El Oso
Soul Coughing expand their funky free-for-all withEl Oso, a sturdy shack of samples rattling around in a boogie cup. No, it's not a disco revival, just a new way of grooving. Showing more muscle than on their previous release,Irresistable Bliss, frontman M. Doughty spews nonsequiturs between the band's airy jams as if he were the blue-eyed hip-hop equivalent of Robyn Hitchcock. Doughty and the band shake hands with the loping "Circles," whisper sweet nothings to the piano-fed "Blame," and create semi-organic drum & bass on "Blame." "$300," the most addictive cut, slips under a raga spell as keyboardist M'ark De Gli Antoni spikes the brew with digital dust. Aside from "So Far I Have Not Found the Science" (a nearly direct rip-off of their own "Blue Eyed Devil," from their debut release,Ruby Vroom), Soul Coughing have pushed their techno-funk sound further, makingEl Osoequally limber and bracing.--Jason Josephes