World music! Can we not just say music from Mali ?

T, Today's letter from the random music gods, number 19 in the Latin alphabet and initial letter of a band I cant even pronounce, Tinariwen.

This one was an easy one to choose once I spotted the band on iTunes (Although as this is classified as 'world music' anyone who knows me probably knows how much rooting I must have done before resorting to this genre).

As one of my highlights of this years Glastonbury, I have often threatened to find out who the band were who played the main stage on a balmy Saturday afternoon last June and although I will admit I had drank a few cold lagers and had treated myself to a fresh organic iced lemonade minutes before they came on (both sugar and alcohol to stimulate), the sheer delight of listening to this band still makes me smile now in the middle of dark and dreary October.

So there you go ! Tinariwen, desert blues from Mali, perfect for an sunny English summer afternoon.

Music for tired ears and minds ?

P! Not much to say about my choice really for this one, after spending 2 hours in a practice studio with my band after a long day at work listening to my ipod both my ears and brain were tired.

A bit of common sense would have suggested searching for something soothing and mellow to assuage my ear drums and ease me into a deep sleep.

This blog however is being written by someone who is planning to ride around the world on a bike and therefore at certain times (no its not a full moon outside) common sense does not prevail.

Whale music ? no, how about a large dirty slab of "The Prodigy" ? Today's choice picked by the gods of random chance and music is "Warriors Dance" off their latest album "Invaders Must Die"

I suppose the only problem with any of this is that it is ten past eleven in the evening so Ill have to wait until the morning to listen to it loud, therefore continuing the cycle of aural abuse.

Oh F!

F! Today's voyage in music is brought to you in association with the letter F.

After discovering yesterday that good songs by artists begining with O are perhaps harder to find than expected I had high hopes for the letter F.

Before I had even loaded up itunes, band names had started popping up in my mind from the dark recesses of my mental musical catalogue, however sticking firmly to the task of exploring new and possibley even darker holes I plunged deep into the world fo genius.

After turning down an offering of quite brilliant drum and bass from "DJ Fresh" and avoiding the all to easy to choose "Fiery Furnaces", far from descending into a dark hole of music Ive selected "Mykanos" by "Fleet Foxes" off their "Sun Giant EP".

Happy, Sunny, Cheerful and considering todays letter of choice most importantly Folky.

Well, the musical adventures begin.

O! The random letter generator gods today decided that I would start my task with the letter O, was this some sort of way of mocking at 31 year olds decision to start playing at being a kid again by choosing the starting letter of the band that soundtracked his early adult years (Oasis if you hadnt already guessed).

After a little musing i decided to crack on with the task and after a little tinkering with Itunes and its genius program (i couldnt find the side bar the help menu told me to use) I started rooting through artists begining with O.

After nearly choosing some perky power pop music by 'Operator Please', "17 year old teenage wunderkind" as described by one reviewer and which is almost certainly guaranteed to make any viewer of their video over the age of 20 feel old, I decided on a song by a band I'd never heard of called "Okkervil River" and their 2nd track on their album the "The Stand Ins" hooked by its banjo intro, mowtown bass line, chorus of La La's and hand claps I cant think of what more one would need in a song.

Travelling Music

Well a month has passed since my statement of intent and although Ive spent many hours looking at maps, trawling across the Internet and tweeting about my proposed trip, I've made very little real progress towards achieving my goal.

In fact the only real major development has been as a result of outside forces, namely England football team and their qualification for the world cup (the thought of England winning and not being in the country saddens me enough to delay my trip by two months) and next years fortieth Glastonbury festival and all the fun that promises to be.

Therefore i have decided to act, be decisive, do something that has to be done before the trip can take place.

I have decided to sort out my travelling music.

One of the few luxuries ill be taking on my trip will be my ever present ipod and although it's 49.2 days worth of music should be enough to keep me occupied during the long hours on my bike I have decided that the first task to complete before setting out will be to add all the remaining music in my collection onto it.

However I have decided this is just the first music related task to complete before I go. In addition I am also going to compile a playlist created randomly using itunes genius and this random letter generator ( http://www.dave-reed.com/Nifty/randSeq.html ). The purpose of this is to not only discover new music to form the soundtrack for my trip preparation but to try and improve my writing by keeping a blog of my new adventures in music.

Well that's the plan and at some time in the next 280 days ill also find time to buy a tent and check when my passport runs out.

A decision.

A career break, that was what I was calling it. A chance to escape from a job I don’t particularly enjoy, which however affords me a comfortable enough lifestyle and take some time away, rough it a little and see a bit of the world.

Somehow though, a nagging doubt about how fruitful spending 3 months on a beach in Thailand would be and a realization of how quickly I would be sat back at my desk had led me to look for other ideas.

The USA that would be my great adventure, travelling east to west on a bicycle across the changing continental landscape, fuelled by the fantasies of Kerouac, Steinbeck, Twain & H S. Thompson (to name a few) I could spend a few months exploring at my own pace and when I had finished my adventure I could hop on a plane and spend the rest of my ‘break’ on a beach somewhere warm and exotic.

Not being a reckless sort, I researched a little and the more I explored what was possible, the more I realized that there was a strong chance that I could do something to make my ‘career break’ truly memorable.

Therefore after some serious consideration, I have decided to, cycle around the world!