ODB's <i>Osirus: The Official Mixtape</i>

Kicking off the major new releases of 2005 is a posthumous album from Ol' Dirty Bastard. Some of the late rapper's final recordings will hit stores and stereos this week courtesy of the Osirus: The Official Mixtape.

The album, which ODB had completed a week prior to his death on November 13, is being released through JC Records, a label formed by ODB's mother and his manager. The first single, "Pop Shots," was produced by DJ Premier.

Fans of quirky '90s pop rockers Soul Coughing are in luck this week as the band releases four live albums featuring performances from Tokyo, Berlin, New York and Rennes, France.

The first week of the new year is also the week of the tribute album. If you long to hear "Stairway to Heaven" with a little twang, Whole Lotta Bluegrass: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin delivers for your listening pleasure. Air get similarly bluegrass-infused on Blue Safari: A Bluegrass Tribute to Air. Massive Attack get even more orchestrated on A String Quartet Tribute to Massive Attack, while Evanescence become piano-centric on Eclipse: Piano Tribute to Evanescence.

Out Tuesday, January 4:

• Byrds - Set You Free: Gene Clark in the Byrds: 1964-1973 (Raven)
• Carl Cox - Back to Mine (DMC)
  Buy Now: Back to Mine (DMC)
  
• Walter Egon - Fundamental Roll/ Not Shy (Acadia)
• Julia Fordham - That's Live (Vanguard)
• Jim & Jean - People World/ Changes (Collector's Choice)
• Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices - One Voice (Many Roads)
• Doug Macleod - Dubb (Black & Tan)
• Manuel Guajiro Mirabal - Buena Vista Social Club Presents Manuel Guajiro Mirabal (Nonesuch)
• Ol' Dirty Bastard - Osirus: The Official Mixtape (JC Records)
  Read: "Ol' Dirty Bastard's Final Recordings To Be Released"
• Purity's Failure - Extensions (Goodfellow)
• Royal Crown Revue - Greetings From Hollywood (Kufala)
• Soul Coughing - Berlin/ Amsterdam 1997 (Kufala)
• Soul Coughing - New York, NY 16.08.99 (Kufala)
• Soul Coughing - Rennes, France 03.12.94 (Kufala)
• Soul Coughing - Tokyo, Japan 03.02.97 (Kufala)
• Twinemen - Sideshow (Kufala)
• Leslie West - Guitarded (Voiceprint)
• White Lion - Ultimate White Lion (Deadline)
• With Honor/ The Distance - Split (Martyr)
• Various artists - A String Quartet Tribute to Massive Attack (Vitamin)
• Various artists - Blue Safari: A Bluegrass Tribute to Air (CMH)
• Various artists - Eclipse: Piano Tribute to Evanescence (Vitamin)
• Various artists - Rep Ya Coast Mix Tape (X-Ray)
• Various artists - Speak Out: Pickin' on Ben Harper (CMH)
• Various artists - The Ultimate Pickin' on Neil Young: The Fiddle and the Damage Done (CMH)
• Various artists - Whole Lotta Bluegrass: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (CMH)
• DVD: Evergreen Terrace - "Hotter, Wetter, Stickier, Funnier" (Eulogy)
• DVD: Kottonmouth Kings - "10 Years Deep" (Suburban Noize)
  Buy Now: "10 Years Deep" (Suburban Noize)
  
• DVD: Various artists - "Facedown Fest 2004" (Facedown)

January 11:

• Various artists - "Elektra" soundtrack (Wind-Up)
• Various artists - "Hotel Rwanda" soundtrack (Commotion)

January 18:

• The Game - The Documentary (Aftermath)
  Read: "Game Ready To Prove He's Worthy Of The Hype"
• Fozzy - All That Remains (Ash)

January 25:

• And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart (Interscope)
• Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning (Saddle Creek)
• Chemical Brothers - Push the Button (Astralwerks)

• Ol' Dirty Bastard
• Soul Coughing
• The Byrds
• Royal Crown Revue
• White Lion

Mike Doughty (file)
Photo: MTV News

Mike Doughty has been hanging out lately with what he describes as "this incredibly motley collection of guys."

That's something fans might expect from the former singer of quirky rockers Soul Coughing, except that the guys aren't fellow New York City bohemians — they're record label A&R guys eager to release his first solo studio album since Soul Coughing broke up in March of 2000.

"It's like the most incredibly mixed crew of labels you've ever heard of in your life," Doughty explained. "It's like, do I go with the huge conglomerate, go with the big, well-respected indie label, go with the guy with the studio apartment, or put the damn thing out myself? I'm still weighing the options."

