melle_chantilly

Health

Oy, I haven't updated in a while. Brussels happened, and yesterday I felt like shit (PMS most likely). I'm good today though! My leg is bugging me a little but it didn't prevent me from going out yesterday night and surely won't prevent me from seeing YOUUUUUTH COOODE tonight!! :D

Perfume

It's been Black Orchid for the past few days. I just put some on, mmmh. <3

Music

Where should I start?? Well, first of all, I saw Einstürzende Neubauten live in Brussels!! It was amazing. We went together with Math for their Greatest Hits concert. I hadn't seen them before, even though I started listening to them 20 years ago! So, big moment. I'm a fan of the early Neubauten (up until Tabula Rasa). But I should definitely try listening to their more recent work. It wasn't my thing when I was 15 but it's probably different now. I haven't actively listened to them in the most recent years, so it never really occurred to me to explore more. This shall be tended to soon. I was looking forward to them playing familiar things and they did play "Die Interimsliebenden" and "Haus Der Lüge", which was amazing. But I wasn't as familiar with the rest.

Blixa Bargeld is hilarious on stage, interacting a lot with the audience and making jokes about the inception of their songs (someone requested “Z.N.S.” at some point and he was all “err, no, I really can't sing this anymore, seriously” and he started mimicking the lyrics. I suppose what's basically an ode to amphetamines isn't so appealing at this point of his life anymore).

It was so great to see the live instruments they used, all the pipes, grindstones, barrels. It really gives you a better understanding on how the Neubauten sound feels so dynamic and almost palpable. Also, Alexander Hacke's bass, which imo is a huge part of the Neubauten sound, is at least as powerful live. It's amazing what he can produce with a bass guitar.

The performance brought tears to my eyes a couple of times, it was so intense it was almost overwhelming.

Food

We stayed in an apartment 5 minutes from the Ancienne Belgique concert hall. We met a couple of friends before the concert for dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant where I went with them last time I visited them. Math wasn't there then and loves Italian food, and since we don't know a good Italian restaurant in Paris anymore, I had to suggest going there.

The day after the concert, we had a few addresses to try, recommended by our friends. We had breakfast in a delicious bakery, pizza for lunch at Mamma Roma (where I went once with my friends too) and I had my first cannoli! Yum! Then we walked around a bit, made the mandatory stop at the Senteurs D'Ailleurs perfume emporium and finally we landed at Zaabär, chocolatier extraordinaire. We had spicy hot chocolates (they have four or five different recipes, with very surprising blends of flavours. I had one with anise, cinnamon, pepper, ginger and fennel, it was really different and tasty). They are well known for making chocolate with surprising flavours, and we tried some before (a pepper black chocolate, very well done, with a strong taste of pepper, and a chili pepper one, hot, flavourful, and most surprisingly made of milk chocolate). We bought 7 different kinds (the two I just mentioned, and jasmine, tonka bean, white chocolate with madras curry, a different hot pepper, and sea salt milk chocolate). You could sample them all, so it was hard to stay reasonable!

Concert #2

It was hard to gather the strength to go outside, but I still went to see Front 242 live yesterday night! I was super anxious and depressed but I'm glad I made it. I was on my own (which probably didn't help) and I hadn't been to the Machine (ex-Loco) since it was revamped. It was absolutely packed (and the promoters were still pushing to sell tickets on the event page a few hours before, of course. Things haven't changed that much in that sorry club, it seems) so I went to a safe spot on a balcony (good move, since the pit turned into a huge brawl as soon as the music started). 242 began with “Moldavia”, which is my favourite of theirs, and then performed a lot of classics. It was also the first time I saw them live, and these guys do not seem to age, holy shit. Richard 23 was jumping around like crazy and him and Jean Luc interacted with the audience a lot (and hearing a band talk in French was super unusual!). It was a good show! I enjoyed it even though I hate that venue with a passion. The audience was so, so excited sometimes it felt like it was louder than the music (I didn't need earplugs, so the show probably wasn't super loud). I fled before the encore to avoid being trampled and to find a taxi easily.

Reading

I have finished The Left Hand Of Darkness, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm going to have a hard time discussing it, especially since it took me an eternity to read, and I was in a pretty bad shape while doing so. I remember it being way longer than it actually is, especially.

I started a Block novel yesterday, because I love him and I wanted something to make me feel better. I didn't pick a Scudder (because it's a bit too grim) but Hit List (Keller #2).