Daily things: a little outing, post punk and goth rock, Klangstabil, The Practice, Parks & Rec

Health

I'm still in a lot of pain on a daily basis but I'm hoping the Laroxyl kicks in soon (let's be real, it's an anti-depressant first, so it might still take a while) but I have processed my fibro diagnosis and I am rather upbeat about it. I talked to a fibro friend who suffered for years and is now in remission. And a lot of stuff that I like to do are good for fibro, I'm thinking mainly of exercise. I can't wait to be able to take walks again. Then I might go back to the physio to start exercising gently with his guidance. Anyway, fibro hurts a lot and isn't great, but at least I know where to take it from here.

Music

Math wanted to hear more post punk and understand what it was about. I'm not a big fan of labels so I'm not necessarily the best one to go to for that kind of answers. But we had a long discussion about how he found hard to relate to music where the singing is either very dispassionate or detached (like it often is in “industrial” music) or grandiose and mannered (like it can be in goth rock). He's more used to and touched by vocalists who seem sincere and raw and vocals is key in him liking some music or not (unless it is instrumental, of course).

The alienating quality of the singing of the genres I just mentioned to me is another way to convey emotion. And I can relate to it personally. The fact that sometimes the voice is mixed down in such manner that it blends with the instrumentation instead of standing out, the way it can be distorted to sound almost inhuman, and the way vocals seem often to be treated not differently than any other sound used in the mix, as if it was just any other instrument, creates a music that touches me in a different way than a Sia song, for example, could (I love Sia). It's hard to explain.

We listened to Agent Side Grinder, Nightmare Fortress and The Soft Moon and he liked all of this, and then I put on Sisters Of Mercy (he's not as much a fan of the classic goth rock sound).
Then I listened to tons of stuff in my Bandcamp wishlist (and tried to scrobble with Foxyscrobbler, which proved frustrating). I bought the new Klangstabil compilation, Ruby My Dear – Ginkgo and Born Brute by Diesel Dudes (it was a name your price thing and sounded fun so I went for it).

"Klangstabil pay with friendship" (Watch on YouTube)

Food

I'm feeling a bit less scared to walk with the diagnosis (although I have to have hernia ruled out) so we went to the Greek restaurant for lunch and then got us delicious coffee at Cream. It was so wonderful to be outside and to take a nice walk with Math.

Watching

Still watching The Practice. Wow, things really get personal in season 2! And of course, some Parks & Recs with Math (beginning of season 5). We watched “Woman in garbage” which is one of my favourite episodes. :)