(This has also been a 5 Word Challenge entry)
Album Review: Soul Coughing – Irresistible Bliss
Soul Coughing's 1996 creation may be known best for the first track on the album, "Super Bon Bon", but a few of the other songs on the album have also received some notoriety, including "Soundtrack to Mary", "Soft Serve" and "Disseminated".
Nothing on this album, not even the keyboard samplings, is perfunctory. Everything is intended to throw you further into the groove, from the intuitive lyrics sung/spoken by lyricist/lead M. (Mike) Doughty to the precision drums by Yuval Gabay. A conglomerate of emotions is expressed through the often repetitive but never stale voice and sampler work that haunts the songs. Inane observations mixed with a hint of the sardonic draw the listener in and seem to burn on in the head long after the songs are over.
I think this is probably Soul Coughing's best album. Unfortunately, due in part to his flagitious addiction to heroin, Mike Doughty broke up the band in 2000, or else we might have seen influences from today's hip-hop/jazz/rock scene create an even more engaging album.
Mike Doughty has since beat his addiction and produced a couple of solo albums (Skittish/Rockity Roll and Haughty Melodic), both of which possess the same intensity and hypnoticism of Soul Coughing's earlier work, but lack some of the rounded feel the band provided. They are definitely a must-listen, but Irresistable Bliss still is my number one recommendation to anyone who wants to get familiar with the band, or rediscover Mike Doughty's melodic roots.
