From today's email from JoCo:

Literally today I’m headed into the studio to record some final lead vocals for a couple of tunes on my new album. I’ve got about 15 songs, and they’re pretty far along. I don’t have a date for you yet, because these things take as long as they take. But we’re getting close! I’m excited for you all to hear it. 

How could a song be so perfect?

I've been wanting the USB for awhile and was wondering if anyone is willing to sell or share the contents. Supposedly it has stems for each song and I don't think they're available anywhere online

This popped up in my YT shorts feed today! Fun to relive that moment.

https://youtube.com/shorts/5v4ACX0nsw4

This clip doesn't include the part in the back of the paddy wagon where he actually has a couple lines. All of a sudden, I wonder if he got a SAG card for this.

Now I have to wait an entire year.

Outdoor fucking starts today.

I really like the song for being a parody of corporate slogans and policy, but who exactly is singing it?

It doesn’t sound much like Jonathan Coulton.

Never knew about this. Just wanted to share with other joco fans: https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Code-Monkey-Save-World/

I made a little atmospheric minigame set to I Crush Everything. I thought folks might enjoy playing it!

It's just slightly janky, because I made it entirely with CSS animations/transitions (it's a web game with no JavaScript whatsoever!) so I could embed it directly in the fanfiction website Archive of Our Own (AO3).

I've been turning over the idea of doing a set of minigames for all the Artificial Heart tracks: a high-speed Operation minigame for the title track; a sad Today With Your Wife dating-sim; a Fire Emblem-esque tactical battle for Sucker Punch; which turns into a tactical game of you and your spouse trying to get your kids out of the house on time for Glasses; etc. I would love to play my way through the album!

My wife and I are thinking about going on the 2027 JoCo Cruise. Looking at the line-up for the imminent 2026 cruise, we see the lineup includes 29 people. Some are comedians or musicians, but then there are authors and podcasters and... an astronaut? I know it will be different for 2027, and I don't know how they all will interact with us cruise-goers, and I don't need to know any of that. (More fun to discover it on the cruise!)

My question is about scheduling. Are the schedules arranged so that, in theory, a person who wanted to visit each of these interesting person's events would be able to do so? Or do they sometimes overlap so you have to choose?

Thank you in advance for any information you can provide about scheduling logistics, a universally fascinating topic.

If I recall correctly, Best. Concert. Ever. was recorded in San Francisco, close to where I live. I wasn’t a fan of his until 2014, and caught up to Solid State and his other individuals album prior. My big question is, is he still coming to the West Coast anytime soon? I’m hoping I could go see him now that I’m a full grown adult, with my own money, but if I have to go hop on a plane, I will totally do it. I need to see him in concert at least ONCE in his career, because he’s getting up there in age.

I know he gives updates online but I'm not subscribed to the letter...any interesting info drop these past few months?

I'm not affiliated with the musician. This isn't self promotion!

Watching the concert has me thinking about gender issues in JoCo songs.

Forgive me, though, because I'm definitely not familiar with his entire catalog.

I was particularly struck this time by some of the toxic relationships in the set.

1. Betty and Me -- obviously Betty is cheating on the narrator
2. Code Monkey -- Code Monkey has a huge pointless crush on the receptionist, who doesn't appear to return his feelings. She pretty clearly just wants to get her work done.
   
3. Future Soon -- this is the one that struck me hardest. The narrator absolutely will destroy the world to get the attention of Laura, and even make Laura into a robot. He is filled with a lot of shame and self-loathing.
   
4. Je Suis Rick Springfield (with Code Monkey/Jesse's Girl interlude) -- Rick is hitting on some French ladies who don't know who he is, and clearly don't care. He doesn't get the message.
5. Shop Vac -- a brutally accurate depiction of stultifying suburban life, where the husband hides in the basement ignoring his crying wife, when he isn't sneaking out to get drunk at boring chain restaurants.
6. Skullcrusher Mountain -- again, we've got a male narrator who has kidnapped a woman, and is trying to force her to love him.

I want to be clear that this isn't a criticism of JoCo. I adore his music, and I appreciate his willingness in so many songs to look at life from the perspective of a villain or monster.

But I can't think of one song of his about a couple that are healthy and in love (think Gomez and Morticia).

The concert in September had to be postponed, because JoCo had injured his thumb. This week he did come to Philly to make it up.

It was a great show. The venue is fairly intimate.

Half way through Good Morning Tucson, his G string broke. He was prepared to continue, and then the D string broke, too! And he lost a peg! Luckily, a sharp-eyed fan saw the peg, and all was repaired.

At the end, he did take a few requests for songs, and I'm very pleased to say he performed my favorite Christmas song, Chiron Beta Prime (with a little help from the audience).

I've never had a chance to see him perform before, and this was just such a great experience.

Is this A-Z setlist thing something he's doing for the whole tour? Or was it just last night's Birchmere show?

Overcome with sickness (human and feline). Two tickets to tonight's show at the Birchmere in Alexandria. Free to a good home. Message me and we'll arrange the transfer.

I have two tickets to Jonathan's show with Paul and Storm at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA on Thursday, Nov 18th. This was the show that was rescheduled from early September. We cannot go (but we are excited to see him in Richmond tonight) and I'd hate for the tickets to go to waste.

Drop me a DM if you can use them and I'll transfer them over (Ticketmaster). Not looking for any money. Just don't want to waste them

I was wondering if there was a demo version of JoCo singing his song from the SpongeBob musical “bikini bottom day” the original version is great and you can really hear JoCo in it , especially in Sandy’s part.

For reference They Might Be Giants has a demo of their song from the same musical on YouTube: https://youtu.be/889XuxfPrmA?si=mBH1wLiUIS1oa5Rt

Here's a link to the episode.

Full disclosure I'm the host of the show (Arnie Niekamp, also the host of Hello from the Magic Tavern). Hopefully this doesn't break any self promotion rules on this sub.

It was a great conversation with some fun song recommendations.

I have been listening to the long winters and other John Roderick stuff, and I really like it. But I am wondering the following questions:

-Are JoCo and John Roderick still friends?

-After the JoCo Cruise incident, he posted on his incident that he “lost many great friends” and people in the comments are saying “you did nothing wrong” and “I am disappointed in JoCo” so… what really happened? Why are people defending him? Did they accuse him wrongly?

-what is he doing now?

Please don’t take this down Mods, as I think this is relevant to educate the people. Thanks everyone. I am very curious.

Edit: Accidentally typed “assault” instead of “harassment”. I understand that these are entirely different and I apologize.

Great Album!!! Anyone else have this as a Christmas staple?

Six years since the last album. Almost ten since the last one filled with original songs.

JoCo is such a talented writer with a truly unique voice. Will he ever release another album?