• U2
• Foo Fighters
• The Flaming Lips
• Blondie
• Billy Idol

Mike Doughty
Photo: MTV News

SANTA MONICA, California — Mike Doughty might just have the coolest boss ever.

"He lets me leave work early, lets me steal pens, casual Friday is very casual," Doughty explained. "Dave is a very good boss."

Dave would be Dave Matthews, head of ATO Records. How Doughty went from fronting '90s buzz band Soul Coughing ("Super Bon Bon," "Circles") to signing with Matthews as a solo artist is a long story, but one that interview-friendly Doughty has packaged nicely into a two-minute sound bite.

"The story is Soul Coughing was great, but I wanted to be a singer/songwriter, which was a complete 180 from what Soul Coughing was about," Doughty recalled. "Everyone thought I was out of my mind. I quit the band, got an acoustic guitar, put it in the trunk of a rental car and just hit the road for four years, selling CDs out of the back of a trunk. Nobody thought I could make it as a solo artist, so I just pounded the highway, driving myself, doing my own books, the business stuff. It was square one, going from Soul Coughing, which was buses and videos and on the radio, to complete underground. And I had a great time doing it. I felt cleansed. I was my own man on every level. I was a traveling troubadour."

After awhile, though, Doughty got the urge to get his music out to more people (see "Former Soul Coughing Singer Considers Selling His Soul"). ATO immediately came to mind. "It's where the indie rock, jam bands and singer/songwriters meet, and that's basically Mike Doughty country," he said.

Doughty knew Matthews from touring together years ago and decided to approach him backstage at Bonnaroo. He brought along an EP he self-released, but it turned out Matthews already had a copy and loved it. "He walked offstage after playing to 80,000 people and goes, 'You're a genius,' " Doughty marveled.

Not only did Matthews want to sign him, he wanted to do a duet. The result, "Tremendous Brunettes," is a highlight of Doughty's Haughty Melodic, released last month.

"The funny thing is, he's perceived as super mainstream guy, and I'm perceived as super avant-garde guy, and yet friends of mine heard the album and couldn't tell the two of us apart," Doughty said.

While Matthews makes an appearance, Doughty entrusted production duties for Haughty Melodic to the frontman of another '90s buzz band, Semisonic's Dan Wilson.

"He had a super, super gigantic hit single, and I had kind of a hit single-ish," Doughty joked of their differences. "And he's coming from a Beatles place, where he's about changing the chords and these different textures. And the music I grew up trying to emulate was hip-hop from the early '90s. There's one chord progression for five minutes, and I have no problem with that. But we just meshed and it was fascinating."

Together, the two created an infectiously rhythmic pop-rock sound to sharply contrast with Doughty's dark lyrics. Thematically, Haughty Melodic is about recovering from a drug addiction and a bad breakup.

"A girl is much harder than the drugs, because you can always bump into the girl in the street or call her," Doughty said. "The first line of the record is 'That Cuban girl that brought me low,' and that's basically what the album is about. And the last line on [final track] 'Your Misfortune' is 'Stand in the light' repeated over and over again. So it's about getting your life together."

The opening track, "Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well," is the first single and a favorite of influential L.A. radio station KCRW-FM. Other standouts include "I Hear the Bells," on which Doughty memorably sings, "You snooze, you loose/ I snossed and lost" ("I'm proud of that one — Lil' Kim could use it in a song just like she did 'Super Bon Bon' "), "White Lexus" ("Maybe it will end up in a Lexus commercial, but it's a song about a drug dealer or death, depending on who you ask, so maybe it's not in their demographic") and live favorite "Busting up a Starbucks."

"It's not an anti-Starbucks song," Doughty explained. "It comes from seeing a photo of the riots of Seattle in 1999 and this kid kicking through a Starbucks window wearing a Nike. And I'm like, 'You've got to be kidding me.' The song is about rage. People focus this rage against consumerist culture, and it isn't the worst idea in the world, but there's so much more creative, productive stuff you can do with that energy."

Now that Doughty has a record deal, he's touring with a van and even a sound guy, but he's still low-key and proud of it.

"Haughty Melodic debuted at #175, and it doesn't sound like a lot, but to me it's very, very hip," Doughty said with a smile. "For one thing, #176, the band we beat that week, was Creed. They may have sold 30 million more records than me, but that week I beat 'em."

• Mike Doughty
• Dave Matthews
• Dave Matthews Band

Nine Inch Nails' <i>With Teeth</i>
Photo: Interscope

Trent Reznor will help feed his eager fans this week as Nine Inch Nails' first batch of studio tracks in almost six years hits stores.

With Teeth, led by the single "The Hand That Feeds," is NIN's first studio album since the two-disc set The Fragile in 1999. "Only" is slated to be the second single off the album Reznor has described as being more mainstream and audience-friendly than some of NIN's previous material.

With Wes Borland back from his three-year absence, Limp Bizkit are releasing their fifth studio album. The Unquestionable Truth, Pt. 1 follows 2003's Results May Vary, which featured former Snot guitarist Mike Smith as Borland's replacement. Truth finds Bizkit looking to the past for inspiration, working with Three Dollar Bill Y'All producer Ross Robinson.

Stevie Wonder has a sunnier outlook on life with his latest, A Time to Love. The optimistic, up-tempo "So What the Fuss" is the first single off the legendary singer's first studio record in 10 years (his last was 1995's Conversation Peace).

Alt-country's Gold-en boy, Ryan Adams, releases Cold Roses this week, the first in what he promises will be a trio of albums released this year. On the double album, which comes on the heels of the last year's Love Is Hell, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 EPs, Adams is joined by backing band the Cardinals. Jacksonville and 29 are slated to follow later this year.

