THURSDAY, JAN. 31 + MP3

I was working at this rehearsal space owned by a real shyster. One day the owner cut his hand while trying to take a speaker out of a Marshall cabinet and randomly this drummer from one of the rooms walked in with hydrogen peroxide and a bunch of bandages. We started talking about music, name-trading local bands, and there’s still only one that stuck with me: Dengue Fever. Chhom Nimol sings in Khmer—the official language of Cambodia—while brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman tackle Farfisa and guitar. The group is rounded off with Senon Williams on bass, Paul Smith on the drums, and David Ralicke on the saxophone. You might have heard about the group from the recently documentary about their travels to Cambodia called Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, or the raves of critics and their babies (Pitchfork). People claim their sound is psychedelic, but it’s no more psychedelic and confusingly wonderful than any other world-music-ish CD. They don’t make music that’ll rip your heart out and make you cry—they make tunes that will make you feel happy and light, like when you go into an Indian restaurant and you hear the old songs and want to start dancing and you don’t really know why. I quit the job after the owner tried to get me to put the peroxide and the band aids on his hands for him, but I caught the Dengue Fever. (DR)

Artist: Dengue Fever
Song: ‘Sober Driver’
Album: ‘Venus On Earth’

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WITH FOOLS GOLD, HOLLOYS AT THE ECHOPLEX, 1154 GLENDALE BLVD., ECHO PARK. 9 PM / $15 / 18+. WWW.ATTHEECHO.COM.