Music release

Escape From Dragon House

Escape From Dragon House is the second album by the Los Angeles band Dengue Fever, released in 2005.[1][2]

About the release

Escape From Dragon House is made up mostly of the band's own songs, a mildly psychedelic pop that joins Cambodian rock with garage rock, surf guitar, spaghetti-western sounds, acoustic ballads and Cambodian rap.[1][3] It followed the band's 2003 debut, Dengue Fever, which was made up mostly of covers of Cambodian pop from the 1960s and 1970s.[1][3] Chhom Nimol sings mostly in Khmer, with some choruses in English.[1][4] On "Hummingbird" she sings in both English and Khmer.[1][3]

The only cover is "Tip My Canoe," a duet written by Ros Serey Sothea and Sinn Sisamouth, on which Zac Holtzman also sings in Khmer.[3][5] The rest of the songs are credited to Dengue Fever.[3] "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula" was later used in the Showtime series Weeds.[6] Amazon.com named it the top international release of 2005.[6]

Title

The album is named for Dragon House, a restaurant, bar, karaoke and nightclub in downtown Long Beach, California, where Nimol sang when the Holtzman brothers found her.[7][2] Drummer Paul Dreux Smith explained that the band's goal was for Nimol not to need to work at the Dragon House anymore.[2]

Recording and editions

Dengue Fever produced the album, and Paul Dreux Smith recorded and mixed it at the Racquetball Court in Los Angeles.[1][3][5] The design is by Beryl Odette and the photographs by Heather Cantrell.[5] M80 Music released the CD in the United States in the fall of 2005, catalog number M80 100.[5][4] Later editions include a 2007 CD on Laughing Outlaw Records in Australia and a green translucent LP in 2008.[5] The enhanced CD adds a remix, "Revenge Of The Tarantula," and a video for "Sui Bong" (spelled "Sni Bong" on the band's track list).[5]

After being out of print for more than a decade, the album was reissued on colored vinyl by Tuk Tuk Records on April 9, 2022.[8]

Musicians

  • Chhom Nimol, vocals
  • Zac Holtzman, guitar and vocals
  • Ethan Holtzman, Farfisa organ
  • Senon Williams, bass
  • David Ralicke, horns
  • Paul Dreux Smith, drums and percussion[1][3][5]

Background

The band toured Cambodia in 2005, during the Bon Om Thook water festival.[1][3]

Track list

The band's discography lists 11 tracks:[3]

  1. "We Were Gonna"
  2. "Sni Bong"
  3. "Tip My Canoe"
  4. "Tap Water"
  5. "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong"
  6. "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula"
  7. "Escape From Dragon House"
  8. "Made of Steam"
  9. "Lake Dolores"
  10. "Saran Wrap"
  11. "Hummingbird"

The 2005 M80 Music CD, as cataloged by Discogs, has ten tracks without "Tap Water," spells the second track "Sui Bong," and runs from "We Were Gonna" (3:19) to "Hummingbird" (5:11), with "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula" the longest at 6:40.[5]

Access

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Wikipedia, Dengue Fever (band)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 UCLA International Institute, Dengue Fever
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Dengue Fever Music, Escape From Dragon House
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Metro Santa Cruz, Dengue Fever (March 8, 2006)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Discogs, Dengue Fever: Escape From Dragon House
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hollywood Bowl, Dengue Fever
  7. ↑ Imprint Lab, Imprint Long Beach: Chhom Nimol and Zac Holtzman of Dengue Fever
  8. ↑ The Vinyl District, Dengue Fever vinyl reissues in stores 4/9
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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:34.