Live Music Review // Angel Piss / Some Pepper / Chanelle Allesandre @ Willimantic Records, Willimantic CT May 19th, 2024
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This was a busy weekend for music at Willimantic Records as the day before this was a FIM performance there. On Sunday it seemed like a perfect day for what was called the Sound Church. While it was somewhat overcast outside, there was also some sun, which had it feeling partly between like it was going to break out into either a hot and muggy day or just rain. This feeling of the weather set the tone for the sounds.
First up was Chanelle Allesandre who I have not yet heard before but have seen on flyers by name. The sound started off quietly and then gradually grew louder. I think if you were going to judge music on a scale of 1-10 based upon how harsh it was, with 10 being the harshest, there were times when this was at a steady six and maybe even jumped up as high as an 8. It's not that the music was harsh noise, but it felt like it was right on the borderline of that and this ambient mostly instrumental type of trance created here.
At times, Chanelle Allesandre had spoken word pieces as if poetry was being read over the sound. By the end, for the last song, there was full on singing and this just felt like it was drifting from that harsh noise sound and into some new third type of sound I've never heard before. While there are artists out there creating sounds in a similar realm (think: Ceremonial Abyss) there isn't anyone doing quite what Chanelle Allesandre did here today and that just made it feel even more special.
Some Pepper was up second and that was also a name I had seen around these past few weeks on flyers, playing with such noted artists as Michael Slyne and Rear Window. I'm never sure what to expect going into music when I've never heard it before and with a name like Some Pepper I really didn't know what to expect. This sound started with banging on a metal pipe and then it slowly grew into this electronica sound that could just hypnotize you. We were in a record store, but it felt like we should have been in a dance club.
During the set a saxophone was featured and I also really enjoyed that, making this closer to a vaporwave sound as well. Some Pepper would fit in really well with Air for Effect, if they ever played a show in CT it'd go really well I think as they have that same type of vibe. As the set concluded, people basically insisted on Some Pepper playing longer so he obliged and we were treated to even more of this EDM type of music which I felt would also work well in the wee hours of the night with a fancy light show.
I first saw Angel Piss at their first show and somehow haven't seen them since. I like to think of Angel Piss as being this noise orchestra lead by Baron Von Elsa with a revolving cast of characters. In fact, when we first saw Angel Piss they were a trio and now they had blossomed into a six-piece group. Angel Piss now had a second cellist, a saxophone and more electronics. Sometimes they play with even more people!
Angel Piss was also promoting their upcoming release, "pretty surrender", which is going to be out on cassette. The songs are so difficult to describe because it doesn't have any of the traditional punk musical instruments but very much has punk undertones. The lyrics went from discussing if there was a new gender then they'd fuck it to "Free Palestine". It's that idea that people call political but really is just about basic human rights and trying to live.
I really also enjoyed that the order in which these artists played seemed to get louder and more abrasive as it went on. Chanelle Allesandre was by no means quiet, but in comparison to everyone else that was the most sort of relaxing and chill set of the day. Some Pepper picked up the pace but kept the vibe fun while Angel Piss just drove us all into loud chaos which was a perfect way to end the entire experience.
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