Dubious Luxury is an almost vocal-less electronics and sample heavy album. If you were looking for the latest Mike Doughty solo record, go here. Still with me? Good, because you’ll be deeply satisfied if you’re a dance/electronica fan and even more satisfied if you love Mike Doughty and want to see another facet of his musical personality.
For some reason lately, I’ve been eating up any kind of dance music coming at me. David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, hell, even Bob Mould’s Blowoff is a good listen lately. Dubious Luxury coming along could not be more of a godsend. Doughty has (mostly) forsaken vocals save for a few samples here and there and put together 16 tracks that can either be listened to one by one or together seamlessly as a continuous mix.
While not close to the artists I’ve mentioned, Dubious shares more with the Beastie Boys The Mix-Up album or even “Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament” off of Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. It’s organic, yet electro which is something I always loved about Beasties instrumentals: Electronic music with soul. That’s exactly why Dubious Luxury is so grand.
If you love the musical world of Mike Doughty, then Dubious Luxury is a must-have for your collection. One moment you have “Oh Ray Ray” sounding like a lost track on the Tron soundtrack and another moment you have “Do You Find Me Sexy” that starts with a simple repeated organ-drum-vocal sample then devolves into a trance nightmare with Frankenstein-like grunts (More like Young Frankenstein). Closer “Cheap Suite” starts as if it could be on Irresistible Bliss but ends in drum ‘n’ bass land bringing everything on Dubious Luxury full circle. It’s weird and it’s quirky but it will move you. If you’re not bobbing your head along by the time 2nd track “O.S.S.U.M.” kicks in, then you might wanna see a doctor.
Dubious Luxury is out now. get yours here.