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A new Jonathan Coultan Album just came out -- the first where he's had an actual band. Anyone unfamiliar should listen to some of his music at his website. He's known for doing music for Portal and Portal 2, as well as several geeky songs that have been on tv / internet.
I'm a pretty big fan, but I'm still trying to figure out if (or how much) I like the new album. There are a few pretty good tracks, at least. I think I might try to make his concert with They Might Be Giants when he comes to Utah in a few months.
I wonder if TMBG will play any of the music from their (children's) science album?
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I was actually kind of disappointed with this album, mostly because the music was mixed too loud for me to make out the lyrics in many songs. And let's be honest, I buy Jonathan Coulton songs for the lyrics.
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Ehmm . . . I don't agree. I've heard it four or five times, and I love it. Maybe you have a bad speaker?
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Possible. When I last looked he hadn't posted the lyrics yet, it'll help if I know what he's singing Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Are you sure that you weren't listening to the pre-release album that some of his fans put out there? It consists of a bunch of live tracks. The new album itself has the best production of any of his music, and the words are very clear.
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It doesn't sound like Coulton, it sounds like They Might Be Giants. I like TMBG very much, but it sounds like whichever John produced the album really dominated. My guess is that Coulton is a long time fan, and gave up too much ground.
The sound quality is very good, and I'm not all the way through the record yet.
First post (long time lurker), but I swear I'm right.
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I've been listening to They Might Be Giants for upwards of 15 years, and Jonathan Coulton for about five years, and I don't think "Artificial Heart" sounds particularly TMBG-ish, other than the first song (and that's mostly due to the horn arrangements). The album certainly doesn't sound like Coulton's past output, either, but he's made it clear from the start that this record was intended to be a stylistic departure for him. The whole point of recording it professionally with a producer was to force himself to try new and different things.
The new record is definitely more of a grower than his earlier songs, which were more specifically geeky in their subject matter and broader in their humor. Coulton's always spanned that "funny/sad" spectrum in his songwriting, but whereas his old songs tended to swing towards the former, the new album definitely veers more towards the latter. The lyrics are more introspective and subtle than we're used to hearing from him, so there's often not that immediate "aha, he's singing about Ikea!" moment to latch onto. "Je Suis Rick Springfield" and "The Stache," aside.
I think you'll find there's a lot to love if you give the record some time. His musicality as a songwriter has never been stronger, and there are some really lovely lyrics swirling about in there. "Now I Am An Arsonist" and "Today With Your Wife" are two of the best pieces of writing he's ever done.
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I'm still not through the album once yet, but the first two songs both remind me of "Dr. Worm" from TMBG. The first one musically, and the second lyrically. "I'm not a real doctor, but I am a real worm" - "It's not a real heart, but it's a real artificial heart" (that's a paraphrase, not a quote, but I don't know the symbol for a paraphrase, so I used quotes).
It's several songs in before a song sounds like Coulton. If that's his goal, then he succeeded. Again, it's not that I don't like the songs, it just doesn't sound like him. I'm typically slow to warm to new songs.
"Today With Your Wife" was very good, if his friend is dead. If he's just stuck in the snow, it's only OK. I'm going to pretend his friend is dead.
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Stylistically, there are quite a few departures. But being a fan of some of his sentimental acoustic work before (I'm your Moon, Talk With George, etc), I think a lot of the album -- especially the second half -- is still much in the vein. Other songs like Good Morning Tucson are also pretty much traditional Coulton.
But, yeah, Fraud sounds a little distorted.
Ultimately, the style is all over the map. It took a few listens, but I think it might be his strongest body of work. There do seem to be a lot of sad songs about relationships going South, however. I could do with a little more happy.
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The two main interpretations I've heard for "Today With Your Wife" are that:
(a) The friend is dead, and the narrator is spending time with his widow and kids. In this interpretation, both the narrator and the widow miss the husband, and the line "You should have been there" can be read as sweetly wistful, as the two characters mourn their loss.
(b) The friend left his wife and has since vanished, leaving her and their kids behind. In this version, "You should have been there" is bitter and loaded with quiet anger.
I love that the two interpretations fit the lyrics equally well, although I like to think of the first interpretation as the "real" one... if only because I'm a sucker for heartstring tuggers.
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Not sure about interpretation b. The whole "and the clouds burned away to a warm sunny day" makes me lean more toward a.
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I'm not sure how that line contradicts interpretation (a). The odd phrasing of the first half (the clouds "burn" away) lends the latter half a melancholy/ bitter tone, especially when immediately followed by "You should've been there." I get the feeling that the narrator finds the "warm sunny day" incongruous rather than comforting, which fits both interpretations well.
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The album is better than I originally thought, and the TMBG influence is really only strong in the first song.
Now I am an Arsonist: Every time I hear it I think of September 11, with people jumping out of burning buildings and planes with wings on fire. Am I only thinking this because of all the 10th anniversary fanfare, or is that what the song is really about?
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Could well be, although I think the lyrics apply better to another recent tragedy: the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia, from the perspective of the shuttle itself. It wouldn't be the first time Coulton gave voice to a machine.
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