La reencarnación del rock camboyano (VIII)

Artista: Dengue Fever

Álbum: In The Ley Lines
Año: 2009
Género: Rock ecléctico / Rock folk / Rock psicodélico
Nacionalidad: EEUU - Camboya

Lista de Temas:
01. Mr. Orange (2:41)
02. Tiger Phonecard (3:09)
03. The Province (4:24)
04. Today I Learnt To Drink (2:07)
05. Hold My Hips (3:27)
06. New Years Eve (3:58)
07. Seeing Hands (5:01)
08. Sober Driver (4:05)
09. One Thousand Tears Of A Tarantula (6:31)
10. Pow Pow (3:06)

Alineación:

- Chhom Nimol / vocals
- Zac Holtzman / vocals & guitar
- Ethan Holtzman / Farfisa organ
- Senon Williams / bass
- Paul Smith / drums
- David Ralicke / brass

Ahora, nuestra banda de rock/funk/pop/psych camboyana aparece con una compilación (este es un álbum distribuído sólo digitalmente) de diez tracks de tomas alternativas y actuaciones en vivo que datan del año 2009. Lanzada a pedido de los fans que esperaban impaciente nuevo material mientras se grababa su álbum "Sleepwalking Through The Mekong". No hay mucho para agregar, el grupo suena tan ágil y aceitado como siempre, con canciones alegres que hablan de la injusticia, la esclavitud infantil y los matrimonios arreglados, con ese toque de adrenalina que son los álbums registrados en vivo, creo que no hace falta agregar nada más... yo al menos no tengo ganas.

By now, there can’t be too many Dusted readers who haven’t heard the story of the Long Beach band Dengue Fever. It’s 1997 – brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman start collecting cheesy 1960s and 1970s rock tapes from Cambodia and decide to try performing them. When they audition singers from the huge Long Beach Cambodian community, they serendipitously connect with Chhom Nimol, a celebrated vocalist from Phnom Penh. They create a sound that comes from a mix of old Cambodian songs with newly written works in a similar idiom. The rest is (recent) history.
This journalist’s dream – and Dengue Fever’s efforts to live up to it – however, obscures some very talented and creative musicians, a condition very clearly visible in the brand-new download-only album In the Ley Lines. The songs on this album, a combination of alternate takes, live cuts, and remixes, are not new, and anyone who has heard the band in the past will immediately recognize the basic sound: twisting vocals in Khmer and English, echoing electric guitars, Farfisa organ with the tremolo set to “stun.”
Erupting at irregular moments from this familiar background are flashes of genius. “Tiger Phonecard,” a rather tiresome series of long-distance phonecalls sketching out a dysfunctional east-west relationship, nevertheless hosts guitar solos with unusually jagged contours. “The Province,” a slow Khmer ballad, is backed with wandering single-melody guitar lines, snatches of tape-delayed keyboard, wobbly pitched synthesizer licks, and wavering harmonized trumpet sounds worth of John Hassell in the Possible Musics era.
Not all the songs are this much of a mashup. “Hold My Hips” begins with a standard 1970s Cambodian pop treatment, although the saxophone solo a minute into the song is pure Motown soul. The highlight of the album for many listeners will probably be the live, six-and-a-half minute version of “One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula.” Built from stripped-down ostinati in the guitar and organ, backed by drums and guitar in close coordination, the song has irresistible drive.
In the Ley Lines is enjoyable in part for what it is and in part for what it could be: cheesy much of the time, clever some of the time, and downright erudite every once in a while. It remains to be seen how Dengue Fever will deal with these occasionally contradictory tendencies. Will they sink back into the comfort of quasi-ironic recreations of Khmer pop music history? Will they seize on the flashes of genius visible from time to time to build something genuinely innovative? They would do well to give their situation serious thought; popular as they are in the World Beat market, they have potential that may require a different audience.

Richard Miller

In 2009, Real World Records approached Dengue Fever to record an albums worth of material for the high-end audio manufacturer Bowers and Wilkins' music subscription service "Society of Sound". The band recorded "The Province" for the first time, four newly arranged tracks of previously released material, and five tracks recorded live at Real World Studios in front of a live audience, introduced from the stage by Peter Gabriel.
In the Ley Lines gives fans a chance to hear DENGUE FEVER like never before. The quality of the recordings is cleaner, crisper, and contains the only studio version of "Doo Wop (Today I Learnt to Drink)", plus live versions of fan favorites "Sober Driver", "New Years Eve", and a rocking six-and-a-half minute live performance of "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula."
Also included: "Mr. Orange", "Tiger Phone Card", "The Province", "Hold My Hips", "Seeing Hands", and "Pow Pow". The band is releasing In the Ley Lines commercially for the first time under their new TUK TUK Records label.

Siguiendo la recorrida en el tiempo, continuamos con la investigación cabezona:

A mediados de 1990 el bajista Paul Wheeler de la banda estadounidense punk "The Screamin' Mee-Mees" viajó a Camboya en calidad de turista. En los viajes comenzó a escuchar esas raras canciones en jémer:
"Nunca había oído nada igual. La música grabada en el cine, era un reflejo de la escena estadounidense de Camboya de finales de los 60 y principios de los 70. Todo parecía muy fresco y sincero. No eran canciones importadas desde el extranjero a un país subdesarrollado en materia cultural. Esta música no era una pálida y débil copia secundaria, era una opción enérgica, creativa y modificada del rock psicodélico de los grandes artistas profesionales. Y muy bien realizado."

Paul Wheeler, de regreso en los Estados Unidos, lanzó con el apoyo de coleccionistas de New York pertenecientes a una pequeña empresa llamada "Parallel World" algunos de sus singulares temas camboyanos en una recopilación llamada "Cambodian Rocks" para que el mundo tenga acceso a un catálogo fenomenal de cultura camboyana, en un documento histórico cultural creado por artistas de rock verdaderamente dotados de creatividad que conformaron un estilo único de música, casi irremediablemente perdido en una tragedia terrible y sin sentido.
Pero resulta que, entre los residentes camboyanos de EEUU y Francia, estas canciones eran conocidas y se escuchaban en las calles, y formaban parte de la cultura que se llevaron con ellos esos refugiados que terminaron en múltiples lugares del mundo.