Doughty's taking his time with the decision, though he said he hopes to release the album by mid-year. Titled Haughty Melodic, the follow-up to 2002's self-released Smofe + Smang: Live in Minneapolis meets somewhere in the middle of Soul Coughing and Doughty's 1995 acoustic solo debut, Skittish.

Dan Wilson, who shared a few stages with Soul Coughing as the frontman of Semisonic, produced Doughty's album, which includes Smofe + Smang favorites "Madeleine and Nine," "Sunkeneyed Girl" and "Grey Ghost." The two have the same manager, who suggested a collaboration.

"Dan's very much considered a Midwestern rock guy, but he's really deep in terms of his influences, like his jazz thing and his classical thing, and he's definitely an underrated force," Doughty said. "We were talking about Joe Zawinul and Built to Spill and the Magnetic Fields and Elliot Smith ... he's a real musical guy."

In fact, the two learned a cover of the Magnetic Fields' "The Book of Love" for a short co-headlining tour and eventually recorded it. The Haughty Melodic song getting the most attention, however, is the bouncy "Looking at the World Through the Bottom of a Well."

"Not to be a name-dropper, but it's something I spontaneously said to David Johansen one day, who is from the New York Dolls," Doughty said. "I was just hanging out with him and he asked me how I felt, and that's what I said, and he said, 'That's good.' So I wrote it down."

Doughty's favorite track on the album, though, is the love song "Unsingable Name."

"It's about this girl that I went out with that has a name that is really beautiful, but it's just impossible to fit into a song lyric," Doughty explained. "As long as we were going out, I was like, 'I've got to write a song about this girl.' And it was just impossible to fit it in a melody. I'm not going to tell you what the name is, but it was a three-syllable name that ... maybe there's some genius, maybe Burt Bacharach can use it, but I'm at a total loss."

Writing the girl's actual name into the song might not have worked out, but he had better luck once the song was finished.

"I actually wrote it for a movie, which I will decline to name, that was like the iconic failure the year it came out, like such a gigantic flop," Doughty said. "But they rejected it."

Doughty is previewing "Unsingable Name" and other new material on a spring tour.

Mike Doughty tour dates:

• 4/23 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
• 5/12 - Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
• 5/13 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
• 5/14 - Indianapolis, IN @ Jammin' on Jersey
• 5/15 - Bloomington, IN @ Bluebird Nightclub
• 5/16 - Louisville, KY @ Headliners
• 5/19 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
• 5/21 - Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
• 5/22 - Charlotte, NC @ Visulite Theatre
• 5/23 - Charlotte, NC @ Visulite Theatre
• 6/5 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
• 6/6 - Brooklyn, NY @ South Paw

• Soul Coughing

Judging by the title of Korn's long-awaited fifth album, the follow-up to 1999's Issues will be positively peerless: Untouchables, produced by Michael Beinhorn (Aerosmith, Marilyn Manson), is scheduled for release May 14, their publicist said. Korn are rehearsing for a South American tour that begins March 14 in Venezuela, and North American dates are expected soon. ... While their Latin Grammy Awards performance was canceled (along with the ceremony itself) in the wake of September 11, Destiny's Child will get to perform with singer/guitarist Alejandro Sanz after all — at the 44th annual Grammy Awards on February 27. Train and Alan Jackson were also added to the event as performers, while Kid Rock, the Dixie Chicks and comedic actors Kevin James ("The King of Queens") and Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond") will present awards. ... Neither Destiny's Child nor Dave Matthews Band will be going home empty-handed come Grammy time, as Rock the Vote will honor the bootylicious trio and the huggable jam band with this year's Patrick Lippert Award for their activism and efforts to educate young people about political issues. The Goo Goo Dolls and Nelly Furtado will perform at the ceremony, which takes place the day before the Grammys (February 26) in Los Angeles. ...

Jamie Foxx will host LIFEbeat's UrbanAID 2 charity concert, featuring previously announced acts P. Diddy and the show’s headliners, Jay-Z and R. Kelly. The April 9 event is focused on raising awareness of HIV prevention. ... Title TK, the Breeders' first album since 1993's Last Splash, will hit stores May 21. Sisters Kim and Kelley Deal and their new band, currently in the midst of a club tour, will launch another outing in the summer, according to Elektra Records. ... the Who have lined up 18 dates in the U.S., kicking off June 28 in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Cafe and winding up August 31 in Wantagh, New York, at the Jones Beach Amphitheatre. The seasoned survivors will hit Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and more along the way. ... Before they tour Mexico, Argentinean fusion-rock collective Los Fabulosos Cadillacs will play a one-off U.S. show at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheatre on April 4. ...

