Skip to content
Who's in the Video
Jonathan Coulton is a musician and songwriter. A former computer programmer and self-described geek, Coulton tends to write quirky, witty lyrics about topics like science fiction and technology: a man[…]
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

After opening for They Might Be Giants, Jonathan Coulton might be expanding his music career.

Question: What’s next for you? 

Jonathan rnCoulton: It's been a few years now of me trying to process that and rntouring and actually building this business of making and selling music.rn And I feel like I've finally come to the end of that period of working rnwith that music and I have been ready for some time to begin the next rn"thing." I just haven't known what it was. I also along the way have rnstopped writing music, largely. Here and there a song will trickle out rnbut I haven't had the time or energy or drive to focus on writing stuff rnand I miss it. So I recently opened for They Might Be Giants, for about arn week and a half. That's several shows and I've been a fan of theirs forrn years and years. So it was a real thrill to open for them and our rnaudiences kind of overlap and we share a sensibility that I stole from rnthem. So, that was a big thrill. I got to know John Linnell and John rnFlansburgh, the two main dudes and liked them quite a bit. And at the rnend of my time with them, John Flansburgh suggested to me that I make a rnrecord, I write a bunch of songs, put a band together, and make a recordrn and that he would like to produce that record. So that is the thing I'mrn working on right now, feverishly and with enormous panicky feelings. I rnam home trying to write songs that are good... in anticipation of rnplaying them with actual musicians and submitting them for the approval rnof one of my heroes, John Flansburgh. And then going into a real studio rnand spending a lot of money to hire people who know what they're doing rnto mix it and engineer it and master it and to hire musicians who know rnhow to play their instruments. These are all new things for me. So, it'srn a very exciting project. I don't know what it's called. I don't know rnwhen it's coming, but that is the thing that I am very excited to be rnworking on right now and also very terrified to be working on right now.

Recorded on May 6, 2010

Related
The integration of artificial intelligence into public health could have revolutionary implications for the global south—if only it can get online.