Thursday, January 7, 2010

SXSW NEWS: Dengue Fever, The 88 & Mumiy Troll

You know you've made it when you are an answer on JEOPARDY!, as Dengue Fever was January 4. What a way to kick off 2010!

2009 was not a lazy year for Dengue Fever. They made their live debut in Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Luxemborg and Turkey (while other places around the world clamored for - and got - their return); wrote and performed to standing ovations a new soundtrack for the 1925 silent film classic The Lost World; released a DVD/CD soundtrack for the documentary film Sleepwalking Through The Mekong; opened for Grace Jones at the Hollywood Bowl and collaborated with Inara George (The Bird and The Bee) on a fantastic 21st century take of the disco classic "I Feel Love".

And then, Metallica's Kirk Hammett named their song "One Thousand Tears of A Tarantula" his 2nd favorite song of the 2000s in Rolling Stone's Best of the Decade poll.

Whew.

Dengue Fever starts the new year with a West Coast tour in support of the January 10 release of Dengue Fever Presents: Electric Cambodia (Minky Records), a compilation of fourteen of the band member's favorite classic tracks, from artists such as Sinn Sisamouth, Pan Ron, Ros Sereysothea and Dara Chom Chan. After that, it's SXSW, Bergenfest in Norway (http://www.bergenfest.no/) and other European and Asian dates to be announced shortly.

After reclaiming their independence from the major label world, The 88 return to SXSW with even more commercial placements and a television theme - for NBC's Community - under their belts. They also did a cheeky cover of "All By Myself" for CBS's How I Met Your Mother (big fans of The 88).

As the leaves fell in 2009, they released a new collection of songs about love via iTunes (search "This Must Be Love").

As the snow fell, they released what's destined to become a new Christmas classic "All I Want For Christmas Is You", which was an iTunes Holiday Discovery Download and KCRW's Top Tune for December 25. Lots of merry ho ho ho-ing going on there!

Surely, The 88 will have plenty of insanely catchy new songs to bring to the stages of Austin this spring, after which they're planning to jet off for their first ever tour dates in the UK!

Though scheduled to make their debut at last year's SXSW, Mumiy Troll was unfortunately stymied by lead singer Ilya Lagutenko's emergency appendectomy. This year, the Russians have their submarine pointed right at Austin!

On the strength of it's US debut Comrade Ambassador Mumiy Troll crossed Canada the US and Mexico, drawing sellout crowds of Russian ex-pats, diplomats and sports stars to dance and bask in Mumiy Troll's unique rockapops sound. With the release of the English language EP Paradise Ahead, Mumiy Troll won over the hearts and minds of the non-Russians during 40+ dates. Compared to everyone from U2 to David Bowie, Pearl Jam and Bauhaus, Mumiy Troll must be seen, felt and heard live to get the full impact.

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