a march for breezy
BREEZY MARCH
film by Cyrus Moussavi
On the afternoon of September 26, 2022, friends and family of jaimie branch gathered at the Record Shop in Red Hook, Brooklyn, for a second line style march in memory of our dearly departed sister.
Led by jaimie's brass-playing brother Russell Branch and a motely gang of miscellaneous instruments, horns and hand percussion, the march stomped to the tune of jaimie's "Simple Silver Surfer" through the neighborhood streets and down to the Red Hook docks (the same docks where we filmed jaimie for our introduction to Fly or Die in 2016, and where Peter Gannushkin photographed her for Fly or Die II) for a collective wail in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, before making way to Pioneer Works for jaimie's memorial service.
It was a beautiful and gut-wrenching afternoon of community grief. We are so incredibly grateful that our brother Cyrus Moussavi (along with his friends Mina Fitzpatrick and Nico Osborne) was able to capture it to 8mm and 16mm film (special thanks to Mono No Aware, NYC, for generously supporting the film processing and scanning).
Today, August 22, 2023, exactly one year since jaimie's passing, and just several days before the release of her final Fly or Die album, we are blessed to share this bittersweet memory, in her memory.
Please click the link below to watch Breezy March – directed and edited by Moussavi; filmed by Moussavi and Fitzpatrick; with live sound by Osborne, mixed and mastered by Dave Vettraino.
Fly or Die on Bandcamp Weekly
Also out today... Andrew Jervis's wonderful Bandcamp Weekly program features a tribute to jaimie, with words from Fly or Die band members Lester St. Louis, Jason Ajemian and Chad Taylor.
IARC0066
jaimie branch
Fly or Die
Fly or Die
Fly or Die
((world war))
LP, CD & Digital album
!!! out this Friday !!!
August 25th, 2023
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) was recorded in April 2022 during jaimie branch’s artist residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. When branch passed on August 22, 2022, the album was near complete, with only mixing tweaks, final titles, and artwork to be finalized. In the months following, her family (led by her sister Kate Branch), her bandmates (Lester St. Louis, Jason Ajemian, and Chad Taylor), and her collaborators at International Anthem banded together to gather memories, texts, emails, photographs, artwork, and fragments belonging to jaimie to finish the record. Their goal was to do what jaimie would have done.
From the album's liner notes, written by her bandmates St Louis, Ajemian, and Taylor:
“jaimie never had small ideas. She always thought big. The minute you told her she couldn’t do something, or that something would be too difficult to accomplish, the more determined and focused she became. And this album is big. Far bigger and more demanding — for us, and for you — than any other Fly or Die record. For this, jaimie wanted to play with longer forms, more modulations, more noise, more singing, and as always, grooves and melodies. She was a dynamic melodicist. jaimie wanted this album to be lush, grand and full of life, just as she was. Every time we take a listen, we feel the deep imprint of her all over the music, and we see all of us making it together.”
Like its predecessors, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) is an astonishing collision of vibrant color and seismic energy; of cosmic contemplation and skinned-knee physicality; of epic ambition and comedic comedown. It serves as a potent reminder of the vitality and virtuosity of branch, a love letter sent from the beyond by a beloved artist and friend.
BROOKLYN ALBUM RELEASE SHOW
@ ROULETTE, OCTOBER 2nd
A Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) album release party is set for October 2nd at Roulette in Brooklyn. This record release show will begin with never-before-seen footage of branch and her band's final concert together, during which they played Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) in its entirety (the only time the band ever did) to a live audience at Bemis Center for the Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska.
Directly following the screening will be live performances by Rob Mazurek, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dave Ballou and other surprise guests, all of whom will come together to pay tribute to their friend, student and collaborator, jaimie branch.
Tickets & more information for October 2 album release event here.
((( photo by Ben Semisch, courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts )))
about branch
At the age of 39, jaimie “breezy” branch had already established herself at the vanguard of modern jazz composition, blurring genre boundaries and performing with an inimitable power that Pitchfork’s Allison Hussey said “connected the focus and intensity of high-concept sound artists with the unbridled joy of living in the moment.”
branch was also a tireless collaborator, who worked with samba icon Elza Soares; noise icons Wolf Eyes; indie stars like TV on the Radio, Yo La Tengo and Spoon; British dub producer The Bug; the First Nations rock collective Medicine Singers; and various International Anthem labelmates, including Jeff Parker, Ben LaMar Gay, and Alabaster DePlume, among so many others. She even made a post-mortem appearance on Talib Kweli & Madlib’s album Liberation 2 released earlier this spring, playing trumpet in a stunning co-composed duet with Madlib on keys.
*Deluxe Vinyl Package*
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) comes on a 140-gram vinyl LP (pressed by Pallas in Germany, with lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST) inside a swank *metallic silver foil* sleeve, with large fold-out poster insert, IARC obi strip & dome-patterned inner sleeve.
Distribution via RedEye for US, Canada, North & South America
This album will also be available on CD, Cassette, and Classic Black Vinyl (same package specs as listed above).
Retailers in the United States or Canada or anywhere else inside of North, South and Central America... Please reach out to your sales rep at RedEye Worldwide if you are interested in making wholesale purchases of this album, or any other album in our catalog. Don't yet have a RedEye rep? Please just reach out to us and we'll get you hooked up!
Distribution via !K7 for Europe, UK, Australia, and ROW
This album will be distributed by our good friends at !K7 and their various territory partners in Europe, UK, Australia, and everywhere else in the world outside of North & South America.
If you are a retailer or store with questions about wholesale or are just looking to get some of our records... we'd like to make things as easy for you as possible, please do not hesitate to reach out!!!
((( photo by Ben Semisch, courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts )))
