Mike Doughty: The Gambler EP (no cover art available) Gottta love any disc that includes covers by Neutral Milk Hotel, Magnetic Fields & Kenny Rogers.
I like it a lot. I absolutely loved their first record, but this new one is very melodic and much, much softer. If you know the first album, this one is very reminiscent of the tone and tempo of the song "The Lonely." There are no genius freak-outs like "Apologies to Insect Life" -- and on the first disc many slower tunes ended up in some major blow ups as well. That just doesn't happen, and the singing is much less manic. All of which made me sort of non-plussed about this one at first. But after resigning myself to the fact that it's just a very different record, I really like it. Beautiful songs, really. Very much like the best moments of Echo and the Bunnymen.