It was a classic local-boy-makes-good scene when Soul Coughing frontman M. Doughty took the stage at the Knitting Factory, the downtown New York club where he was formerly doorman. And Doughty clearly enjoyed it. "I showed up here this afternoon and they had mail for me," he announced to the audience. "It was bad ass."

For the 300 fans assembled in the sold-out venue who were unaware of Doughty's former job, it was a chance to contemplate anew the "Super Bon Bon" refrain "Step aside and let the man go through." A few years and two albums later, the words don't implore audiences to clear the aisles but rather invite them to shimmy to the band's funky, bass-heavy groove.

Doughty and his non-descript but talented bandmates performed relaxed, accessible material that falls just short of slick. The group's sound is driven by Sebastian Steinberg's upright bass, accentuated by Yuval Gabay's red-hot drumming, and topped off with circusy samples from Mark De Gli Antoni's keyboard. On "Sugar Free Jazz," the sound of cawing gulls combined with gentle tones to set a scene far from the club's art-garage confines.

But the crowd didn't drift for long. The next song had Doughty grinning wryly while repeating the suggestive line "let me get on it" and flashing a sideways glance while singing "I could do it all for you."

Singing might be a strong word -- Doughty's vocal pronouncements vary in style from glib rap to squinty scat-eyed vocalizing that combines a bit of Louis Armstrong with a lot of Paul Reubens. His lyrics are phonetically pleasing but often garbled phrases, most with meaning and emotion. Some seem rather insignificant -- random insertions like "candy bon" and "forest fire" only make for amusing call-and-response with the audience. But Doughty makes even the most ridiculous lyrics convincing with his jive-heavy body language and smart-aleck storyteller persona.

The set peaked at the end with "Screenwriter's Blues," which found Doughty in beat-poet mode, proclaiming "It is 5 a.m. and you are listening t