this past weekend, we shot a video for the song War Cry from the new unreleased album. the concept was a collaboration between Singer Mali, movement artist Jennifer Hicks, body/makeup artist Magdalena O’Connor, and tireless creative genius & Hostage Heart director Michael McQuilken. the shoot involved mud, fire, & lots & lots of brambles.
here are some behind-the-scenes stills:

   photos by Ryan Anas

we’ll be looking forward to sharing it when it’s ready for public consumption . . .

mali here.

today we head out on a short, sweet, & apparently extremely rainy east cost minitour ~ it’s a trio tour with a one-of-a-kind configuration: me, tony on bass/es, & my brother raky sastri (of you won’t) on drums. we will be touring with april fish, all the way from new zealand ~ a dear friend, & a brilliant composer of carefully-crafted prog-art-pop rapture (so thrilled to have her here).

the dates & details:

wed 9/30 ~ Brooklyn, NY ~ Bushwick Community Darkroom
part of  The Brooklyn Experimental Song Carnival
info link, facebook link

fri 10/2 ~ Derwood, MD ~ House Show
this is an early evening house concert. if weather permits, we’ll have it outside.
facebook link

sat 10/3 ~ Strasburg, VA ~ Cristina’s Cafe
info link, facebook link

sun 10/4 ~ Philadelphia, PA ~ Rigby Mansion
an early evening house show at a gorgeous Philly mansion that will be outside if weather permits.
info link, facebook link

mon 10/5 ~ Pawtucket, RI ~ Machines with Magnets
info link, facebook link

(sorry Boston, we are not doing a show in you in this unique trio configuration, BUT Pawtucket is not all that far ~ if you want to see this particular line-up, come to RI!)

we will also be playing in Boston on fri 10/9 as part of Org: House Concert. this gig will also be with april fish, as well as schooltree, & we’ll be playing as a quartet with dylan on drums. space is limited so please email [info@jaggery.org] to get the address & to RSVP.

hope to see some friendly & new faces on the road & at home!

we just released a brand new song!

we took part in a project curated by music blog Foundwaves to write & record a song based on a chapter from Alice in Wonderland (the book had it’s 150th anniversary of publication this year). we got Chapter 10, The Lobster Quadrille.

here’s what i told Foundwaves about the song-making process:

When Foundwaves contacted me about having Jaggery involved in this project, I realized I was one of those people who have never actually read Alice In Wonderland, so I got myself a copy and got educated. Much of the song came together quite organically with the band. I spent some time at the keyboard with the lyrics included in the chapter and came up with a chorus melody, and a few basic verse melodies. Rachel (viola) suggested we put the chorus in 5/8, and Petaluma (backup vocals/harp) worked her vocal harmony magic. Dylan (drums) came up with an alternating 1 2 1 2 3, 1 2 3 1 2 shaker pattern. Together we broke down the individual verses and challenged ourselves in exploring different meters and different rhythmic deliveries. I hear Tony’s bass solo as the musical interpretation of the reluctant snail, who finally — with the return of the distinct bass line — joins the dance.

I think what we ended up with is an experimental kids song (that, of course, has a quintessential Jaggery build towards the end). We have yet to play this one live — it will definitely be a challenge switching between all the different parts, but we look forward to it (maybe invite us to play it at your kid’s birthday party, just kidding).

Listen and read more about the process below:

http://foundwaves.org/2015/09/23/alice-wonderland-lobster-quadrille/

You can also listen and download (for free or pay-what-you-want) via our bandcamp page:

https://jaggery.bandcamp.com/track/the-lobster-quadrille-single

artwork by Serpentes Designs

We hope you enjoy listening to it as much we enjoyed creating it.

~ greetings fellow earthlings ~

we’ve been laying low over the summer, fiddling and twiddling with every possible aspect of the new album (the mixing, the mastering, the title, the artwork, the song order, etc etc ETC) but one thing has at last been decided: the release date.

so ~ if you happen to have your 2016 calendars already ~ mark down Thurs Jan 7th for a very special CD release spectacular at Oberon. over the fall there may be presale options that may have bonus tracks. there may be vinyl. we’ll keep you posted.

in the meantime: we have shows coming up around the East Coast (see the SHOWS page of this site, as well as our Facebook page), we’re now on NoiseTrade, & we’ll be releasing a brand new song through Foundwaves this Tuesday. so keep in touch.

we’ll leave you with this outtake from a recent photo shoot (photo by Matt Samolis):