Wow, here’s another one of those “God, I love the Internet!” moments. Long story made short: While searching for artwork for some screen mockups I’m working on, I stumbled across Jonathan Coulton‘s website.

Jonathan is a post-dot-com, troubadour whose music blends clean, crisp melodies with lyrics that are interesting, quirky, funny, and about a dozen other things! One of, maybe, two artists that I’ve heard that are creative enough you almost need to read along with the song. The lyrics are that cool. For example:

• Code Monkey – An anthem for today’s computer grunt. Here, check out the video:
• Skullcrusher Mountain – A lovely little ditty that’ll have any nearby women running for the hills
• Millionaire Girlfriend – I mean, after all, don’t we all just want one?
• That Spells DNA, Mandelbrot Set – Funny, moving songs about two of the driest, most humorless, subjects imaginable (thus proving Jonathan can, and apparently will, sing about anything!)
• First of May – Sounds innocent doesn’t it? It’s not. 😉

… and, well, just check out his songs and play one at random – I guarantee you’ll find it worth the effort.

Also, if you’re interested in what the future of the music industry looks like (once the RIAA dies the fiery death they deserve), Jonathan’s site is a great example of how musicians can/should be leveraging the internet to promote their music. Rather than advertising and marketing, he gives away a few of his songs for free, charges $1/song for the others, and hosts his “Thing a Week” RSS feed, in which he provides a song a week. (Unfortunately he’s just wrapped up a year’s worth of TAW, so it’s not clear if he’ll be continuing with that.)

Check it out, and if you like his stuff drop some change in his tip jar.

Update: ‘Just donated $20… which is probably nowhere near enough for great stuff like this..