MIKE DOUGHTY
''YES AND ALSO YES''
AUGUST 30 2011
38:17
1. Na Na Nothing/Mike Doughty, Matt Gerrard, Nikki Sixx, Dan Wilson/3:18
2. Into The Un/3:21
3. Day By Day By/3:04
4. Holiday (What Do You Want?) With Rosanne Cash/Mike Doughty, Dan Wilson/3:15
5. Russell/1:33
6. Strike The Motion/2:28
7. Have At It/1:19
8. Makelloser Mann/1:17
9. The Huffer And The Cutter/3:23
10. Rational Man/3:53
11. Telegenic Exes, #1 (Hapless Dancers)/1:47
12. Weird Summer/3:11
13. Vegetable/3:35
14. Telegenic Exes, #2 (Astoria)/2:57
Tracks By Doughty, Except 1, 4
Thomas Bartlett /Clavinet, Organ, Piano
Marty Beller /Drums
Rosanne Cash /Vocals
Mike Doughty /Beats, Guitar, Piano (Electric), Vocals, Zhongruan
Andrew "Scrap" Livingston /Bass, Cello, Guitar (Bass)
REVIEW
by James Christopher Monger
Prior to the release of his fourth studio album, ex-Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty sent out a press release that highlighted some key points concerning Yes and Also Yes' creation. The tone of the 11-point list, which leaned toward the comedic, but with Doughty’s signature dark wit, dutifully reflected the timbre of Yes and Also Yes' 14 tracks, a solid collection of smart, sardonic, occasionally sweet gems that play out like a career overview. Opening cut and single “Na Na Nothing,” which was supposedly “partially stolen from a song written by Nikki Sixx, Dan Wilson, and Matt Gerrard,” is built off of a clean, winning hook set atop a bed of acoustic guitars and propelled by a thick backbeat that leans hard on '90s alt-pop. Four of the cuts, the sparse “Russell,” the punk-infused “Have at It,” the German-language rave-up “Makelloser Mann,” and the vivid “Telegenic Exes, #1 (Hapless Dancers)” clock in at under two minutes, but Doughty, who “used a capsule of the antidepressant duloxetine as a percussion instrument on some tracks,” infuses real emotion into each, which renders their brevity poignant. Elsewhere, the loose and likeable “Day by Day By” echoes Soul Coughing's winning marriage of deep grooves and beat poetry, the lovely “Holiday (What Do You Want?),” co-written by Dan Wilson and featuring a nice, raw, duet-style harmony from Rosanne Cash, feels like the less intoxicated, younger sibling of the Pogues' classic “Fairytale of New York,” and the Smashmouth-esque “Weird Summer” and “Vegetable,” like nearly everything on this typically fine set of work, sound like future fan favorites and live staples.
BIOGRAPHY
by Lee Meyer
Before emerging as a solo artist, Mike Doughty (known as M. Doughty during the early stages of his career) was best known as the frontman of the unique avant-garde group Soul Coughing. Formed in 1992, Soul Coughing took shape after Doughty met Yuval Gabay, Sebastian Steinberg, and Mark de Gli Antoni while working as a doorman at the Knitting Factory, a staple of New York City's underground music scene. The four musicians signed with Slash/Warner Bros. in 1993 after making a name for themselves on the local scene with a fusion of rock, Doughty's beatnik-inspired lyrics, and elements of hip-hop and electronic music. Releasing their first of three albums the following year, Soul Coughing enjoyed only moderate commercial success over the next six years with the singles "Super Bon Bon" and "Circles." However, their unclassifiable style kept Soul Coughing apart from the mainstream, which became beneficial as the initial boom of alternative rock in the early '90s subsided considerably.
In March 2000, the members of Soul Coughing split up to work on their own side projects. Shortly after the breakup, Doughty -- who had been writing as a columnist for New York Press on the side -- embarked on a solo acoustic tour, playing material from a then-unreleased solo album recorded in 1995 entitled Skittish. After bootleg copies of the album surfaced on the file-sharing network Napster, Doughty released an official version of Skittish on his website in October 2000. A stripped-down acoustic effort, Skittish featured some of Doughty's most direct and personal lyrics, accompanied by his signature, syncopated guitar-playing style.
In addition to overcoming drug addiction and beginning work on a second solo album, Doughty continued to do solo tours and was heard contributing vocals to BT's club hit "Never Gonna Come Back Down," and collaborating with John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants for a CD that accompanied an issue of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. He also composed the soundtrack to a trailer for New York City's Gen Art Film Festival.
In July 2002, Doughty released the limited-edition live album Smofe + Smang: Live in Minneapolis. It featured a large selection of solo material as well as Soul Coughing classics. A book of poetry entitled Slanky, which was initially self-released in 1995, also coincided with the live album. In 2003, more solo work surfaced in the form of the Rockity Roll EP, which was then combined with the Skittish album and re-released with a handful of bonus tracks when Doughty signed to ATO Records in 2004. In 2005, Doughty released his first solo effort to feature a band, Haughty Melodic, which contained fleshed-out studio versions of several songs debuted on Smofe + Smang, and 2008's Golden Delicious followed suit. The latter album cracked the Billboard 100, Doughty's first solo release to do so, and he quickly returned in 2009 with another record, Sad Man Happy Man. In 2011, he released the full-length Yes and Also Yes on his own Snack Bar label. In 2012, Doughty released a second book,The Book of Drugs, a memoir about his life with Soul Coughing and his struggles with addiction, as well as the live album The Question Jar Show, and The Flip Is Another Honey, which featured Doughty covering artists from Thin Lizzy to Randy Newman.
