"I'm Sorry, I Don't Understand What You're Singing" (Dengue Fever, Southpaw, 3-06-08)

(photos from Bryan Bruchman's Flickr set)

Weird-looking bunch of folks.  Lead singer Chhom Niccol - who's awesome - is maybe four feet tall.  Bassist Senon Williams could clear seven; if he hadn't shaved his head, he'd probably still be a hair taller than Niccol when kneeling at her feet (which he does).  Guitarist/singer Zac Holtzman has a beard that can't find him any favors with Airport Security; his brother, keyboardist Ethan, looks like he should be sentenced to a life in bowling shirts.  Sax/horn dude David Ralicke has close-set eyes that make him seem perpetually stoned.  Also, he might be perpetually stoned.  Sartorially, they range from spiffy - Niccol came out in a sparkly silver dress, the drummer wore a Gatsby cap and an argyle sweater - to sloppy (rumpled Ralicke seemed to have rolled right out of bed).  Skin comes all shades.

Totally appropriate, given the pile of there-and-back-again influences that go into Dengue Fever's (myspace) Cambo-pop tribute-act-cum-actual-band.

I could hackily get all "But the music brought them together" - which is what music, duh,  does (unless you're Vampire Weekend).  And it did, eventually, though the band came out in kind of a shambles.  At first they were almost having too much fun up there.  This may not the most technically proficient group in the world - you do expect a band that goes off on the odd psych-jam to have a stronger guitar presence - but the rhythm section (augmented this night by Brooklyn's Nappy G) gives it a solid drive, the organ fills the sound nicely, and the strongest players (Niccol, Ralicke) consistently deliver.  Abundant enthusiasm might smooth over rough spots, but at several points these guys earned a frenzy.

The songs are good ones, both the band and much of the (nominally sold out, but not packed) crowd came to have a good time.  They burned through the two all-English songs ("Tiger Phone Card," which has sort of ruled my life these past few months, and "Sober Driver," where "Echo Park" was replaced by "Brooklyn City") early, but no one seemed to care.  A couple odd moments during other numbers where Niccol pointed the mic at the audience; folks gamely sang back whatever they thought the lyrics were and the singer scrunched her face at their inexactitude.  What?  The room wasn't fluent in Khmer?

Niccol's vocal gymnastics are dictated by the melody; if they seem at all shrill on record, that disappears live.  If sometimes the band's image (especially in its videos) plays hard on its melting pothead aspects, the psych-stuff was mostly held in check.  Venus on Earth, Dengue Fever's latest, is a bright pop record; things stayed bright and poppy.  Fun!  Did I say that yet?  Fun.

The widget below lets you stream 15 tracks from the band's two most recent records (Venus on Earth and Escape from Dragon House), plus a trio of live/remixed extras. (Just click the "Songs" tab to see a track selection.)

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Openers DeLeon (myspace) were a potentially interesting mash-up.  The Brooklyn band offers itself as an introduction to  the "rich musical tradition of Sephardic Jews," and I think I heard lyrics in English, Spanish, and Hebrew.  More than anything, though, they felt like "a Brooklyn band."  Had trouble finding balance. Engaging fits poked out from longer, duller stretches.  Liked the synthy distortions they put on the trumpet.

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Frog-Swans and Swan-Frogs was also at the Southpaw show

Bryan Bruchman and Prefixmag have pics

Global Rhythm was at Tuesday's Mercury Lounge gig.

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I'll go on the record as being - unlike the average Stereogum commenter - totally okay with this:

Some of it was the element of surprise.  David Cook's been a giant charisma-suck so far this season, and I wouldn't miss him were he gone, but this was entertaining.  Tons more interesting than the Aussie Rocker the producers have been trying to force down our throats.  Cook redoes the Lionel Richie number as a rock power-ballad and doesn't go nutzoid bombastic.  It's deliberately paced - there's almost a touch of tension - the vocals are spot on and straightforward (if the octave jump comes early, that's allowable in its 90-second abridgement).

I'm far less impressed than everyone else on the planet with stoner Jason Castro's go at the Buckley version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."  It was okay, I like Castro, I've liked his performances every week (though, as with all things Idol, the caveat is that most of this shit wouldn't hold water out of the show's context). I like his sincerity, which doesn't seem to be a conscious choice, and I loved his quote last week on the Idol process ("I just really like to sing and I like music and anything that has to do with music and there's just been a lot more of not-music stuff than I thought, like taking pictures and talking and I'm not good at talking"). And this was fine, unspecial.  I've seen comments about it being an impressive venue for the song (especially on "80's Week"), but it feels like Buckley's cover has been trotted out on every primetime drama for the past several years.  This song belongs to television now, like it or no.

Loved Chikezie's "I Believe to My Soul" last week, because it was loose and had attitude and those are qualities sorely missing this year; this week he turned around and totally disappeared.  Toward that end, RIP Danny Noriega, to whom I warmed after he showed a bit of sweetness.  He wasn't a good singer, but he had sass, and it's a shame he became the target of the obviously homophobic (and perpetually, pathetically powerless) Vote for the Worst.

Feels like all the "moments" (good and bad, like David Archuleta's excruciating "Imagine" - if you want to hold Castro's Cohen cover up as a counterpoint to that I'll play along) have been made by the males, this year.  Brooke White's riding on understatement - Simon said early on, with some disgust, "I presume you're going to be nice throughout this entire competition" - which will be okay until it becomes dull.  And I don't know what Second-Chance Carly would have to do to win me over, but her singing doesn't astound me and her story isn't the sort one looks for on this show.

tags: dengue fever  american idol  concert reviews  

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