Henry Rollins, X frontwoman Exene Cervenka and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer will share the bill next month in Los Angeles to benefit three young Arkansas men convicted of murder. The show, set for the Troubadour on March 8, will benefit the legal defense fund of the West Memphis Three, whose case was chronicled in the 1996 documentary "Paradise Lost." ... Funky franchise Fishbone and their Familyhood Nexperience collective will release The Friendliest Psychosis of All, the follow-up to 2000's Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx, on February 19, the same day they play the Winter Olympics Ice Village in Salt Lake City. The EP features contributions from the Fishbone fellas Norwood Fisher, Walt Kibby II and Angelo Moore as well as Primus bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia; peculiar GN'R guitarist Buckethead; and funk godfather George Clinton. ... Rhett Miller, frontman for the alt-country outfit Old 97's, has announced plans to begin recording his first solo album. ...

That '80s show: Depeche Mode have announced a "One Night in Paris, the Exciter Tour" pay-per-view concert debuting Friday, March 8 on iN, TVN, Echostar and DirecTV. Directed by Grammy-nominated photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn, the show was recorded at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy during the band's 2001 Exciter world tour. ... On Wednesday, an L.A. Superior Court judge ruled that ex-Ratt vocalist Stephen Pearcy must stop using the band's name and logo and also ruled that Pearcy must hand over all the money he earned while billing himself as "Stephen Pearcy and Ratt" to his former bandmates, who have also been touring as Ratt. Ironically, the decision stemmed from a suit Pearcy filed last year to gain sole ownership of the name; the judge determined that Pearcy's claims against his former comrades were without merit because he vacated the band of his own accord, leaving guitarist Warren DeMartini and drummer Bobby Blotzer as the sole holders of the Ratt trademark. ...

02.07.02

Alicia Keys and Angie Stone will sing "America the Beautiful" during the NBA All-Star pre-game show on Sunday, before Elton John takes the court to perform "Philadelphia Freedom." ... Our condolences go out to Slayer vocalist and bassist Tom Araya, whose father died Wednesday night of a heart attack. The group has canceled its Friday (February 8) show in Dallas and may postpone or cancel other dates as well. ... A court date scheduled Wednesday for rapper Capone was adjourned until March 19. The MC is facing second-degree assault charges stemming from an alleged altercation involving a gun at a Queens, New York, nightclub in September. ...

The entire "Queen of the Damned" soundtrack — featuring new tracks penned by Korn's Jonathan Davis and interpreted by Linkin Park's Chester Bennington, Disturbed's David Draiman, Wayne Static of Static-X and Jay Gordon of Orgy — is available for preview at WBR.com via streaming audio. The album is due February 19. ... Ben Folds will embark on his first solo piano tour February 25 in Iowa City, Iowa. The 17-date outing, to support last year's Rockin' the Suburbs and his new single and video, "Still Fighting It," ends March 20 in Los Angeles. ... Marc Anthony will deliver Mended, his second English-language album, to stores on March 26. ...

Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough will host a one-hour meet-and-greet February 16 at the Rock & Sports Experience, a weekend event held at the Washington Convention Center and sponsored by Washington, D.C. radio station Hot 99.5 FM. Dorough will promote awareness of the autoimmune disorder lupus via his Dorough Lupus Foundation, which provides financial assistance to victims who cannot afford treatment and aids in research of the disease, which took his sister's life in 1998. ... Mindless Self Indulgence and Dillinger Escape Plan will fight for marquee space when they jump aboard the System of a Down tour, which kicks off Valentine's Day in Las Vegas. ...

Soul Coughing will release a greatest-hits album, Lust in Phaze, on April 9. Along with radio favorites like "Soundtrack to Mary" and "Rolling," the album will include Ruby Vroom outtake "Buddha Rhubarb Butter," "Unmarked Helicopters" from the "X-Files" compilation Songs in the Key of X, a Propellerheads remix of "Super Bon Bon" and a live version of "Casiotone Nation." ... Cornershop will attempt to break a record for the longest remix ever when their official Web site (www.cornershop.com) streams a dynamic, continuously mixed version of "Spectral Mornings" for 24 hours beginning February 12. The song, in its original 15-minute form with Oasis' Noel Gallagher on guitar, appears on Cornershop's Handcream for a Generation, which is now due April 9. ...