''YES AND ALSO YES''
AUGUST 30 2011
38:17
1. Na Na Nothing/Mike Doughty, Matt Gerrard, Nikki Sixx, Dan Wilson/3:18
2. Into The Un/3:21
3. Day By Day By/3:04
4. Holiday (What Do You Want?) With Rosanne Cash/Mike Doughty, Dan Wilson/3:15
5. Russell/1:33
6. Strike The Motion/2:28
7. Have At It/1:19
8. Makelloser Mann/1:17
9. The Huffer And The Cutter/3:23
10. Rational Man/3:53
11. Telegenic Exes, #1 (Hapless Dancers)/1:47
12. Weird Summer/3:11
13. Vegetable/3:35
14. Telegenic Exes, #2 (Astoria)/2:57
Tracks By Doughty, Except 1, 4
Thomas Bartlett /Clavinet, Organ, Piano
Marty Beller /Drums
Rosanne Cash /Vocals
Mike Doughty /Beats, Guitar, Piano (Electric), Vocals, Zhongruan
Andrew "Scrap" Livingston /Bass, Cello, Guitar (Bass)
REVIEW
by James Christopher Monger
Prior to the release of his fourth studio album, ex-Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty sent out a press release that highlighted some key points concerning Yes and Also Yes' creation. The tone of the 11-point list, which leaned toward the comedic, but with Doughty’s signature dark wit, dutifully reflected the timbre of Yes and Also Yes' 14 tracks, a solid collection of smart, sardonic, occasionally sweet gems that play out like a career overview. Opening cut and single “Na Na Nothing,” which was supposedly “partially stolen from a song written by Nikki Sixx, Dan Wilson, and Matt Gerrard,” is built off of a clean, winning hook set atop a bed of acoustic guitars and propelled by a thick backbeat that leans hard on '90s alt-pop. Four of the cuts, the sparse “Russell,” the punk-infused “Have at It,” the German-language rave-up “Makelloser Mann,” and the vivid “Telegenic Exes, #1 (Hapless Dancers)” clock in at under two minutes, but Doughty, who “used a capsule of the antidepressant duloxetine as a percussion instrument on some tracks,” infuses real emotion into each, which renders their brevity poignant. Elsewhere, the loose and likeable “Day by Day By” echoes Soul Coughing's winning marriage of deep grooves and beat poetry, the lovely “Holiday (What Do You Want?),” co-written by Dan Wilson and featuring a nice, raw, duet-style harmony from Rosanne Cash, feels like the less intoxicated, younger sibling of the Pogues' classic “Fairytale of New York,” and the Smashmouth-esque “Weird Summer” and “Vegetable,” like nearly everything on this typically fine set of work, sound like future fan favorites and live staples.
BIOGRAPHY
by Lee Meyer
Before emerging as a solo artist, Mike Doughty (known as M. Doughty during the early stages of his career) was best known as the frontman of the unique avant-garde group Soul Coughing. Formed in 1992, Soul Coughing took shape after Doughty met Yuval Gabay, Sebastian Steinberg, and Mark de Gli Antoni while working as a doorman at the Knitting Factory, a staple of New York City's underground music scene. The four musicians signed with Slash/Warner Bros. in 1993 after making a name for themselves on the local scene with a fusion of rock, Doughty's beatnik-inspired lyrics, and elements of hip-hop and electronic music. Releasing their first of three albums the following year, Soul Coughing enjoyed only moderate commercial success over the next six years with the singles "Super Bon Bon" and "Circles." However, their unclassifiable style kept Soul Coughing apart from the mainstream, which became beneficial as the initial boom of alternative rock in the early '90s subsided considerably.
In March 2000, the members of Soul Coughing split up to work on their own side projects. Shortly after the breakup, Doughty -- who had been writing as a columnist for New York Press on the side -- embarked on a solo acoustic tour, playing material from a then-unreleased solo album recorded in 1995 entitled Skittish. After bootleg copies of the album surfaced on the file-sharing network Napster, Doughty released an official version of Skittish on his website in October 2000. A stripped-down acoustic effort, Skittish featured some of Doughty's most direct and personal lyrics, accompanied by his signature, syncopated guitar-playing style.
In addition to overcoming drug addiction and beginning work on a second solo album, Doughty continued to do solo tours and was heard contributing vocals to BT's club hit "Never Gonna Come Back Down," and collaborating with John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants for a CD that accompanied an issue of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. He also composed the soundtrack to a trailer for New York City's Gen Art Film Festival.
In July 2002, Doughty released the limited-edition live album Smofe + Smang: Live in Minneapolis. It featured a large selection of solo material as well as Soul Coughing classics. A book of poetry entitled Slanky, which was initially self-released in 1995, also coincided with the live album. In 2003, more solo work surfaced in the form of the Rockity Roll EP, which was then combined with the Skittish album and re-released with a handful of bonus tracks when Doughty signed to ATO Records in 2004. In 2005, Doughty released his first solo effort to feature a band, Haughty Melodic, which contained fleshed-out studio versions of several songs debuted on Smofe + Smang, and 2008's Golden Delicious followed suit. The latter album cracked the Billboard 100, Doughty's first solo release to do so, and he quickly returned in 2009 with another record, Sad Man Happy Man. In 2011, he released the full-length Yes and Also Yes on his own Snack Bar label. In 2012, Doughty released a second book,The Book of Drugs, a memoir about his life with Soul Coughing and his struggles with addiction, as well as the live album The Question Jar Show, and The Flip Is Another Honey, which featured Doughty covering artists from Thin Lizzy to Randy Newman.