Dengue Fever – Venus on Earth Review
When talking to my friends I make it clear that I’m not Chinese and that I come from a Cambodian/Khmer background. Because being Chinese is 1) Not cool 2) The ladies become intrigued by the fact…like some exotic shit. Okay while I fall out favor with other Orientals, I’ll explain the history of my parents.
My parents came over to Canada in 1984 after staying in a Thailand refugee camp for 3-4 years. The birth of my oldest sister occurred during my parent’s “stay”. Anyway years before the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot decimated the country the country by slaying people with educational backgrounds and the beheading of millions. Even though I do take it for granted…I’m glad to be Canadian.
I would consider myself a “bad” Cambodian…I barely speak the language other then the customary curse words which my parents use a few too many times and whatever random words I remember from my childhood.
Dengue Fever a band out of California interested me because they mixed Cambodian pop with “psychedelic rock”. In addition, I wanted to increase this blog’s exposure to word music…ironic because we don’t cover world music at all and now is a better time to start because there’s a massive amount of world music that probably rocks and needs to be discovered.
My experience with Cambodian music is mainly through karaoke. My parents and their friends love their karaoke, which mainly consists of pop songs though well sung nonetheless. I don’t know much about the Khmer language but I know it’s difficult to read and some simple words for us are made much harder with extra syllables that don’t seem to go well with each other.
Dengue Fever’s Venus On Earth has pretty simple Khmer…I mean I think I can understand what Chhom Nimol is saying for the most part anyway. The novelty just isn’t there for me and while she’s an “alright” singer by Cambodian standards I’ve seen a much bigger range in strength and vocals from those just digging the karaoke. I think I’m one of the few that kind of dislikes listening to music in another language because sometimes I feel like I could be listening to crap and I would be too ignorant to know any better. I remember people digging that song “Gasolina” and a friend who speaks Spanish calling that song the most retarded thing ever.
To add to the hate, Chhom decides to switch interchangeably between Khmer and English trying to effortless combine the two but what fails is that Chhom does change her tone anywhere. She doesn’t show off the range expected and keeps her English in a tone where you expect someone singing in Khmer to (which is done because the words are ridiculous). This novelty wore off quickly and I think I’d rather listen to my parent’s songs then this.
Lastly, musically it’s more annoying then cool. Psychedelic rock is nothing cool in my opinion just a name for some bands who minimally use pop rock – in this case. I mean if you call Panda Bear or Of Montreal psychedelic you know you are getting your moneys worth. Musically it’s simplistic and on its own I wouldn’t like it.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
Took me a long time to review this for good reason. Buy this album somewhere else!
Thanks to Thomas from AM 180 for sending me this album, a looong time ago.
Woman in The Shoes by Dengue Fever
Tiger Phone Card by Dengue Fever
