[FA Worldmusic] Whose been making you excited recently?

Mon Sep 25 13:10:42 EDT 2006

A few recent shows by artists I thought I'd mention.  Many of these artists
were also part of Mike Orlove's Chicago World Music Festival, and have been
working their way across the country.  Wondering what some of you have seen
that as been inspiring?

A few recent highlights for me:

Extra Golden, a collaboration between indie rockers Golden from DC and members
of Orchestra Extra Solar from Kenya, gave a very cool show - hypnotically
rippling repeating guitar lines that harkened back to Fripp, Remain in LIght
Era Talking Heads and the Feelies, as well as benga music and congolese
soukous.

Brazilian Manguebeat pioneer Otto - playing two sets that were moved from
air-tight funk, and sprawling indie rock, with elements of downtempo
electro-samba, maracatu, candomble ryhthms, and reggae.  He's a loose and
fearless presence on stage, with a really strong band, including a killer
percussion section and an inventive guitarist from teh underground Recife band
Cidadao Instigado...

Serbian band KAL played a very hot show last night - updated Gypsy songs on 2
accordions, violin, guitar, electric bass, drums and percussionist.  First set
ended with a Roma-inflected take on Manu Chao's "Clandestino", second set
opened with a re-appropriation of a Goran Bregovich song, and Gogol Bordello's
Eugene Hutz popped on stage for a little impromptu takes on a Hungarian song
at the end.....

Cibelle played two wonderful sets last week - even more mature show than last
tour, going from sexy electro bossa, to electronically manipulated freak folk,
with assists from a bag of kid toys - somewhere in between Bebel Gilberto,
Brazilian Girls, Psapp and Camille....terrific band, wonderful poise on stage.

Also, LA's Cambodian psych rockers Dengue Fever also made a huge splash in
their NY Debut. Thanks to Christina Roden for originlaly turning me on to
them.  Here's a review from today's Newsday....

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-etledew4905876sep25,0,7634598.s
tory?coll=ny-music-headlines

In any language, Fever's infectious

<http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/trb.newsday/ent/music;tk=10107;ptype=ps;rg=ur
;ref=newsdaycom;pos=1;tile=1;sz=160x600;ord=80193780>
BY RAFER GUZMAN
Newsday Staff Writer

September 25, 2006

Could there possibly be another band in the world like Dengue Fever? The group
is a true original, consisting of four Los Angeles indie-rockers fronted by a
Cambodian immigrant chanteuse. Together, they play psychedelic, Khmer-language
pop. Many of their songs are covers by Cambodian artists of the 1960s, though
they write their own authentic-sounding tunes as well.

It's a wild concept, and Dengue Fever executed it wonderfully Friday night
during its first New York show at a packed Joe's Pub. (The band was a
well-kept secret until the editors at Amazon.com and influential Los Angeles
radio host Nic Harcourt became fans; Matt Dillon included the group on the
soundtrack for his movie "City Of Ghosts.") Whatever the expectations of
Friday's crowd - which included Dillon, incognito in a fashionable gas-station
shirt - Dengue Fever surpassed them.

That's partly because the four musicians - drummer Paul Smith, bassist Senon
Williams, guitarist Zac Holtzman and his brother, Farfisa player Ethan
Holtzman - formed an impressively tight unit. They laid down propulsive but
tricky grooves with easy confidence, recalling crackerjack ensembles like The
Meters or Elvis Costello's Attractions or even the J.B.'s. And you had to
wonder: How well could those bands navigate the foreign rhythms and melodies
of Asian pop?

But Dengue Fever also has a powerful weapon in its lead vocalist, Chhom Nimol,
whom the Holtzmans discovered singing at a restaurant called Dragon House.
(Hence the title of the band's terrific new album, "Escape From Dragon House,"
on M80 Music/Birdman.) Nimol has a fine, clear voice and the ability to leap
from note to note in unexpected ways. It also helps that she's pretty and
poised, with the sweet face of a Miss America contestant.

East doesn't often meet West without some tension, and that was visible in
Dengue Fever's performance. Nimol initially comported herself modestly, as if
singing for honored guests. During the opening song, "Shave Your Beard"
(credited to the Cambodian artist Ros Serey Sothea), she seemed too dignified
to join the other musicians in working up a sweat. But halfway through the
75-minute show she let down her guard and began flirting with her band mates
and - ever so daintily - shifting her hips.

Did it matter that Nimol, who speaks limited English, sang almost exclusively
in Khmer? Not a bit: Her voice soared beautifully on "Made of Steam" and she
punched up the forceful chorus of "Tip My Canoe." She delivered a Khmer rap in
the middle of "Sni Bong." And during the show-stopping "One Thousand Tears of
a Tarantula," she was finally cutting loose along with her band.

Amid all the fun, it was worth wondering: What would have happened if the
Khmer Rouge had not devastated Cambodia - and its budding rock scene - in the
1970s? Perhaps we'd be blessed with more bands like Dengue Fever.

DENGUE FEVER. Hot, hot, hot. Friday at Joe's Pub, Manhattan.

All the best,

Bill Bragin
Director of Joe's Pub
The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
New York, NY  10003

t/ 212.539.8512
f/ 212.539.8505
e/ bbragin at publictheater.org
www.joespub.com
Wanna be our Friend?  www.myspace.com/joespubatthepublic

"This will be our reply to violence:
to make music more intensely,
more beautifully,
more devotedly than ever before."

Leonard Bernstein