The master of nonsense words and melodic non-sequitur (more like ranting) is back... despite the fact that he never really went away in the first place. Mike Doughty was the lead singer of Soul Coughing, a seminal band of the nineties who brought a fusion of rock, jazz, drum and bass, and non-sequitur to the 'main stream'. They put on an amazing show, and I feel very lucky to have seen them before they disbanded.
Mike Doughty has plowed on since the end of the band, working back up from the bottom, selling his CDs out of the back of a van, and working hard to get signed as a solo act. Initially, this was an entirely solo effort, and in this venue Doughty seemed hit and miss. When he was on, he was on fire. When he was off, I would walk away from the show wondering where Yuval Gubay was and how I could finagle getting Soul Coughing back together.
Now, Mike Doughty has finally come into his own. He's picked up a backing band, he's honed his songwriting skills (moving away from the non-sequitur but not leaving the nonsense behind entirely), and he's been signed by the label ATO and is finally getting some station recognition again.
M. Doughty is still at his best when the lyrics really don't make any sense (Ossining on Rockity Roll) and when they make little sense (27 Jennifers on Rockity Roll) but now the heartfelt ballads like 'Grey Ghost' and the amazingly insightful 'Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well' from 'Haughty Melodic' work into the mix, bridging the sound of Doughty on his own with the sounds of the 'coughing. Take a look at his homepage (I'm linking to it for the MP3s... thanks Mike!). It's a well designed site, has a ton of info, and you gotta love the Flash paint by numbers portrait on the bio page.
Mike Doughty - Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well
Mike Doughty - Your Misfortune
Mike Doughty - 27 Jennifers
Mike Doughty - The Only Answer
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