The band Particle is not as small as the name implies. It’s not devoted to tightly packaged, dense songs or three-minute, three-chord rock ‘n’ roll tunes. Rather, Particle joins the ranks of such loose balls of energy that typify funk rock bands.
Funk rock, the staple of rock ‘n’ roll in this fair city, is an odd style of music. It represents the continuing transition between the older, more established musical genres, such as jazz or blues with the ubiquitous rock ‘n’ roll genre.
Funk rock is filled with talented musicians creating driving dance music with the aid of drum machines or disco balls. With this emphasis on funkiness comes an odd mixture of the very essence of rock ‘n’ roll taken to far distant places than catchy singles.
As the title of Particle’s debut album “Launchpad” suggests, this music is meant to take the listener to musical landscapes out of the stratosphere, yet solidly based in the music found back home here on Earth. “Launchpad” is a starting point that hints at the road ahead without leaving the atmosphere.
Particle is made up of Eric Gould, bass; Charlie Hitchcock, guitar; Steve Molitz, keyboards; and Darren Pujalet, drums. They are entirely instrumental and contain no singing at all throughout the album.
In focusing on the music, the band allows for its spacey electronic-funk hybrid to travel far across the sonic spectrum.
There is no focus on lyrical content nor is there a lead singer’s ego to deal with. This works well for the band during live performances, which can last up to five hours such as at last year’s Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee.
The transition to CD, however, is mixed. The music flows and moves at remarkable paces. Gould and Pujalet maintain a tight beat throughout the album, leaving Hitchcock and Molitz to show off their stuff with extended solos and jams. All four are incredible musicians that can create an intense sonic landscape.
However, the album sounds much like a trimmed down live show. At the beginning of the album, songs such as “Launchpad” and “The Elevator” are kinetic and loose but also long and intense. The same can be said for the final song “Sun March 11,” which clocks in at more than 10 minutes and is a powerful way to end the set.
But like any live show, there are those songs in the middle that are thrown in as ways to extend the performance; they aren’t crowd-pleasers but merely fillers. “Below Radar” and the odd, two-part song “7 Minutes Till Radio Darkness” exemplify this filler attitude. If heard live, they would be phenomenal songs. But as chopped up and condensed as they are, there is not enough room for the songs to move.
Overall, the album makes for some great moments of dance music funkiness and serves as a great taste of what the band is capable of live. In fact, if you don’t have the patience for a five-hour jam session with Particle, this is probably a better way to experience the band.
Jason Bolte can reached at [email protected].