Turntablist ensemble the X-ecutioners will kick off a two-month tour to support their second album, Built from Scratch, at the South by Southwest music conference on March 14 in Austin, Texas. The trek wraps May 6 in Los Angeles. ... Hardcore band Speedealer will release their third album, Second Sight, on Palm Pictures on May 14. The record was produced by ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and features heartwarming songs such as "Leave Me Alone," "Slowly Burning Alive" and "Kill Myself Tonight."... Pro File 1, a collection of remixes by Meat Beat Manifesto (a.k.a. Jack Dangers) due February 19, will include the famed sound manipulator's takes on Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," David Bowie's "You've Been Around" and others. Pro File 2, featuring Frankie Bones remixes, is due in May.

• Korn
• Marilyn Manson
• Destiny's Child
• Train
• Alan Jackson

Alicia Keys and Angie Stone will sing "America the Beautiful" during the NBA All-Star pre-game show on Sunday, before Elton John takes the court to perform "Philadelphia Freedom." ... Our condolences go out to Slayer vocalist and bassist Tom Araya, whose father died Wednesday night of a heart attack. The group has canceled its Friday (February 8) show in Dallas and may postpone or cancel other dates as well. ... A court date scheduled Wednesday for rapper Capone was adjourned until March 19. The MC is facing second-degree assault charges stemming from an alleged altercation involving a gun at a Queens, New York, nightclub in September. ...

The entire "Queen of the Damned" soundtrack — featuring new tracks penned by Korn's Jonathan Davis and interpreted by Linkin Park's Chester Bennington, Disturbed's David Draiman, Wayne Static of Static-X and Jay Gordon of Orgy — is available for preview at WBR.com via streaming audio. The album is due February 19. ... Ben Folds will embark on his first solo piano tour February 25 in Iowa City, Iowa. The 17-date outing, to support last year's Rockin' the Suburbs and his new single and video, "Still Fighting It," ends March 20 in Los Angeles. ... Marc Anthony will deliver Mended, his second English-language album, to stores on March 26. ...

Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough will host a one-hour meet-and-greet February 16 at the Rock & Sports Experience, a weekend event held at the Washington Convention Center and sponsored by Washington, D.C. radio station Hot 99.5 FM. Dorough will promote awareness of the autoimmune disorder lupus via his Dorough Lupus Foundation, which provides financial assistance to victims who cannot afford treatment and aids in research of the disease, which took his sister's life in 1998. ... Mindless Self Indulgence and Dillinger Escape Plan will fight for marquee space when they jump aboard the System of a Down tour, which kicks off Valentine's Day in Las Vegas. ...

Soul Coughing will release a greatest-hits album, Lust in Phaze, on April 9. Along with radio favorites like "Soundtrack to Mary" and "Rolling," the album will include Ruby Vroom outtake "Buddha Rhubarb Butter," "Unmarked Helicopters" from the "X-Files" compilation Songs in the Key of X, a Propellerheads remix of "Super Bon Bon" and a live version "Casiotone Nation." ... Cornershop will attempt to break a record for the longest remix ever when their official Web site (www.cornershop.com) streams a dynamic, continuously mixed version of "Spectral Mornings" for 24 hours beginning February 12. The song, in its original 15-minute form with Oasis' Noel Gallagher on guitar, appears on Cornershop's Handcream for a Generation, which is now due April 9. ...

Turntablist ensemble the X-ecutioners will kick off a two-month tour to support their second album, Built from Scratch, at the South by Southwest music conference on March 14 in Austin, Texas. The trek wraps May 6 in Los Angeles. ... Hardcore band Speedealer will release their third album, Second Sight, on Palm Pictures on May 14. The record was produced by ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and features heartwarming songs such as "Leave Me Alone," "Slowly Burning Alive" and "Kill Myself Tonight."... Pro File 1, a collection of remixes by Meat Beat Manifesto (a.k.a. Jack Dangers) due February 19, will include the famed sound manipulator's takes on Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," David Bowie's "You've Been Around" and others. Pro File 2, featuring Frankie Bones remixes, is due in May. ...

02.06.02

Eve and DJ Jazzy Jeff are heroes — they'll be honored by the Philadelphia chapter of the Recording Academy at their 2002 Heroes Awards ceremony on April 22 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The event will benefit the academy's MusiCares Foundation as well as other programs to advance music education and musicians' welfare. ... Kiss bassist and irrepressible self-promoter Gene Simmons will be giving his famed tongue an onscreen workout in the film Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, which stars Tim Allen of "Home Improvement" fame (oh, of course). ...

