El Oso is the third and final studio album by the New York City band Soul Coughing, released on September 29, 1998, by Slash Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album received generally positive critical reception upon release.

Soul Coughing was an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty, keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. They developed a devout fanbase and garnered largely positive response from critics. Steve Huey of AllMusic described the band as "One of the most unique cult bands of the '90s...Driven by frontman M. Doughty's stream-of-consciousness poetry, Soul Coughing's sound was a willfully idiosyncratic mix of improvisational jazz grooves, oddball samples, hip hop, electronics, and noisy experimentalism". Doughty described the band's sound as "deep slacker jazz". The group broke up in 2000.