Eugene Chadbourne & Jair-Röhm Parker Wells-Fed Up With Bass; Public Eyesore Records #163, 2025

 

It must be admitted by Disaster Amnesiac that when upon receiving Fed Up With Bass, the new two CD set from Eugene Chadbourne and Jair-Röhm Parker Wells on Public Eyesore, there was a kind of daunting feeling. Let's face it: two compact discs worth of material is a lot, especially if one is expected to pay the close attention necessary for reviewing. Especially too in the case of these two dudes. I recall reading a career summation interview in Forced Exposure from Chadbourne in the 1980's for cryin' out loud! Parker Well's group Machine Gun was also active in that time frame, so yeah, they have decades of accumulated experience from which to show and tell. Chadbourne makes music, any music from any place/time, as much his as he needs it to be. Eugene moves from statements that are absolutely red dirt funky to completely Avant Garde abstract with great aplomb and ease on any stringed instrument that he's currently holding. One of the joys of listening to Fed Up arises when one hears the ways in which he approaches the strings. He's got a more seasoned player's control in full effect; even at his most vigorous the notes are on point and precisely placed. Parker Wells's bass playing is a clear equal to those six string sounds, as all of the time that the two have spent working together on musical projects would of course made it so. It's an album of very astute stringed instrumental interactions. Additionally, Parker Wells's modular processing and sound designs are truly things of wonder with bird sounds, traffic noise, etc. One would almost desire an extra two discs of just those sounds! Seriously, check 'em! The sound aesthetics on this album include Samba, Standards, Psychdelics, Gospel-influenced call and response, Folk, and so much more. As regards the Standards, Disaster Amnesiac has delighted at hearing some of those familiar quotations from the Jazz canon. Of course Chadbourne and Parker Wells are going to feature those kinds of moves along with all of the others. They know the context. Blues as in flatted notes within astute durations. The eccentricities of wide intervallic relationships. A guest appearance from Beat Poet John Sinclair that runs down the moral code of Monk, during which John sings as much as recites and also chants. If Disaster Amnesiac was to be asked to pick one track which best encapsulates Fed Up With Bass's appeal, I'd go with Inner Extremities Suite Part 2, which moves from classic era Psych to bombastic Free Jazz of its High Era, all placed as a piece within a larger, self-contained matrix that belongs to Eugene Chadbourne and Jair-Röhm Parker Wells exclusively. It's an album that rocks in the most unique and original of manners. Fans of truly free form musical expression, head's up, you'll want to grab this album from Public Eyesore.