in Laos"
  2. "I'm Sixteen"
  3. "22 Nights"
  4. "Hold My Hips"
  5. "Flowers"
  6. "Thanks A Lot"
  7. "New Years Eve"
  8. "Ethanopium"
  9. "Glass of Wine"
  10. "Shave Your Beard"
  11. "Pow Pow"
  12. "Connect Four"[5]

The deluxe edition adds "Doo Wop (Live at Rickshaw 2005)," "A Go Go (Mastered Remix)," "Hold My Hips (Paul Dreux Smith Remix 2004)," "Thanks A Lot (Live at Spaceland)" and "Lost in Laos (Tom Chasteen Remix)."[5]

Access

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Wikipedia, Dengue Fever (band)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 AllMusic, Dengue Fever: Dengue Fever
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Dengue Fever Music, Discography Archive
  4. ↑ Dengue Fever Music, Escape From Dragon House
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Dengue Fever on Bandcamp, Dengue Fever (Deluxe Edition)
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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:34.