Also out this week are albums by Aimee Mann (The Forgotten Arm), Joe Perry (Joe Perry), the Raveonettes (Pretty in Black), Caribou (The Milk of Human Kindness), Still Remains (Of Love and Lunacy) and Mike Doughty (Haughty Melodic).

Out Tuesday, May 3:

• 1st Offence - Certified Quality (Verbatem)
• Damon Aaron - Ballast (Plug Research)
• Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cold Roses (Lost Highway)
• Pierre Bensusan - Altiplanos (Favored Nations)
• The BiggDogg Family - A Sinner's Life (U-Block Productions)
• Jim Boggia - Safe in Sound (Bluhammock)
• P. Busboom - The Beginning (Peter Busboom)
• Candlemass - Candlemass (Nuclear Blast)
• Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness (Domino)
• The Catch - Get Cool (Made in Mexico)
• Cleazy - Undeniable Demandin Respect (Walk With John)
• Anat Cohen - Place & Time (Anzic)
• A Day at the Fair - The Rocking Chair Years (Rushmore)
• Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic (ATO)
• DreamSinger - For the Sake of Love (Keeping the Dream)
• The Duke - My Kung-Fu Is Good (Spitfire)
• E.S. Posthumus - Unearthed (33rd Street)
• Electra-Kill - The Death of Venus 292 (Addiction)
• Uzoma Ezekwudo - Something Different (Akalaka Music)
• Shelly Fairchild - Ride (Columbia)
• Falconer - Grime Vs. Grandeur (Metal Blade)
• Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree (Island)
• David Fridlund - Amaterasu (Hidden Agenda)
• Billy Gilman - Everything and More (Image)
• Gizmachi - The Imbuing (Sanctuary)
• The Go-Betweens - Oceans Apart (Yep Roc)
  Buy Now: Oceans Apart (Yep Roc)
  
• Greyscale - Discord for the Dead Kid (Battle Born)
• Howard Hewett - Intimate (Shout! Factory)
• The Higher - Histrionics (Fiddler)
• Jacobs Dream - Drama of the Ages (Metal Blade)
• Keith Jarrett - Radiance (ECM)
• The Jazz Mandolin Project - The Deep Forbidden Lake (Lenapee/DKE)
• Joe Johnson - Life of the Party (Yasny Labels Group)
• Ron Kearns - Live at Montpelier (Ron Kearns Productions)
• Kid Loco - The Graffiti Artist soundtrack(Mettray Reformatory)
• Limp Bizkit - The Unquestionable Truth, Pt. 1 (Geffen)
  Read: "Durst Unveils 'The Truth' And It's Rage Against The Bizkit"
  Buy Now: The Unquestionable Truth, Pt. 1 (Geffen)
  
• LOSA - The Perfect Moment (Metal Blade)
• Tony Lunn - The Last Days of Diresville (Flying Tiger)
• Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm (SuperEgo)
• Mice Parade - Bem-Vinda Vontade (Bubble Core)
• More Dogs - Never Let Them Catch You Crying (Monitor)
• Lorraine Nelson Wolf - Come Follow Me! (Ribbon Hill)
• Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth (Interscope)
  Read: "New Nine Inch Nails LP Takes Risks — By Being Accessible"
• Nouvelle Vague - Nouvelle Vague (Luaka Bop)
• Jennifer O'Connor - The Color and the Light (Red Panda)
• Oneida - The Wedding (Jagjaguwar)
• Paradigm - Mainstream Epidemic (Paradigm)
• Joe Perry - Joe Perry (Columbia)
• Populous - Queue for Love (Morr Music)
• Raveonettes - Pretty in Black (Columbia)
• Stereotypes - 3 (Empyrean)
• Still Remains - Of Love and Lunacy (Roadrunner)
• Vulpine - Channels (Brutal One)
• John Williams - "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" soundtrack (Sony Classical)
• Stevie Wonder - A Time to Love (Motown)
• Wrights - Down This Road (Sony)
• ZZZ - Sounds of ZZZ (Howler)
• Various artists - An Acoustic Tribute to Dave Matthews (Reverberations)
• Various artists - Fish Head (Don Logan Productions)
• Various artists - "House of Wax" soundtrack (Maverick)
• DVD: The Game - "The Documentary - The DVD" (Interscope)
• DVD: Hayley Westenra - "Live From New Zealand" (Decca)
• DVD: Various artists - "Basement TV, Vol. 1" (Basement)
• DVD: Various artists - "The Strat Pack: Live in Concert" (Eagle Rock)

May 10:

• Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up (RCA)
• Spoon - Gimme Fiction (Merge)
  Read: "The Truth About Spoon's Fiction? You Could Call It A Whim"
• Weezer - Make Believe (Geffen)
  Read: "Weezer Album Preview: Wailing Guitars And New-Wave Ballads"

May 17:

• Def Leppard - Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (Mercury/Universal)
  Buy Now: Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection (Mercury/Universal)
  
• System of a Down - Mezmerize (Sony)
  Read: "System Of A Down Album Preview: Band Pulls No Punches With The Pummeling Mezmerize"
• Various artists - American Idol Season 4: The Showstoppers (RCA)

May 24:

• Audioslave - Out of Exile (Interscope)
  Read: "Audioslave's Morello Says New LP Feels Less Like Soundgarden + Rage"
• Gorillaz - Demon Days (Virgin)
  Read: "Cartoon Gorillaz Put A Muzzle On Danger Mouse, Damon Albarn"
• Wallflowers - Rebel, Sweetheart (Interscope)

• Nine Inch Nails
• Limp Bizkit
• Stevie Wonder
• Ryan Adams
• Aimee Mann