As they did on the soundtrack to Matt Dillon's 2003 thriller, City Of Ghosts, L.A. based Dengue Fever lead us through a time warp of '70s Cambodian pop on their third album, Venus On Earth. Inspired by the U.S. Armed Forces Radio that was pumped into Cambodia during the Vietnam War, and perhaps more specifically, by the sexy-sour vocals of charismatic singer Chhom Nimol, Dengue Fever exploit an unusual wrinkle of instrumental kitsch and world beat color that is impossible to resist.

Recorded in L.A. with Jim Putnam and bassist Senon Williams (Radar Brothers), founding members Zac (guitar/vocals) and Ethan (Farsifa) Holtzman, along with Nimol (who once sang for the Cambodian Royal Family), and David Ralicke (horns), Venus On Earth is like finding some ancient cassette tape in your Dad's bag of memories, if your Dad served in Vietnam and enjoyed trading in the local color, that is.

Ethereal, pop purloined and downright weird, Venus On Earth has a serious druggy quality, especially when Nimol's yearning, overtly sexy vocals take front and center, relegating the band of L.A. alt.niks to a pedestrian supporting act, exactly as the original Cambodian pop would have intended. When Zac Holtzman's vocals appear, as in the duet "Tiger Phone Card," Dengue Fever's surreal charm is lessened, though you still can't help but listen, and enjoy.

Dislocation abounds, propounded by the lazy drumming, humming Farfisa organ, water colored guitar and percussion--it's like you're lost in the streets of Phnom Penh, soldiers coming up behind you, passport brandished and the U.S. embassy in the distance as nearby, a car radio blasts sickly-sweet pop tunes.  You can hear the Doors, Canned Heat, Creedence, Jefferson Airplane and others '70s touchstones mashed through the lens of that unique Asian pop sound. Bollywood got nothing on this!

Nimol's heavenly Khmer-language vocals keep the whole thing afloat, her hypnotic tonality, simmering melodies and occasionally nightmarish rhythmic sense sounding both charming and nauseous. When, in "Seeing Hands," her vocals suddenly double into a polluted haze chorus over sitar guitar and growling jazz saxophone, it's as good as exploring the cosmos with Coltrane and Sun Ra. And The Monkees.

Dengue Fever
"Seeing Hands" (mp3)
from "Venus on Earth"
(M80)

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Dengue Fever
"Tiger Phone Card" (mp3)
from "Venus on Earth"
(M80)

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Dengue Fever
"Sober Driver" (mp3)
from "Venus on Earth"
(M80)

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World Beat Blastoff: While we're traveling, consider the catalog of Sterns Music, one of the original exporters of classic world beat sounds (long before such term existed). A sampling of their artists open the doors of possibility: Africando, Kékélé, Etoile De Dakar, Bembeya Jazz National, Tabu Ley Rochereau.

Africando's "Ketukuba"

"Mario"

Tabu Ley Rochereau's "The Voice Of Lightness"

Tabu Ley Rochereau
"Karibou Ya Bintou" (mp3)
from "The Voice Of Lightness"
(Sterns)

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The all female Les Amazones De Guinée and "Wamato"

Les Amazones De Guinée
"Demembalou" (mp3)
from "Wamato"
(Sterns)

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Madilu System's "La Bonne Humeur"

Madilu System
"Kupanda" (mp3)
from "La Bonne Humeur"
(Sterns)

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