Dance like they’re watching you, because they’re watching you.
–Jonathan Coulton
The first time I heard
this guy, a fellow musician
by way of comparison
told me about this singer-
songwriter’s project of writing
and releasing a song a week
for an entire year, while we
intrepid songwriting home
studio cats were attempting
six songs in one day of every
month for as long as we could
possibly stand it. So, my friend
must have said, this guy, Coulton,
is doing a similar thing, and
he’s pretty good. Understatement
of the century. I started
downloading the music
of Jonathan Coulton, and
thought I had struck pay-dirt.
Here’s a guy interested
in well-executed, meticulously
recorded, melodic, memorable
pop-rock songs, who also
happens to be extremely funny.
If you’ve heard “Code Monkey,”
“Shop Vac,” or “Chiron Beta Prime,”
you’re in the house. After hearing
his “Ikea” song repeatedly,
I absolutely cannot go to Ikea
without this song on a loop
in my mind: “Ikea, just some oak
and some pine and a handful of
Norsemen. Ikea, selling furniture
for college kids and divorced men.
Everyone has a home, but
if you don’t have a home you
can buy one there.” The only
comparable aesthetic in my
entire collection could be
They Might Be Giants.
Less avant garde, no accordion,
a more pleasant singing voice,
That’s Jonathan Coulton.
And then, I discover, in 2016,
with the album Solid State,
unlike TMBG, that
Coulton doesn’t have to be funny
or over-the-top witty all the time,
that he can be serious,
or, in some cases, seriously
funny as opposed to just funny
funny. The opening track,
“Wake Up,” is a Beatle-esque,
super chill anthem to
observing the world wide-eyed.
Not funny, but aspirational.
And the second track,
“All This Time” is a masterclass
in sweet pop melody over the
top of percolating synths,
lush piano, and drum machines.
Every tune on this album
is almost immediately hummable,
expertly performed and produced.
And maybe the funniest song
on this album is also the saddest,
wherein a character dealing
with the bombardment of terrible
news from every direction self-
soothes by looking at “Pictures
of Cats” on the internet.
On this record, Coulton
reveals his hand as a devotee
to early and late 70’s soft rock,
where melody and vocal
performance is king, and on
his next album, Some Guys,
the cover of which parodies
The Rolling Stones album
hilariously, Coulton goes
all in with a cover album of
entirely songs from this era
sung by a variety of famous
über soft-rock dudes:
“Sister Golden Hair” surprise,
“The Things We Do For Love,”
“Baker Street,” “How Deep Is
Your Love,” “If You Could Read
My Mind,” to name just a few.
And he records them straight,
no funny business, loyal almost
to a fault to the originals.
This is a compilation that I didn’t
know I needed until Coulton
insisted that I did. And while
I wouldn’t be caught dead with
very many of the albums from
which these soft rock classics
come, the fact is that I know
from childhood almost every word
to all of these songs and
I love this Jonathan Coulton album,
ecstatically.
Notes on the vinyl editions: Solid State, Super Ego Records, 2016, black double vinyl, lenticular printing on the album cover. Some Guys, Jonathan Coulton, 2018, red and lime green splatter on clear double vinyl. Appears to be completely independently offered–no mention of a record label anywhere in the notes.
FYI: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response for each artist. These things look like a duck, but they don’t quack like a duck. Hence: “poem-like-thing.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays.
michael jarmer 