Mike Doughty -- Haughty Melodic -- Love it.

Mike Doughty is not touring nearly enough. But maybe, I'm just a brat.I saw him mmm...four times in 2005 and have not seen him since. His album, Haughty Melodic (fun fact: Haughty Melodic is an anagram of Michael Doughty) is outstanding. And by outstanding I mean, it was one of those CDs that I put into my cd player (yes...I still love cds) and could not take out. In fact, every time I did take it out, nothing else I was listening to could quite compare so back in to the player it went.The last time I saw him was in Troy, NY at some dive and it was great. Doughty's the former lead singer of Soul Coughing, a dark period he seems to hate to talk about.Do not go to one of his concerts and yell out "CIRCLES!" because he will not play it.But he will do a great version of "Hungry Like the Wolf" or his own beatbox (not the right word) of a Doughty original: "Firetruck." I cannot say the word firetruck (which I actually say quite often here on SU's campus) without thinking of Doughty.But what does this tell you about his music? Pfft, nothing. Since I first heard him all I can tell people is...just listen.Not everyone takes to him though. He exudes a bit of that Dave Matthews drawl and laziness in his music, but his lyrics are superb.Who else can use the word "discathecting" in a song? Okay, I totally stole that question from Doughty's blog (http://www.mikedoughty.com/blog/), which I read like the freak of a superfan that I am. But really, he takes great pictures and he seems like a really cool guy. I want to hang out with him, but the last chance I got to meet him I was completely toasted and acting like a lush. Nice one, Leesh.Anyway, I recommend if you do not immediately like it, listen to it again. You have to understand that he is not trying to be Dave Matthews and he is not trying to be Soul Coughing. His concert performance really made me appreciate him, back when I heard him at Randall's Island. So I don't know, picture yourself on a beautiful day listening to this sort of music and maybe you'll get that same laid back, easy-going feeling that I get when I listen to him.I enjoy raspy singers so his voice might just do it for me. Whatever, this is a complete ramble. But I must say, if you ever read a complete ramble on how great an artist is and the rambler never seems to come to any sort of conclusion, that's probably a sign that the rambler is a huge fan. It's worth it to try and listen to the music from the rambler's perspective. Dammit, just listen. : )