It's Aaron's Valentine Party (Come Get It) — yep, teenage ball o' fire Aaron Carter has his own 90-minute pay-per-view special lined up for February 16 on INDemand and DirecTV. "Aaron Carter's Valentine Party," shot at Baton Rouge, Louisiana's Riverside Centroplex, will also feature several performances by Carter's big Backstreet Boy brother, Nick. ... Sign up these switch-hitters, stat — Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez are Hollywood's two most bankable musician/actors, notching up #1 and #2, respectively, on a survey of industry execs by The Hollywood Reporter. "Marky" Mark Wahlberg feels the vibrations at #3, while Madonna, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Ice Cube, Janet Jackson, Cher and Courtney Love bubble under him, according to the Associated Press. ...

Photogenic twin-brother act Evan and Jaron are through with being "Crazy for That Girl." They're writing songs for their next album, which could include a new track penned by Evan called "It's So Funny I Could Cry," according to VH1 Radio. ... Rollins Band will record their March 1 and 2 shows at Chicago's famed Metro Cabaret for their first live CD, due in the summer. Henry Rollins and cohorts will warm up for the gigs with dates in Towson, Maryland (February 25), Boston (26) and Buffalo (27). ...

Run-DMC will help kick off the NBA All-Star Weekend on Friday by appearing and performing at a charity auction party held at Philadelphia's Zanzibar Blue. Two nights after the event, which benefits the Inner-City Games Foundation's efforts to enrich young people's lives through sports and educational programs, the rap innovators will join Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Doug E. Fresh, EPMD, DJ Jazzy Jeff, MC Lyte, Public Enemy and Rakim at the Electric Factory's Old School All-Stars party. ... Fatboy Slim and Paul Oakenfold have released albums of their favorite beats, breaks and scratches on the UK label Music of Life. Fatboy's All Star Breakbeats and Oakenfold's Bust a Groove are fodder for DJs, rappers and producers who want a sneak peak into the superstar DJs' record collections and sound files. ...

Reggae/dancehall veteran Capleton — a former Def Jam artist whose past albums have featured collaborations with Q-Tip and Method Man — will release Still Blazing on February 26 through VP Records. The foul-mouthed "slackness" king-turned-Rastafarian is planning to tour behind the LP, which combines hardcore dancehall and old-school reggae flavor. ... Classic rockers Bad Company recorded their recent tour, which featured original singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke along with new members, for a live CD and DVD due in May. The releases will include two new songs and guest appearances by Slash and Journey guitarist Neal Schon on "Wishing Well" and "Crossroads." ...

Good golly, Little Richard will be inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame at the civil rights organization's 33rd annual Image Awards ceremony, which takes place February 23 and will be broadcast March 1 on Fox. "Little Richard has distinguished himself as not only an unparalleled musical genius, but also as a unique and innovative performing artist — fusing pure vocal talent with exhilarating showmanship," NAACP President/CEO Kweisi Mfume said in a statement. ... Van Morrison wrote two songs and sings on one ("Sometimes We Cry") for the second album by his daughter, Shana Morrison. Due April 2, 7 Wishes blends elements of pop, rock and blues, her spokesperson said. ...Joan Osborne, Shawn Colvin and Deep Blue Something will headline WorldSong 2002 - The Next Country Over, a concert to promote world peace and harmony during the Olympic Winter Games, on February 21 at the McKay Event Center in Orem, Utah.

• Alicia Keys
• Angie Stone
• Elton John
• Slayer
• Capone -N- Noreaga

Mike Doughty
Photo: EMD/Nettwerk

Ex-Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty (formerly M. Doughty) will break from working on a solo record to play a monthlong spring tour.

Doughty, who was last heard on BT's single "Never Gonna Come Back Down," will play acoustic renditions of Soul Coughing songs and solo material on the outing of clubs and colleges.

The singer will by joined by the Violent Femmes and They Might Be Giants on April 19 and by G Love & Special Sauce May 1 and 3.

Since Soul Coughing disbanded a year ago (see "Soul Coughing Calls It A Day"), Doughty has mounted two solo tours, collaborated with They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh on "A Frog Playing a Banjo" for a CD accompanying the current issue of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, and composed the soundtrack to the trailer promoting the sixth annual Gen Art Film Festival.

Skittish, Doughty's 1995 solo album featuring a cover of Mary J. Blige's "Real Love," was also finally officially released last year on the artist's Web site, www.superspecialquestions.com, where he is an active participant in bulletin board discussions (see "Doughty Selling Acoustic Solo Album Online").

Doughty is a noted author as well. He writes frequent columns and features for the New York Press, and his first book of original poetry, "Slanky," will be published by Soft Skull Press in the fall.

