PARTICLE

Michael Allen Howard
JamBase | LA
Go See Live Music!
Published on 4/22/2002

PARTICLE | 04.18.02 | LOS ANGELES

Knitting Factory West (nice name for a retirement home) was filled with Particle People last night to welcome the boys back home in between spring and summer tours. Opening the show was Netwerk: Electric from Santa Cruz. They played a nice jazzy, funky set featuring some passionate guitar work by Jason Concepcion. I’d recommend catching them if you haven’t seen them yet. On to the main event. . .

For starters, I was captivated by the eye candy provided by projectionist Scott MacKinnon. It was a perfect background for the band and was a pretty amazing show in itself. I think more bands should include visual stimulation in their shows because it totally enhances the concert going experience.

Meanwhile, Particle’s unique fusion of funk, rock, jazz exploration and electronic dance grooves had the crowd lit up like a tasty green bud. Charlie Hitchcock’s wicked guitar leads and Steve Molitz’s funky, jazzy keyboard work created a groovy, futuristic sound. Rounding out the line-up were Eric Gould and Darren Pujalet who formed a nice, tight and driving rhythm section. Particle had great rapport with the crowd as they smiled and nodded at friends and fans. You just could tell that they were having a blast up on stage.

The highlight of the second set was when John Medeski (of Medeski Martin & Wood for you newbies) played keys along with Steve Molitz. First of all, the crowd went nuts and the energy of the room was noticeably altered. In addition, Molitz was smiling from ear to ear and laid down some of the most inspired licks of the evening. Medeski did some very interesting percussive jamming on the keyboards for one tune which totally worked the crowd into a frenzy. On another tune, however, he tried to create synthesized sound scapes which sometimes fit in to what the band was playing and sometimes sounded kind of off (sorry John, you're still my hero).

For the last several tunes, both Particle and the Particle People took the already high energy show to another level. We’re talkin’ “high octane” as the band says on their website. I’m looking forward to seeing them again soon.