Soul Coughing delights

Michael Doughty, lead singer and occasional guitarist, welcomed fans to the show with a short, succinct phrase: "Welcome, friends." On that note, the crowd went wild. As the band launched into their first song, the hall began to shake and groove, slowing only momentarily over the next hour or so.

Touring in support of its recently released album, "El Oso," the band's hour-plus set included songs from all three of its releases, and started with a selection from its first, "Ruby Vroom."

ALLISON CANTER/Daily MIchael Doughty, lead singer of Soul Coughing, hacks into his mic.

Preceded on stage by a Venezuelan disco outfit, Los Amigos Invisibiles, Soul Coughing changed the pace of the evening rather drastically when they hit the stage. Its deep, soulful bass lines, coupled with constantly changing electronic noise from Marc De Gli Antoni's keyboard sampler took the audience on a sonic journey that can not, and will never be, imitated.

In between songs, Doughty's banter was unintelligible and usually brief. When he did try to converse with the crowd, he made a point to fire off choice phrases in Spanish that ,even when translated, made absolutely no sense. The fact that he insisted on loudly repeating the word "Poppie!" at the end of each sentence only added to the crowd's delight and confusion.

In addition to Doughty's verbal weirdness, not to mention the band's unique sound, two surprising visual aspects added to the ultra-hip ambiance of the show. Projected on a wall-size screen behind the band, predominantly black and white Warner Brothers cartoons had been looped to fit certain numbers in the set. Constantly whirring images of cats, monkeys, frogs and mice ran their course over and over again, during every other song. The visuals also included an often blinding, multi-colored light show, eminating from and above the stage.

The fact that Soul Coughing can actually reproduce the music that they record in a live setting deserves two snaps up. What's even more impressive is that the band does it so well. Scarcely a single member of the relatively mature audience had both feet on the ground for very long. Hips were shaking, heads were bobbing, and bodies swayed.

Selections like the show-closing "Super Bon Bon" and the first single off of "El Oso," "Circles" brought even the most sedentary onlookers into motion.

The evening came to a close with an encore for which the crowd was simply begging. The band consented with three songs, including "Is Chicago" but refused, despite insistent chants, to come back for another turn.

With or without the second encore, Soul Coughing turned in a performance just short of amazing. For those members of the audience just along for the ride, things might have seemed strange - layers of ambient noise mixed with nonsensical lyrics, unrelenting drumbeats and thick bass lines. For the vast majority of the crowd, however, Sunday was an evening of pure delight.

10-14-98