ben is great at being what he started out as which is being a upper middle class white kid singing songs about mediocre events. but im still a sucker for his voice and every time i hear “smile… like youve got nothing to lose..” from someones always cooler than you.. i cant help but sing along.

i will admit that i wasnt impressed by the new album. but its definitely classic ben folds… so anyone that loves him.. will like it. even if they say they dont.

He can be insufferable when he gets too smug (cf. “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” “Song for the Dumped”), and I generally find his earnest stuff more moving.

OTOH, he can be needlessly downcast and self-absorbed, as on about half of Reinhold Messner and virtually all of his ’05 album, which was his most serious and the one I played least.

I dunno, it’s a careful balance: what makes “Battle of Who Could Care Less” or “Best Imitation of Myself” so great is the combination of deeply-felt melodies and sardonic, but not nasty, lyrics. He pulled this off repeatedly on the first two (BFF) albums but has only intermittently done so since. Still, his shows are a blast.

So, in response to the question posed by the post title: comedy piano rock.