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Particle | 03.20.04 | El Rey Theater | Los Angeles, CA
In many ways, but perhaps particularly from a business standpoint, Particle sure is an interesting band. Here we have a group that has played hundreds of headlining shows from coast to coast, was featured at Bonnaroo and Jazz Fest, and continues to take the fast road to success, yet has never (until now) even released an album. From a business perspective, this is insane. To the media giants watching form afar there is no explanation.
This whole anomaly of shooting up the star chart without even having a CD to offer all changed on March 23 when the band dropped their debut album Launchpad. In honor of the album's release Particle threw a party, yes a "CD Release Party," in their home town of Los Angeles on March 20, and even invited their good friend Rob Wasserman to help set the mood.
Eric Gould by Matt Earhart
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During an intriguing experimental opening set by Wasserman, members of Particle took the stage with the dance floor at the El Rey packed front to back. There were some very interesting licks traded between Rob and bassist Eric Gould of Particle, but at times Charlie Hitchcock's guitar takes were slightly obtrusive during this mellowed-out improv set. Regardless it was a good warm up and got everyone in the right frame of mind for the craziness that was about to come.
For those who may not be familiar with Particle, they are a quartet from southern California comprised of Steve Molitz on keys, Hitchcock on guitar, Gould on bass, and Darren Pujalet on the drums. Blending various music styles and genres, they are often referred to as "space porn funk," due to the psychedelic nature of the grooves, and the "up all night" action they so consistently serve. Particle has a unique sound that mixes traditional genres like rock and jazz with less exposed sounds like techno, trance, and drum 'n' bass.
Particle by Matt Earhart
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As the space-porn quartet took the stage, they delivered a powerful punch, opening with "Fuckin' In The Bushes." The crowd was quickly brought to their feet and the band began finding the groove. "Triple Threat" quickly followed, as Charlie and Steve seemed to battle with each other during the jam creating some interesting back and forth action. Things really got moving after the band and audience sang "Happy Birthday" to Charlie's mother, who was in attendance. "The Banker" pushed things up a notch and there wasn't a soul in the room that wasn't dancing. "Launchpad" closed the set with quite an epic version that left everyone itching for more.
After a brief set break, they returned to the stage to deliver another helping of funky grooves. The set started off with "One Of These Days", a nice reading of Pink Floyd's dark masterpiece. Next they busted into "The Golden Gator," which to me is one of the definitive Particle songs. An excellent jam drew this one out included some cool beat-box/vocoder effects by Darren, the drummer. "Robots" and "Below Radar" closed out the fantastic set that left everyone drained but wanting more.
Steve Molitz by Matt Earhart
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The crowd was expecting a long encore as the night was still young, but the band decided it was more important to spend the remainder of the evening socializing with friends, family, and devoted fans, which I thought was very cool. They did an excellent version of "7 Minutes Till Radio Darkness" to close the show, and then told the fans that they wanted to come out and thank everyone personally. The band left the stage and came to meet and greet the crowd. They proved to be a very approachable group of guys who just wanted to show their appreciation to the hometown fans, and it was very well received. After spending time with the fans, they announced the winners of the Apple iPod giveaway and gave out some t-shirts to end the evening (enter for your chance to Win a Particle iPod!, or just buy the new disc for your chance).
Everyone exited with huge grins across their faces proving that the CD release party was a huge success. This show will be the first of Particle's LiveParticle releases and will soon be available for download on their website, www.particlepeople.com.
Ian Stone
JamBase | Los Angeles
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