By Don Allred
Particle: Transformations Live For The People (Shout! Factory)
Particle is a jam band known for taking some chances. Right off,
in 2000, in Los Angeles, even, the techno-disco-funk-mad triad
of bassist Eric Gould, drummer Darren Pujalet, and keyboardist
Steve Molitiz joined in progressive macaroni matrimony with
guitarist Charlie Hitchcock. This combination isn’t unheard of
in Jamland, but Particle take it further than Phish, and at least
as far as Disco Biscuits. Once they got their audience used to
such fare, the nucleus ditched Hitchcock, replacing him with
guitarists Scott Metzger and Ben Combe, who add blues and
other tendencies to the situation. And now all the Particles
have begun to sing, or anyway vocalize, effectively/briefly enough.
Unlike many jam and other bands, Particle seem to convey some
non-boring sense of narrative tone, pace and sequence, also
shrewd showmanship, in words and (mostly) music, judging by
the two-CD version of their new Transformations Live For The People.
(The DVD sidetrip is coming up in here too.)
Blackalicious, the first of Particle’s special guests
(they know they need some), is buoyant, but not giddy,
on “Particle People,” and a cover of Beck’s “E-Pro,”
where rants like “Add your trash to this paradise” and
sneers about “confectionary venom” no sound coolly observant
and even intriguing, not self-righteous. The sight-seeing tour eventually i
ncludes a “Ghetto Queen,” an “underage hootchie” in a Miles Davis t-shirt,
but she’s here for our mellow contemplation, not derision
(although stanky synth offers possibly venomous confections to passers-by).
Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger guides Particle through “L.A. Woman,
” seamlessly. In contrast, during the epic instrumental “W,”
the guitars (including that of muscular instructor Joe Satriani),
the hovering turntable of DJ Logic, and the keys of Steve Molitiz
do indeed transform each other, exchanging sonic identities, in rapid fire.
Which doesn’t stop the subsequent “Ed + Molly” from getting slow and
sensuous sometimes (what the band calls their “space porn.”)
And here’s where Moritz goes into extended multiple (synthesized)
Big Os, eventually emitting wavering, gaudy strings of particles
(in string theory, these are extra dimensions, wavering in their own
kind of perfect pitch: somebody’s gotta do it, to keep the universe going).
However, on Disc Two’s opening “Eye of the Storm,” especially, Metzger’s
and Combe’s guitar blues guitar blues seem to struggle against an undertow
of bass and drums. Good drama, and the rhythm section never gets upstaged
by lead players (or vice-versa).
But for pure jam fun, topping even “Ed + Molly,” because it’s a little more tight,
my fave is “Sun Mar 11.”
Caution: it might lead you to carve crop circles in imaginary friends,
with yon light saber (later for mere air guitar).
PS: the DVD swaps the CD edition’s “Ghetto Queen,”
“Fiyo On The Bayou,” and “Losing It” for “Give” and
“7 Minutes Till Radio Darkness (Part III).”
(Parts I and II were on Particle’s first, Hitchcock-era album, Launchpad.)
Other tracks from the CD set are included, although in a different order.
There are also several musical “featurettes,”with the best
DVD-exclusive being a version of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious,”
the only track in ether format to flaunt Satriani, Krieger, Blackalicious,
and DJ Logic all together, times the Lucent Dossier dance troupe..
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