It's been five years since the demise of Soul Coughing, and up to this point, Mike Doughty's solo releases have been solo in the truest sense of the word: He is literally the only musician present. Haughty Melodic is Doughty's first solo release to feature a band, making comparisons to his old band inevitable, but this really is a different beast. He's still an excellent wordsmith, and still favors acoustic bass and taut drums. His delivery is pretty much the same, but with a bit more emphasis on singing and melody. The big differences are that guitars are much more prominent than on any Soul Coughing releases, the lyrics have a more personal perspective, and the additional sounds of the album come from warmer sources like piano, Fender Rhodes and horns rather than a sampler. Several of the songs originally appeared on the live Smofe + Smang album, but those versions were quite sparse: just voice and acoustic guitar. Here, they get the full ock treatment. The sound can still be fairly thick, like on "Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well" and "I Hear the Bells," but the acoustic guitar, piano and pedal steel of White Lexus" are a far cry from anything Soul Coughing released. There are still some strange sonics, like at the end of "Busting Up a Starbucks," but the overall sound is very organic with many acoustic elements. Doughty's solo work shows an interesting development. Even with his rather drastic switch from hip-hop hipster beatnik to acoustic solo troubadour, Doughty retained a large part of his original fan base. Those folks will surely be pleased with Haughty Melodic, but even the people who didn't take to Doughty's solo career immediately owe it to themselves to check this one out.
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...
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You gotta the love the premise of this impending Mike Doughty tour. I will now defer to the press release:This fall, Mike will head out on a tour called The Question Jar Show. It'll feature Mike, accompanied by Andrew "Scrap" Livingston, playing requests yelled out from the audience, slipping in some songs from the new album, and dipping into The Question Jar -- a big jar into which the audienc...
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..when you are constantly thinking in song lyrics. I was reading Lemontwist's post about her job search and a line from the M Doughty song 'American Car' came to me instantly...my mind ties every situatino to a song or a lryic...it may be a sickness. But I like it.'My circus train pulls through the nightfull of lions and trapeze artistsi am done with elephants and clownsi want to run away and j...
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A MySpace bulletin from the unspeakably good Mike Doughty: Subject: French lady ganks my rock! Body: ...
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working this evening I threw in an old mix that I had burned for a girlfriend some time back.wasn't sure how I'd feel about it with all the old thoughts about her, et al. but I'm happy to announce that the mix is still fantastic and I was able to enjoy it without depressed/angered thoughts. in fact, I got some damn fine work accomplished while it was playing!so, being as it was a triumphantly ...
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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...
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