Regarding the decision to use his real first name for the time as an artist, Doughty wrote on his Web site, "I kind of had an epiphany in Southeast Asia. I wanted to have a first name like all the other kids. Nobody actually has to call me Mike, unless they want to. The point is that I'm Mike to me." Mike Doughty tour dates, according to his publicist:

• 4/13 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
• 4/16 - Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall
• 4/17 - College Park, MD @ Colony Ballroom
• 4/19 - Providence, RI @ Meehan Auditorium
• 4/21 - Long Branch, NJ @ Hooligan's
• 4/24 - Somerville, MA @ Lilli's
• 4/25 - Providence, RI @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
• 4/26 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 4/29 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
• 5/1 - Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
• 5/3 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
• 5/5 - Nashville, TN @ Nashville River Stages
• 5/8 - Chicago, IL @ Martyrs'
• 5/9 - Chicago, IL @ Martyrs'
• 5/10 - Madison, WI @ Stage Door
• 5/12 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

• Soul Coughing

Former Soul Coughing frontman M. Doughty is virtually unrecognizable these days.

Gone are the gaunt cheekbones and the near-shaved head. The singer's tall, too-lean, angular frame — which once gave him the peevish look of a bespectacled Gumby-gone-berserk — has filled out to a healthy, but still-slim weight.

His wheat-colored hair has grown out into a cheerful brush. These days, the all-improved, completely clean Doughty more closely resembles a strapping Swede about to hit the ski slopes than the intense, downtown New York guy whose distinctive, keening bark and darkly witty songwriting was bolstered by the euphoric, bold musicianship of his Soul Coughing bandmates.

Soul Coughing — which achieved moderate radio success with such singles as "Super Bon Bon" and "Circles" — released three albums (Ruby Vroom, Irresistible Bliss and El Oso) before calling it quits in March. The announcement provoked an sigh of despair from fervent fans of the band's playfully subversive, hip-hop-influenced rock.

But for a man whose band broke up under acrimonious conditions about nine months ago, Doughty is not only looking good but is also very, very happy. "I just can't wait to get back into the studio and start working every day," Doughty, 30, said in a big, booming voice. "My dream in life is to have an office. An office with a coffeemaker, a guitar and a notebook." He'd love to end up in a studio by January, but since freed from his Warner Bros. contract, Doughty is still mulling over numerous offers from other labels, including several majors. He recently laid down some demos with Ben Holt, an engineer who has worked with Missy Elliott and the Ruff Ryderz, and he's been driving across the country and touring as a solo acoustic artist (playing his favorite, eccentric instrument of choice, a Baby Taylor practice guitar).

Two months ago. Doughty — who as a military brat was rarely called by his first name, Michael — finally crossed his first threshold as a solo recording artist, releasing his first, independent album, Skittish, on his own Web site, superspecialquestions.com.

He recorded the album in a New Jersey studio in one day, with Galaxie 500 and Low producer Kramer, but he never anticipated releasing the disk.

"I decided I wasn't going to do anything with the record, but then it kind of got rescued by Napster," Doughty said. "I made three or four copies of it for people, and somewhere down the line, someone put it up on Napster. I had started doing these acoustic solo shows and put songs from Skittish in the set ... and then noticed that people were singing along with me. Basically, they got it right off of Napster.

"At first I was really pissed off," the singer said. "You know, it's just really scary to have the stuff you do for a living offered for free out into the world. There were a lot of mixes that I didn't like that got out and songs that were pretty much outtakes. But then I realized that the album had its own life in the world. So I just figured, I should just release an official version, and people have been buying them." Fans of Soul Coughing's brand of irreverent, brash grooves, demonstrated in such songs as the loony-tuned "Disseminated," which madly spirals off an old Raymond Scott sample, will no doubt be startled by the decidedly lo-fi, dark and melancholy nature of Skittish. Accompanied only by an acoustic guitar, Doughty brutally lays his soul bare. In such songs as the brittle lament of "No Peace Los Angeles" and the yearning, ruthless honesty of "Sweet Lord in Heaven," Doughty confronts the agonizing despair of drug addiction, lost love, abandoned hope and the slow spiritual resurrection that accompanies a junkie's decision to find the strength to save himself.

"I had been a really unhappy guy in a very happy band," Doughty said, laughing wistfully. "There was a certain kind of shtick element to the Soul Coughing stuff that was really very considered. We came out around the time that Kurt Cobain died, and the whole grunge period to me seems like one long musical Lent, everyone was really dour, and it wasn't cool to enjoy yourself. So we were like, 'F--- it, let's be happy, let's make really happy music.' " Doughty paused. "But certainly what was going on in my life wasn't particularly happy." Doughty, whose own destructive drug demon was snorting heroin, has been clean for more than six months, he said. He credits his newfound health and hope to a spiritual epiphany.

