NOT THE WIND, NOT THE FLAG
Multi-instrumentalist duo Colin Fisher (guitar, saxophone, percussion etc.) and Brandon Valdivia (percussion, flutes, thumb pianos etc.) have cultivated a specific sonic chemistry over their fifteen years of performing together. Audibly informed by the outer reaches of spiritual jazz their sound also delves beyond into a panoply of eclectic influences from ferocious psychedelia to ambient tranquility, as evidenced in live collaborations with the likes of Laraaji and William Parker. Valdivia and Fisher's separate pursuits also nourish the ensemble's special sound. After touring as part of Caribou's 'Vibration Ensemble', Fisher has appeared on the project's latest outing Suddenly. He's also released records on Astral Spirits, Jeremy Greenspan's Geej Records, and Mancunian cassette label Tombed Visions. Valdivia continues to perform solo as Mas Aya, works with leading theatre artists such as Beatriz Pizano, and Diana Tso, and collaborates with imaginative Colombian-Canadian singer and composer Lido Pimienta. Both also perform in the trio I Have Eaten The City, whose release Secret Paths was listed among the Quietus' best tapes of 2014.
JAIMIE BRANCH'S FLY OR DIE
Jaimie Branch's Fly Or Die assembles some of the most passionate and innovative American jazz musicians of our time and moulds them into a fierce and brazenly political whole. Branch's primal trumpet cries and idiosyncratic vocals lead the band where she's flanked by cellist Lester St. Louis, bassist Jason Ajemian, and Chad Taylor on drums and percussion. Last year's Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise — much of which consists of live recordings — offers a poignant reflection of the uneasy tenor of the American political landscape and was praised in the Wire's Top 50 of 2019, the Guardian, and elsewhere.