The next day of action for me started off with the soothing sounds of Brazzaville, featuring David Brown former Saxophone player of BECK. This group from Barcelona clamped down on the exotic sound hybrid of indie pop, lounge jazz, world music, and noir-ish atmosphere, and was most often likened to Tom Waits or Morphine and created the “atmosphere”. This group has seen some line up changes but one thing for sure is they are always a talented bunch making really cool music. After an intermission that lasted a few shared moments “passing” the time away, the highly anticipated moment arrived. Dengue Fever unleashed a sound that made me feel as if all of the worlds psychedelic rock had been held captive and put into an amazing rock-n-roll trance. With a female Cambodian bona fide pop star lead singer who has a beautiful voice that certainly was like the Sirens tempting Ulysses and his men, I too felt captive. They are raw and exciting to watch but most of all they are so damn something solidly different yet reminiscent of the times gone bye with their take on what music can sound like. I invite you to look into Dengue Fever if you aren’t aware and put them on your “MUST SEE” list if you like to find treats not so easy to find on earth. To close off the night was Fallou Dieng and his 12-piece orchestra who are up and coming stars on the afro-beat scene who had the park jumping to their infectious Mbalax beats. This drum-laden dance music was transcendent under the stars, and kept the nights groove bouncing.
Dengue Fever—go get it!
Fallou Dieng
Brazzaville