"There's this whole mental system that you develop when you're a junkie, and it's just terrible. It's a terrible life on levels that you can't even understand, not even just, 'F---, I need to find 300 bucks and cop some dope,' but just the way you think about yourself," he said.

"The one thing I discovered about not doing drugs is that I actually don't need drugs to write, which is really the most painful fallacy of the whole thing," Doughty said. "I kept going, 'I can't give this up! What will I write about?' It's just f---ed up, when you start thinking that your music comes from a substance." Talking about the breakup of Soul Coughing is one of the few times that the affable singer doesn't break into his engaging guffaw. He hasn't spoken to any of his former bandmates — bassist Sebastian Steinberg, drummer Yuval Gabay and keyboardist M'ark DeGliantoni — in many months, and it seems unlikely that the quartet's rift will be easily healed.

"We had this deal about publishing money," Doughty said. "Even though I wrote the songs, all the money was split equally. That was kind of fine when I was 22, but as time went on, it really began to feel like these were my songs, and I didn't really own them. The instant I brought them into the band they were owned by these other guys. And there was a lot of envy going on in the band. Everybody kind of resents the singer, because he gets more attention than everybody else. It just got to be really wearying after a while, you know, there was this attitude in the band of, 'What makes your song more important than my bassline?' " A spokesperson for the other members of Soul Coughing declined to comment.

While the emotions involved in Soul Coughing's demise are still quite fragile, and the anger and hurt has far from abated, Doughty said he misses his friendships with DeGliantoni and Gabay. "I'd love to have those again, sure." But life is no longer in circles for Doughty. He's awaiting a pending label deal, and he's having a blast selling Skittish on his own, very chatty, Web site. As for his 40 or so new songs, does the somber, vaguely folky tone of Skittish indicate a new direction for a singer/songwriter who cites as his life-changing musical influence LL Cool J's live band-backed rendition of "Mama Said Knock You Out" on MTV's "Unplugged" so many years ago? "I'm real shy about getting new stuff out there, but it's along the lines of Skittish," Doughty said. "But I'm not doing any radical shift in style. They're different songs, because I'm in a different place in my life."

• Soul Coughing

Former Soul Coughing frontman M. Doughty has a brand new bag, and he's taken it online.

Doughty made his solo acoustic album, Skittish, available via his Web site, superspecialquestions.com.

The album, released online October 27, finds Doughty bringing a stripped-down sound to the new tracks, such as the raw and reflective "Peace in Los Angeles" and "All the Dirt," as well as a cover that marries Mary J. Blige's "Real Love" with the Feelies' "It's Only Life."

The frontman rolled out some new material on a solo acoustic tour that wrapped up in late October (see "Ex-Soul Coughing Frontman Lines Up Solo Shows").

While Doughty is selling the album himself online, he said he also is shopping for a new record label.

Soul Coughing called it quits in March after releasing three albums — 1994's Ruby Vroom, 1996's Irresistible Bliss and 1998's El Oso.

Doughty was heard earlier this year on "Never Gonna Come Back Down," a club hit that he co-wrote and recorded with BT.

• Soul Coughing

A little more than six months after Soul Coughing officially split, the band's former frontman (and occasional "NY Press" scribe) M. Doughty has unveiled dates for his first extended headlining tour, beginning on September 14 in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Like his recent one-off shows in New York City, which included a gig opening for They Might Be Giants at a "Celebrate Brooklyn" show in mid-August, Doughty will perform new material as well as some Soul Coughing songs during the solo acoustic concerts, currently slated through October 29.

Aside from his own musical dates, Doughty also plans to appear at a pair of gigs for the spoken-word Spitfire Tour, joining ex-Dead Kennedys singer/political activist Jello Biafra and Spearhead MC Michael Franti for dates in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on October 9 and in New York City on November 16.

Following the breakup of Soul Coughing in March, Doughty has been recording songs for his solo debut album, including one track, "The Heat And The Hate," that he cut with the help of BT (see "M. Doughty Talks Solo Plans With BT").

Doughty has also collaborated with They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh on two new songs, "Your Mom's All Right" and "A Frog Playing A Banjo." "Your Mom's All Right" will be included on the soundtrack to FOX TV's "Malcolm In The Middle," while the other track will appear on a promotional CD packaged in an upcoming issue of the new magazine "McSweeney's Quarterly Concern."

