Want You Gone : Jonathon Coulton

The first robot song I posted by Jonathan Coulton was titled Still Alive; his gloriously haunting contribution to the video game Portal... and it remains to be one of my all time favourite robot songs.

This final instalment of the hugely anticipated Jonathan Coultonathon is the song he contributed to Portal 2... Want You Gone, also sung by GLaDOS and is just as beautiful and haunting as Still Alive but with a hefty chunk of analogue synth programming thrown in for good measure.

Check out the Easter Egg in this post to hear my favourite version of Still Alive featuring vocals by Sara Quin and some ecstatic theramin playing by Dorit Chrysler... but only after you've given the wonderful Want You Gone a spin.

The Future Soon : Jonathan Coulton

There's not much to say about this penultimate instalment of the 101 Songs About Robots 2015 Jonathan Coultonathon apart from the fact that Jonathan Coulton is still fantasising about having a girlfriend, possibly, one day, maybe [dream on]. Actually, I shouldn't be so flippant since for all I know, Mr C could at this very moment be cybernetically enhancing himself and building his own robot army, one laser at a time...

The Future Soon is the opening track on Jonathan Coulton's first EP titled 'Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow' and was released in 2004. From such humble beginnings, who'd have thought he'd have gone on to pen so many wonderful songs? Not just about robots but all sorts of things such as love, lobsters, monkeys, writing code, being a geek, having a beard and zombies. But this one's about robots.



Tune in tomorrow for the final blah blah blah blah of the Jonathan blahblahathon... oh go on... there's an Easter Egg in it for you!

Better : Jonathan Coulton

Sharing the future with cybernetic lifeforms is inevitable, and it seems that more often than not this prospect is painted as some sort of living nightmare... for the humans anyway. In this robot song, Jonathan Coulton vividly imagines not only having a girlfriend, but one who upgrades herself with cybernetic implants such as infra-red eyes, underwater breathing apparatus, a personal flight system and even a few extra thumbs (not to mention a weapons system)... dream on you weirdy beardy!

Battle of Galactica : Jonathan Coulton

People my age look back at Battlestar Galactica with fond memories, and most of us spat out our popcorn when news came through that a remake was in the pipeline... especially when the producers decided that the legendary Starbuck character was going to be female! Now I know there's many who'll disagree, but the remake was a cracking bit of telly. Great characters, top-notch CGI, loads of dog fights, gun fights and fist fights and one or two sexy cylons... what's not to like?! My biggest fear whilst sitting through the four series was that it'd nosedive before being prematurely pulled. But that didn't happen... they gave us a complete adventure, the stuff of legends, from its explosive mini-series to its predictable finale... OK, there were some sh!te episodes, and Lee (Apollo) Adama has a face that is almost as punchable as Matt (bloody) Damon's... and that goodie-two-shoes teacher played by Donnie Darko's mum got progressively annoying... but other than that, I like it! ...and I guess Jonathan Coulton does too.



Tune in tomorrow for part three of this cybergsongathon! (nearly wrote cybergsongathong :P )

Todd the T-1000 : Jonathan Coulton

The neglectful blogmeister is back and finally, after a twelve month wait, I bring you, without further ado, the much awaited, the anticipated, the very first instalment of the cyber-special you've all been waiting for, so without another further ado, here it is... part one of a week long Jonathan Coultonathon!!!
[drum roll]...

"Who the f**k is Jonathan Coultonathon?" I hear you yell.

With a hollow sigh and a slightly shaky head, "It's just Jonathan Coulton!" I yell back at the faceless voices that echo through the blogosphere.

"WHO?" you holler. I give up.

Imagine a slightly younger, mildly beardy and wildly nerdier Richard Digance, but one who's more "Who loves Star Wars?" than "Who remembers Spangles?". Looking at Jonathan Coulton's wikipedia page, I now realise that I should have started this cyber-celebration three weeks ago as JC celebrated his 45th birthday on 1st December... happy belated birthday JC!

You may recall JCs first feature on 101 Songs About Robots with Still Alive which featured in the video game Portal and graced the pages of this blog back in August 2014... and his much appreciated contribution to last year's 101 Songs About Robots Xmas Special where he gave us the cyber-chrimbo-classic Chiron Beta Prime. Well he's back with five more robotic ballads; one a day from today until Friday, making this Jonathan Coultonathon a very short android-advent... and you won't be disappointed!

Well you might. Today's song warns of the trouble and turmoil that could arise when one decides to upgrade their old domestic android for the very latest model...

[fan made video alert]


Todd the T1000 is taken from Jonathan Coulton's third studio album titled 'Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms' from 2005... tune in tomorrow for another robo-ditty from the cyber-songsmith himself; Jonathan Coulton... athon.