Jonathan Coulton speaks to the outcast in all of us, in the voices of characters we know from our own sad little lives. Some of them may be monsters - mad scientists, giant squids, zombies - but his talent is in turning offbeat subjects into deliciously hooky pop songs that Bewegen us in surprisingly personal ways.

His album, Artificial Heart, produced Von John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, is due out this Fall. It's a new direction for Coulton - he leaves behind the Home recording gear for a studio filled with talented musicians and guest vocalists including Suzanne Vega, John Roderick of...