Dates for Doughty's fall tour:

• 9/14 - Asbury Park, NJ @ The Saint
• 9/15 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 10/3 - Trenton, NJ @ Trenton State
• 10/5 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
• 10/6 - Cleveland, OH @ Euclid Tavern
• 10/7 - Kent, OH @ Kent State Unity Festival
• 10/9 - Green Bay, WI @ University of Wisconsin - Spitfire Tour
• 10/10 - Madison WI @ Café Montmartre
• 10/11 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
• 10/13 - Pocatello, ID @ Bengai Lair Café - Idaho State
• 10/14 - Vancouver, BC @ Brickworks
• 10/15 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
• 10/16 - Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan
• 10/18 - San Francisco, CA @ The Make Out Room
• 10/19 - San Francisco, CA @ The Make Out Room
• 10/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory
• 10/28 - Somerville, MA @ Lilli's
• 10/29 - Providence, RI @ Met Café
• 11/16 - New York, NY @ Wetlands Preserve - Spitfire Tour

• Soul Coughing

After years of crafting chart-topping dance singles for clubs, producer supreme BT is enjoying his first crossover hit with "Never Gonna Come Back Down," the lead single from his new solo album, "Movement In Still Life."

"Doughty and I have a couple of visual artist friends in common," he said, "and also, too, Doughty's old manager was partners with my manager now. Between them and these friends that we had in common, we just started talking.

"Doughty is really into drum & bass and stuff. His [old] drummer [Yuval Gabay], the drummer from Soul Coughing, played on a bunch of Optical stuff, and they're really, really open-minded people.

"Doughty and I just started talking," BT continued, "and I was like, 'Yo, man, I wrote this track that I think might be really cool for you to sing on,' and he was like, 'All right, send it to me.' I sent it to him, and I got a phone call a day later, and he's like, 'Man, this is sweet. I'm gonna come out and let's do some vocals for this.' I was like, 'Okay, cool.'"

BT is currently winding down a one-man tour in support of "Movement In Still Life," and in September, he plans to head out the road backed by a full band. BT also has time set aside to return to England and reteam with Peter Gabriel, with whom he worked on Gabriel's Millennium Dome project.

According to BT, Gabriel has some 150 songs written for his long-awaited new album, the follow-up to his 1992 record, "Us," and BT has been asked to help pitch in and produce some of Gabriel's new material.

"The stuff he does is just... he's such a fascinating guy," BT said of Gabriel. "He draws these paintings for each one of the songs he works on. He kind of sits down as he's working on the lyrics and he works on the paintings. So he's got all these half-finished paintings all over his writing room.

"He's got, like, 150 songs, and they're in various states of recording and all that kind of stuff, so he's asked me to go over and help out with a couple of them in the fall, and I'm like, 'Okay. [Laughs] Yeah, no problem.'" [RealAudio]

The remaining dates for BT's solo tour:

• 7/28 - Minneapolis, MN @ Quest
• 7/29 - Los Angeles, CA @ Giant
• 7/30 - Las Vegas, NV @ Hard Rock Hotel
• 8/4 - Chicago, IL @ Crowbar
• 8/5 - Seattle, WA @ Radio Fest
• 8/6 - Toronto, ON @ The Guvernment
• 8/9 - Dallas, TX @ Red Jacket
• 8/11 - El Paso, TX @ Area 51
• 8/12 - Houston, TX @ International Ballroom
• 8/19 - Atlanta, GA @ Henderson Arena
• 9/2 - Melbourne, FL @ Convention Center

• BT
• Peter Gabriel
• Soul Coughing

Renowned dance producer BT has just released his third solo album, "Movement In Still Life," and the first single from the LP, "Never Gonna Come Back Down," has just cracked the Top 50 at alternative radio, according to "R&R."

"Never Gonna Come Back Down" was a collaborative effort between BT and former Soul Coughing frontman M. Doughty. The two recently discussed the colorfully bizarre track, which includes biblical allusions as well as references to the comely Charissa Saverio--also known as DJ Rap.

"It's just great," Doughty told MTV News. "For 'Never Gonna Come Back Down,' he just picks the mic up and is like, 'All right, get on the mic.' So, whatever, I just went off the top of my head, talkin' about stuff, and [BT] was like, 'OK, do it again.' So, again, off the top of my head, just talkin', and then a third time."

he continued, "watched a little 'Braveheart,' got my Mel Gibson on, and then I came back upstairs and it was this track. It was the least labor intensive thing I've ever done in music, so I was like, 'I gotta get with this guy.'"