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Partikel

Partikel are three London based musicians all with very different musical backgrounds who have come together to make music mixing all of their favorite influences in a melodic, coherent and accurate way. The music puts an interesting twist on the standard jazz format while still honoring the tradition of deep harmony and creative improvisation.

Drawing influence from African and Latin American music combined with the style of the contemporary jazz scene, Partikel produce a personal, committed and contemporary take on the saxophone trio. Soulful melodies are combined seamlessly with complex mixed meter vamps along with an instantly identifiable energy and band sound.

Since their Whirlwind debut as an acoustic trio (Cohesion, 2012), Partikel have progressively pushed at the developmental possibilities, and 2015’s String Theory – augmenting the line-up of Duncan Eagles (saxophones), Max Luthert (double bass) and Eric Ford (drums) with string quartet – generated significant interest, spawning numerous gigs both in the UK and internationally. These live experiences (including a month touring China) saw the band’s sound climbing to new heights, enhanced by the work of violinist Benet McLean and super-sized with the creative blends enabled by digital harmonizers, pedals and programming.

So vibrant new release Counteraction shifts up yet another gear, with music crafted specifically around this forward-thinking approach, while also introducing atmospheric electric guitarist Ant Law, flautist and baritone saxophonist Anna Cooper, and electronic sound designer Sisi Lu. The compositions (mostly by Eagles) explore fascinating textural avenues, balancing and integrating them with the band’s original sax, bass and drums identity to create often strikingly unusual resonances. For example, their revisitation of previously-issued trio track ‘Blood of the Pharoah’ now elevates its spatial, percussive mystery through windswept ambience and cello, achieving greater dramatic intensity.

A cinemascopic aura of free-spirited storytelling is the key to this hour-long journey, the electronics and orchestral surge of ‘Land and Sea’ representing its title’s intended contrasts. ‘Scenes and Sounds’ is blurred with synthy urban abstractions which explode into the animated rhythms of Eagles, Luthert and Ford, accentuated by Law’s fretboard improvisations; and the afterglow cool of ‘Lanterns’, prompted by a visit to Beijing, quietly sparkles with impressionistic radio signals and teems with city life.

Soundtrack-style fusions in title track ‘Counteraction’ make it almost uncategorizable, as echoic layers of multi-double-stopped violin and electronics are balanced with tenor and percussion. The episodic invention in Max Luthert’s ‘Moving Fields’ takes the band into prog territory, full of raging complexity; and a zesty, New Orleans feel to ‘Bolden Days’ (a tribute to pioneer Buddy Bolden) is laced with bamboo flute inflections and blues-folk violin glissandi.

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Album Review

Partikel: Counteraction

Read "Counteraction" reviewed by Roger Farbey


Counteraction is Partikel's fourth album to date and their follow-up to 2015's String Theory. Without wishing to wrap this review up in a couple of sentences, it's probably their best to date and adopts their customary deployment of heterogeneous instrumentation--strings and reeds notably--and characteristically unorthodox structures. “Land And Sea" begins tentatively but soon leads into a short saxophone melody and onto a strident ensemble vamp redolent of King Crimson. “Scenes And Sounds" opens with a brief melee of ...

4
Album Review

Partikel: String Theory

Read "String Theory" reviewed by Roger Farbey


A frenetic opening to the third album by Partikel augurs well for the rest of this hour-long recording and there's almost a reminiscence of Frank Zappa's Hot Rats in its intensity. Partikel here is augmented on this session by a string quartet. A jazz trio with strings? Yes, but not just any strings, these are strings on steroids. The quartet isn't a backing group but rather it plays an active role in providing vibrant harmonic and melodic counterpoint to the ...

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"Think of the sound of JD Allen on "I Am I Am" played through the filter of an English sense of melancholia, and you'll get the measure of the fast maturing Partikel" Downbeat

"Spectacular" UK Jazz Radio ☆☆☆☆☆

"An engaging take on the art of the saxophone trio from one of the UK's most engaging and promising new bands" Ian Mann ☆☆☆☆

"Ford's limber, inventive patterns, Luthert's propulsive yet flexible bass licks and Eagle's hard edged lyricism constitute a highly satisfying album" BBC Music Magazine ☆☆☆☆

"Partikel bring the European Jazz Scene something incredibly dynamic and original" Gaffa Music (Denmark) ☆☆☆☆

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Counteraction

Whirlwind Recordings
2017

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String Theory

Whirlwind Recordings
2015

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Cohesion

Whirlwind Recordings
2012

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Partikel

F-IRE Records
2010

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Scenes and Sounds

From: Counteraction
By Partikel

Shimmer

From: String Theory
By Partikel

Videos

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