As the first chapter majestically comes to an end, here begins Chapter Two. And what better way to begin, than with a discovery and some arrivals?

Discoveries

Music: Ukrainian Music

Now, that link I've provided isn't actually quite accurate. It isn't absolutely traditional Ukrainian music that I've discovered, but the music of a Ukrainian rock band, called The Ukrainians. And the same bloke who introduced me to that fantastic 3D Pavement Artist, is the guy who introduced me to this Ukrainian music. He phoned me a few weeks ago, told me he's starting a Ukrainian band, also told me he needs a bass player, I offered my services, and then he suggested I find some music by The Ukrainians. Which I did, and we had our first rehearsal last Sunday (the 23rd of October).

It went pretty well. The guys were great, and really welcoming, etc. My friend, Andy (the one who also told me about the 3D Pavement Artist) is on drums, Daniel is on accordion, his brother Adam is singing, Pinney is on electric guitar, and little old me plays bass. The thing about this Ukrainian music is that although it's fairly simple stuff, it's played at lightning speed, so you really need to have your wits about you. Especially if you're Andy. We had another practice this Sunday just gone, and it went better than the previous practice, mainly because I had more of an idea of what I was playing, and because the guys were familiar to me second time around. We went through the stuff we'd done in the previous practice, and also a couple of new songs - in one of which I have a great bass part. It's pretty funky, with lots of slapping and popping (so I've got a bit of practicing to do), and it's also in a minor key (!!!), so it's just all good. Next practice is this Sunday at 11:00 in the morning!

Arrivals

Music: Squirrel Bait's self-titled EP and their second and last release, entitled Skag Heaven

Right, as some of you know, I've gone off punk and all things fast and furious, in these recent years, so it might be a bit of a surprise to find Squirrel Bait's records in my Arrivals section. Nevertheless, I did decide to buy them, and they're pretty great. I haven't listened to them as much as the other record that arrived around the same time, but I'll probably chuck it on tomorrow, and have a good head-nodding session. The main reason I bought these records, is that Squirrel Bait is the band that Brian McMahan was in, before Slint came into existence. He's playing guitar, and you can hear snippets of what was to be. But they're still no Slint - as nobody is, or ever will be.

Music: Tortoise's sublime album, entitled Standards

Now onto the really good stuff. I'm honestly really disappointed in myself, that it took me so long to get around to buying this wonderful album. I'd downloaded it a good while ago, and listened to it occasionally, and thought it was pretty damn decent; but when I put the record on the turntable, and positioned the needle for the first time, I could only just believe how fresh and alive the music sounded. On the album that I'd downloaded, the music sounds pretty murky and too bassy, but somehow Vinyl has the ability to really breathe life into the music, and let it 'live'. I now understand what people mean when they say they 'rediscovered something through experiencing it in a different way.' You know the kind of thing I mean. Tortoise's Standards is now definitely my favourite record. Even ranking higher than Slint's Spiderland! For some reason I seem to prefer Spiderland on CD. So that still remains my favourite album, but Standards is my favourite record that I've got on Vinyl.

Okay, I've decided we're coming into an even newer era: The Era of the Running Gag. And the theme of this running gag is favourite words. So, here we go. Starting off with an awkward one, because the dictionary doesn't have the entire word in there. I'll just put the dictionary definition of the basic word, and then you'll have to apply that to the word I've chosen. And a final note: unfortunately I can't put the phonetic pronunciation of the word, because quite simply, it doesn't seem to be possible to use certain characters. Thanks.

Word of the Week

Perturbed

perturb v.tr. 1 throw into confusion or disorder. 2 disturb mentally; agitate.

Definition courtesy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary

This is a favourite word of P. G. Wodehouse, often employed by him when describing our dear friend Bertie. It's mainly down to Wodehouse's hard work that I attach humourous connotations to the word 'perturbed'.