Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise cover

Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise

Released

On her second album with her Fly Or Die band, Jaimie Branch becomes a political polemicist; the album’s heart is the 11-minute “Prayer For Amerikkka,” a two part song-poem that tackles racism, both individual and structural, and the plight of immigrants. Branch recites razor-sharp lyrics over a crawling, Mingus-esque blues vamp. Other tracks like “Simple Silver Surfer” and “Nuevo Roquero Estéreo” just let the band — bassist Jason Ajemian and drummer Chad Taylor from the debut, and new cellist Lester St. Louis — groove, and that’s fantastic too.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Dark Day cover

Dark Day

Fred Anderson Quartet
Live in Berlin ‘71 cover

Live in Berlin ‘71

Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink, Albert Mangelsdorff, Peter Brötzmann
Actions cover

Actions

Fire! Orchestra
Weird Nightmare (Meditations On Mingus) cover

Weird Nightmare (Meditations On Mingus)

Various Artists, Hal Willner
Webo cover

Webo

Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, William Parker
From the River to the Ocean cover

From the River to the Ocean

Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson
Racing a Butterfly cover

Racing a Butterfly

Anne Mette Iversen Quartet +1
Adnos I-III cover

Adnos I-III

Éliane Radigue
Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley cover

Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley

Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas, Ted Nash