(Downtown Music Gallery) Featuring Eugene Chadbourne on acoustic & electric guitars & effects and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells on acoustic & electric basses, synth & processing with special guest John Sinclair - poetry on one track.. I am always pleased to find out when musicians from different scenes meet up and improvise together, both live and on-line. I've known of and been friendly with early Downtown iconic guitarist since late 1979 when I first heard him in a duo with Fred Frith at Studio Henry. I wasn't sure what to make of him at first but soon realized that he and his then partner John Zorn were inventing new ways to improvise with extended techniques and composing in their own way. I first met & heard bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells when he was a member of a NJ band called Machine Gun, a hardcore jazz/rock/noise improv quintet that met while attending Rutgers Jazz College in New Brunswick, NJ. During the pandemic (in 2020), while most of us had to stay indoors, Mr. Chadbourne started an online series called 'The Book of Heads', named after a set of solo guitar pieces that John Zorn had written for Mr. Chadbourne in the early Downtown days (late 70's thru the early 1980's). Chadbourne sent out via email one solo guitar piece each day to anyone who subscribed to his series. Chadbourne asked his subscribers to use any of his solos to work with in whatever way they chose. A number of musicians did play along with Doc Chad's solo but none did this at length like Mr. Parker Wells, who recorded and sent back some 32 duos, all of which are collected here on 2 CD set. Many of these pieces are named after whatever musicians or other ideas (films) that inspired Doc Chad at the time: Karl Berger, Beethoven, Joe McPhee, Joseph Spence, Andrea Centazzo and Thelonious Monk. One of the things that I've long dug about Doc Chadbourne, is that he is/was influenced by all sorts of music: jazz, rock, classical, country, bluegrass, folk, soundtrack, progressive, punk & comedy music. Since both Chad and Parker Well use a variety of effects, it is hard to tell who is doing what at times outside of the more obvious guitar and bass sounds. "!3th Party at Horror Beach" features slow moving acoustic guitar with waves of eerie electronic sounds and/or samples. The music has a rather cinematic quality, perfect for a sci-fi soundtrack. I often recognize certain lines that Doc Chad is playing as Parker Wells adds odd spooky effects. Most of the pieces here are continuous, flowing from one theme or stream to the next. Parker Wells does a great job of keeping his playing & ideas flowing just as Chad also keeps changing his style, acoustic or electric guitar, effects or not. Is that the bass line from "My Girl" on "Birthday Card for Joe McPhee"? No Matter since it soon changes into something else with PW's bowing, shadowing Chad's changes in direction and solo(s). Although all or most of the pieces flow here piece to piece, Jair-Rohm often changes his playing or reacts to Chad's guitar differently on each piece. There is an ongoing dialogue going on here which is always evolving on each piece. The first disc is 74 minutes long so it took some time to adjust to the way things unfold. I felt like I was in a film where the soundtrack kept slowly changing in each scene. Most impressive as long as your patient. - Bruce Lee Gallanter

(Felthat Reviews)This double cd released by Public Eyesore presents a wide variety of genres and modals presented to you by none other but two legends Eugene Chadbourne and Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells. It is difficult to put some definitive mark on the style and the narrative of this double album. There is so much diversity hear which base is a dialogue between bass instruments and the guitars that each of the protagonists here use as their instruments. This dialogue is spread over with different fat layers over an equally fat slice of sourdough bread. There is so much more of Eugene's sense of humor and steady seriousness of Jair-Rôhm's steadfastness to each of the tracks. Free improvised music blends itself with free jazz and quite a punk attitude. Nice and sparse use of effects and synths give an outlet for more experimentation intricate layering of the instruments and electronics. But there is more to it and namely the dynamics of this material which is just impossible. Adding up to the fact that it is a double album is far beyond astonishing. It's a book, a novel that gives you an idea for spending more time on studying music of venerable people such as both of the musicians here present that gives you so much to learn from. And especially if you make music yourself. The book has been opened... - Hubert Heathertoes

