Koi Dance is out now on all streaming platforms and at https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com. It’s 90% off (!) with promo code koipond. That promo code is also good for everything on the site, so my full discography is under $10.
A couple of my blogger buddies very kind wrote little blurbs about Koi Dance, so I thought I’d share them today:
Koi Dance is out now on all streaming platforms and at https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com. It’s 90% off (!) with promo code koipond. That means it’s $1 for twelve tracks of great music (and that promo code is also good for everything on the site).
The intense summer heat has kept the fish deeper underwater, where they can escape the sun and enjoy cooler temperatures. Even the rosy red minnows, who usually swarm any food we toss into the pond, have been more taciturn of late. It had me a bit worried, but water testing indicates that everything looks good. I imagine we’ll see more activity once temperatures began to back off… in late November—ha!
That said, we’ve had a few fun sightings. One of our intrepid loaches has been making himself known, and it’s always fun seeing those weird, goofy-looking critters near the surface.
Loaches typically live at the bottom of the pond, and like to burrow into the dirty substrate. They eat food that’s fallen to the bottom and generally feed on detritus and what not. But they will surface in response to barometric changes, and we have at least one that loves to explore (I’m pretty sure he’s the same one I saw wriggling around in the filter basket one morning; my attempts to relocate him were marginally successful). It’s always super fun seeing them in the ivy, which our big yellow koi, Sunny, also seems to enjoy.
So it is that I have loach-related videos for you today, as well as one kind of boring update about the unsexy side of pond management.
It was a busy weekend for yours portly, so I’m putting off movie reviews for another week (don’t worry—they will return). In the meantime, I wanted to look at some feedback I’ve received from different folks about Koi Dance.
Koi Dance is still 90% off with promo code koipond. That means you can get the entire album for $1.
Koi Dance is out now on all streaming platforms and at https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com. It’s 90% off (!) with promo code koipond. That means it’s $1 for twelve tracks of great music (that promo code is also good for everything on the site).
As such, I’m featuring some posts related to Koi Dance (and the title track, “Koi Dance”):
“New Music Tuesday II: ‘Koi Dance’” – It’s kind of crazy that this post was only the second installment of New Music Tuesday! It’s pretty auspicious, and it indicates how long I’ve been working on Koi Dance.
“Press Release for 🐟Koi Dance🐟” – I sent this press release to the local newspaper in the hopes I’d get some kind of interview or something. At the time of writing I’m not sure if they’ve put anything about it into this week’s issue, but we shall see!
Mogadish Matt, Somalia’s #1 Libertarian and a longtime friend of the blog, shared a bit about Koi Dance (out today on all streaming platforms and on Bandcamp; 90% off with promo code koipond) on his blog, Free Matt Podcast:
Thanks to Erin at Existential Ergonomicsfor this awesome write-up of my new album, Koi Dance (out today on all streaming platforms and on Bandcamp; 90% off with promo code koipond).
It’s 90% off (!) with promo codekoipond. That means it’s $1 for twelve tracks of great music (or 8⅓ cents per track).
That promo code is also good for everything on the site, including a full discography purchase. That means you can get thirty-one (31) releases—almost all of which include tons of original artwork, scores, videos, essays, etc.—for $9.70 with promo code koipond.
Look at that cute little koi!
To put that into perspective, if you purchased every release on my Bandcamp page individually, it would cost $194. Purchasing the full discography (just click on any release to see the option to purchase my full discography) comes with a built-in 50% discount, so that brings the cost down to $97.
Use promo code koipond, and the price plummets to $9.70. That’s less than any one of my albums at full freight. It’s less than a small pizza. It’s less than two cups of coffee.
But if you buy just one release—or even just stream one release—make it Koi Dance. It’s my best release in awhile.
Finally, it’s Bandcamp Friday, which means Bandcamp waives their usual 15% cut of sales, making it the absolute best time to support your favorite pudgy composer—me!
I was going to slap together a review of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey for today, but yours portly and Dr. Wife have been pretty busy getting stuff done around the house. Instead, I wanted to share the press release I sent to the local paper for my upcoming release, Koi Dance.
As readers know, I’m never one to let content go to waste. Why not recycle/reduce/reuse content to save myself some trouble? Well, that’s what I’m doing here. But I also really, really want to get the word out about this release, because I sincerely believe it’s some of my best work.
The album releases this Friday, 7 August 2026, on all streaming platforms and at https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com. It’s 90% off (!) with promo code koipond. That means it’s basically $1 for twelve tracks of great music (that promo code is also good for everything on the site).
The koi pond is really coming alive as we head deeper into spring. Other than the ramshorns I added a few weeks back, there have been no new additions to the pond. The koi themselves, though, are way more active, and Dr. Wife and I both the think the water is clearing up slightly thanks to the Japanese Trapdoor Snails and some recent top-ups with fresh water. At any rate, we can see maybe an inch deeper than we could before, and it helps that the koi are coming closer to the surface more frequently.
As the weather warmed up earlier this year, the koi would splash up only when I tossed food into the water. The most intrepid of them, Sunny, would occasionally pop up when he heard my approach, my feet treading on the gravel as I shook the bag of koi food.
Sunny, the King of the Pond
Now, I’ll frequently catch multiple koi skimming the surface even outside of feeding times. When I do get home in the evenings and bring out the feed, they are excited. They’ll start swimming over each other to get at the good stuff, and some will even swim to the edge of the pond and start flapping their big fish lips at me.
It’s really satisfying to see the pond coming to life. With the water getting a bit clearer, we’ve been able to make out more details on the fish. We’re also able to spot them swimming more easily.
Maintaining a koi pond is a hobby that can take on a life of its own. In learning about keeping koi and maintaining a pond, I’ve learned that a common phenomenon is people getting hooked on buying more fish. Given that a full-grown koi can go for $50 or even hundreds of dollars, the hobby can get very expensive very quickly. I’m thankful, then, that the previous owners stocked the pond so well.
What I find myself looking for are not more koi (not necessarily), but more species that I can introduce to the pond to increase its biodiversity. At least, that’s the rationale—I really just want an excuse to buy more snails and minnows and what not.
So far, I’ve added rosy red minnows, two small butterfly koi, ramshorn snails, and Japanese Trapdoor Snails. My next planned addition is three dojo/weather loaches, which are a peaceful, eel-like fish that feeds along the bottom of the pond. In searching for those loaches, I came upon an eBay listing for seven purple leopard ramshorn snails.
These are just a color morph of ramshorn snails. Instead of the typical dark brown, they have a slightly purplish, speckled appearance. I would not have bothered purchasing them except that they were eight bucks (with free shipping), so I figured, “why not”? They should add to the genetic mix of the existing ramshorn population.
One thing I’m learning when purchasing live animals on the Internet (read that out loud and it will sound questionable) is that, like most things in life, you often get what you pay for.
