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Dengue Fever Says Thanks A Lot: Blimps

dengue_feverlogoDengue Fever is anything but your average indie-rock combo. Based in Los Angeles, the exotic six-piece outfit is fronted by Chhom Nimol, who sings in her native Cambodian dialect, backed by guitarist Zac Holtzman, his brother Ethan (keyboards), Senon Williams (bass), David Ralicke (horns) and Paul Smith (drums). Some photos of the boys in the band from their three previous albums look like they’ve come from Homeland Security’s no-fly list. In reality, Dengue Fever may be the best U.S. cultural ambassadors to Southeast Asia since the glory days of jazz stars Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and John Coltrane 50 years ago. The band’s “new” album, Dengue Fever Presents Electric Cambodia (Minky), spotlights vintage performances by its favorite Cambodian artists from the late ’60s/early ’70s. Dengue Fever will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with them.

white-diamondZac Holtzman: Some day I’d like to build a blimp, either bicycle- or electric-powered. There’s a film by Werner Herzog called The White Diamond that’s about a small blimp designed to survey the animals that live in the trees of the rain forest. Some day, our band wants to tour by blimp. We’ve looked into it, and there’s a company that goes from L.A. to S.F. This could be the beginning of our lives in an airship.

Video after the jump.