(Lost In A Sea of Sound) If you set out listening to Fed Up With Bass with the idea of making it from start to finish, be prepared to be overwhelmed. The amount of recorded sounds completely fills this double compact disc release. Tempted to total the track times, not sure how two compact discs can hold so much. The more significant saturating aspect are the sounds Eugene Chadbourne & Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells create. Waiting within are the complete sonic inner workings of one nexus over. Very little melodic tethers to the aural nostalgia we know, just brief riffs, tidbits or echoes of medleys. Fed Up With Bass is outside of the circle, a place where strings vibrate beyond the construct. Amazingly, the composition plays with ease and the efforts of both musicians are natural extensions of their respective talents. The most interesting and enjoyable regard for Fed Up With Bass is quieter times. For as ferocious and chaotic both Eugene and Jair-Rôhm have the penchant to be, there is a huge world of spacious and patient passages. This translates to a composition that is chill, a relaxing quality exudes from deep within. Ambient? A big no. Remember, pressing play crosses sound enthusiasts over in to new a aural epicenter. A place where talented and experienced musicians take a park bench and wait for the world to catch up. Because of the lengthy time, selections grow and fuse within the listeners conscious. From originally not understanding what Fed Up With Bass is meant to be, there is a beautiful maturing part of me that could be considered as "gettin' it". There is still a long way to go, but much thanks to Eugene Chadbourne & Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells for stopping on the mountain trail and playing music together. Released on Public Eyesore on a double compact disc edition. Physical copies are currently available. There is one extra track on the digital version. This is the very last one "Kappy Key Bridge Conspiracy". I did add the two compact discs times; CD1 = 77.35, CD2 = 74.11, for a total of one hundred and fifty one minutes. Endless amount of sounds to get delightedly lost in. - Ken Lower

(Babysue) Also just released on Public Eyesore is the double CD Fed Up With Bass by Eugene Chadbourne and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells. The lengthy album is an exercise in pure artistic creativity. The duo present thirty-two tracks that are unpredictable and peculiar. Chadbourne provides acoustic and electric guitars and personal effects. Wells provides acoustic upright bass, NS Design electric basses and bows, synthesis, modular processing and sound design. Wildly inventive stuff. - Don Seven

(Brainwashed) Fed Up With Bass was somewhat conceived as a pandemic project. During lockdown, legendary improv guitarist Eugene Chadbourne was recording daily-ish solo guitar pieces and sharing them online, while encouraging other artists to utilize them in an asynchronous collaborative setting. Bassist/electronic artist Jair-Röhm Parker Wells, whom Chadbourne had worked with in person previously, was a prolific collaborator, and this sprawling album is a document of these combined performances: a mix of sounds and styles that is as dizzying as it is fascinating. Admittedly, this is a daunting album. Clocking in at two CDs, 32 songs, and over two and a half hours in length, there is a lot here. Compounding this is the fact that the songs are crossfaded with each other, making it difficult to just listen to a few songs at a time given that it feels more like a singular performance. Even with that density of music, the duo switch things up frequently, moving from overt acoustic guitar and upright bass to layers of electronics and processed sounds, albeit with Chadbourne’s guitar distinct in the mix. Fed Up With Bass unsurprisingly does not present the artists sticking within the bounds of one style, although Chadbourne’s folk inclinations make for a somewhat consistent thread throughout. A piece such as "Zeppocalypse" is the duo at their most sparse: acoustic guitar, upright bass, and some knocking pseudo-percussion fleshes out the mix. At times, the two are seemingly going in very different directions such as the rapidly plucked, highly unstable guitar of "Winter" and "Young Women" that is rooted by a rigid, highly structured bass performance. Of course, dabbling in other styles is par for the course on Fed Up With Bass. "Birthday Card for Joe McPhee" has Parker Wells going dubby with the bass, as the tight guitar strings resonate, making for a somewhat chill vibe, but not overly relaxing. For "Loch Listen," the duo lean into jazz-tinged, almost jaunty playing mixed with some unique percussion throughout. "Inner Extremities Suite Part 3" has the pair blending rapid, almost bluegrass like guitar work with found sounds and rhythms, going full bore into the world of free improvisation. The pieces where Parker Wells implements more electronic instrumentation are the ones that drew me in most. The gurgling electronic ambience of "Afternoon of a Used Book Dealer" is a great pairing with the hard panned string plucks and layered, spectral passages, resulting in a compelling sense of ambience. "Lo and Behold 10th Anniversary" nicely juxtaposes a very live, "in the room" feel to the guitar and bass, but with swirling synths and what sounds like electronic interference threaded throughout. With "Jack Valentine Monster Truck," the electronics are high up in the mix, and with a greater use of effects and treatments, the depth is extremely engaging. "Joseph Spence’s Underwear" has the two take this even further, with Chadbourne going electric for parts of it, and additional electronics mixing with the distorted riffs and other random bits of sound passing through. Chaotic, yet extremely enjoyable. There is a lot to appreciate on Fed Up With Bass, and I do mean a lot. Besides the duration of the album, there is a metaphorical "everything and the kitchen sink" sensibility throughout. Personally, I was only able to do one disc at a time, with the length and occasional whiplash jerking from style to style within the span of short, crossfaded songs. But taken as two independent albums, this set is wonderful and varied. I imagine those who have the gumption to marathon the whole thing at once will feel very rewarded by the time the extremely-abrupt ending is reached. - Creaig Dunton