Name this band, win a prize.

In the mood for another contest? Then click here and listen to the audio track. The first person to post the correct name of this band in the comments section will win a prize. (For this contest, I will also accept the name of the singer. So you have two ways to win!)

The prize is a funky new coffee-table book titled “Mingering Mike.” It tells the true, peculiar and intriguing tale of an imaginary recording artist in Washington, D.C. … a soul superstar in his own mind.

Mingering Mike never released any actual music. But his dozens of hand-crafted, hand-drawn LPs, for a variety of self-invented record labels, have garnered attention as “folk art” since being discovered by a crate-digger named Dori Hadar.

Believe me, this book is a stone trip. I look forward to giving one away.

UPDATE (04/10/07): No winner this time. I’ll have to give away that “Mingering Mike” book at a later date.

The name of this band is Nine Rain. The singer/front man is Steven Brown from San Francisco, best known as the co-founder of Tuxedomoon, an avant-garde art-rock band dating back to 1977.

The song, titled “The Way,” is from Nine Rain’s self-titled debut CD (1999). Lyrically, it seems to be an extrapolation of the old Marvin Gaye hit “That’s the Way Love Is,” though the Motown writers aren’t given a songwriting credit.

I’ll have more to say about Nine Rain in the future, because I love this band. Meanwhile, thanks for playing!