Part two of our mission to bring electronic music to the roof of the world.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
The road between Tajikistan and Kyrgystan fills intrepid cyclists with a a powerful sense of remoteness and isolation. Yes, there is a road but hours go by without seeing any other traffic and the silence is deafening. The entire month we were there felt like we’d been catapulted into the future to the end of humanity’s time on earth. The further we rolled on our bikes from the Tajik capital, the more dramatic the landscape became.
Despite the isolation, the lack of any power supplies, the tiredness and the altitude sickness we continued to unpack the synths and write music on top of the World.
Making electronic music on the roof of the world was something we’ve dreamed of since setting off from London 6 before we hit the Pamir Highway and synthed it up.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
The road between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is called the Pamir Highway. It's a sometimes paved sometimes gravel road that climbs to 4,600 metres and stays roughly at this height for over 1000 kilometres. Everything has a different feel over 4,000 metres above sea level. Blazing sunshine beats down on you and your bike whilst cycling in the day but come dusk the temperature plummets and the wind picks up leaving you exposed to the elements. The atmosphere is extremely thin, giving the landscapes and sky a bright surreal quality. The stars at night are unbelievably vivid with the Milky Way cutting across the darkness. Each day you climb a little higher, pushing you and your bike further from civilisation and closer to the isolated communities of the Pamir and new lunar landscapes to feast your eyes on.
Against this dramatic backdrop we of course had one thing on our minds: Making music next to lakes in yurts (of course)
After finally arriving in Central Asia we braced ourselves to cycle through the sand, wind, heat and camels of the Kazakh desert and into Uzbekistan.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
After spending a crazy amount of time crossing from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan we eventually landed in the desert with nothing but miles and miles and miles of sand to cross on our bikes. It really took it's toll on us. With temperatures rising to 45 degrees C, cycling in the midday sun just wasn't going to happen. Shade was no where to be found and water was scarce making movement only possible before the sun came up and late in the afternoon.
Looking for inspiration at every turn we eventually turn this arid environment into our muse, channelling the late 90s into a space disco cover of Darude's Sandstorm.
After eventually leaving Alat port we boarded the Mercuri 1, a cargo ship en route to Kazakhstan. High winds kept us in port for days giving us plenty of time to jam on the high seas.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
On a regular ferry there's just about enough to keep you occupied between setting sail and landing at your destination. On a freight ship heading from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan there's really nothing to do. Meals are handed out 3 times a day and that is about all there is to look forward to... except for playing music. This is our love note to boredom, the Caspian Sea and our vessel taking us into Central Asia - the Mercuri-1
When you’re stuck in an industrial port in Azerbaijan with no idea when the ship to take you to Central Asia will arrive, turns out writing emotional electronic music really passes the time.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
There aren't many options for cyclists trying to cross from Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan. Except for a few intrepid explorers and seasonal Mongol Rally drivers, the route we took from the continent of Europe into Central Asia is reserved for freight trains, trucks and a few locals.
Lack of demand means there aren't many boats to take people from one side of the Caspian Sea to the other. We ended up waiting in the port of Alat for 4 days before boarding the boat across the sea to Central Asia. This instalment of our cycling adventure around the world is the fruit of our boredom...
We climbed up the famous Godzeri pass in Georgia, arriving at the top in freezing mist, soaking wet and with a flat tire. After having a few teas, coffees, cognacs and something to eat we decided to get the synths out before heading down the other side.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
According to dangerousroads.org the "Goderdzi Pass is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 2,027m above the sea level located in southern Georgia." The fact it's listed on this website shows you the kind of route we'd taken into the mountains.
As we climbed into the cloud the weather steadily got worse and worse. After accidentally heading into a half built ski resort we finally got to the top, soaking wet and freezing. Luckily the people running the cafe knew the drill and began pouring hot drinks for us as well as other bedraggled cyclists that were hiding from the weather.
Before we left we played some music for the owners of the cafe. In a bizarre turn of events the local police heard us playing, took a shine to us, fed us a solid amount of Georgian cognac before sending us off down the hill in an alcohol fuelled frenzy.
We crossed our first continental border as we headed over the Bosphorus into eastern Istanbul to play two gigs on a rooftop bar in Kadikoy.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
After booking 2 DJ sets at Hush Hostel in Istanbul, the weeks before arriving were a blur. We raced from Macedonia through Greece to get to the city. Once we arrived on the outskirts we realised how difficult it would be to reach our destination by bike through the lanes and lanes of traffic. We barely saw any other cyclists or bikes which is always a sign of how hard things are going to be.
Once we crossed the Bosphorus and moved from Europe to Asia we could relax. Istanbul changes dramatically from the European side to the Asian side and we felt a lot more welcomed on our bikes. Luckily we had a couple of days to get ready for our DJ sets at the weekend.
We camped with Erdem Ersöz who ran a petrol station in North West Turkey. When he found out we played music he offered to feed us if we played him some tunes.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
When you're cycling across the Europe you start seeing petrol stations as a point of sanctuary. Air conditioning, snacks, cold drinks, toilets and (usually) reliable directions. This shell garage in Erdine was particularly welcoming.
At this point a petrol station was probably one of the more stranger tent pitches we'd been offered on our journey. Erdem was a keen cyclist and loved our story. Turned out he'd hosted many cyclists at his station.
We were ready to leave the morning after camping when Erdem spotted our instagram feed and asked us to show him our instruments. We ended up spending the morning and lunchtime writing music about petrol pumps.
Bees! Thousands of them. As we crossed into Turkey we decided to take a detour into the mountains to stay with a bee keeper, his mum, his dog and a swarm of bees.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
Warm Showers in an amazing website that allows cyclists to find like minded people to stay with. It's basically Couchsurf-ing for cyclists. We used this site to get in touch with Aytekin; a bee keeper from Edirne in Turkey. He took us to his cabin in the woods to show us his thousands of tiny little, furry, stingy friends: BEES.
We helped him rebuild some of the hives that he kept and as a thank you for letting him stay with him we wrote him some music. It turned out to be a theme song for the bees. We hope you enjoy it as much as those honey covered little fellas did.
We arrived in Bitola, Macedonia, to stay with an electronic musician. After playing together for a few hours, our jam sessions quickly turned into an impromptu gig in a local bar...
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo, writing electronic music along the road with the people we encounter on the way.
After cycling through Albania and into Macedonia we landed in the town of Bitola excited to meet our host, Goce, who described himself as a sound collector. He releases music under the name mnemonic45 (https://soundcloud.com/mnemonic45). After playing our electronic instruments together in his flat he spoke to a friend who ran a local bar and organised a gig.
We played an improvised evening of ambient electronic music together before heading to another friends house in the countryside for one of the more memorable afters sessions we'd encountered
We cycled from Turkey to Bulgaria by bicycle to play a DJ set at Meadows in the Mountains festival.
Total Bike Forever is an adventure from London to Tokyo with the goal of writing electronic music along the road with the people encountered on the way.
We'd been on the bikes for around 3 months. After playing music for a few nights in Istanbul it was time to leave the city and travel to the village of Polkovnik Serafimovo in southern Bulgaria to play at Meadows in the Mountains festival. We were hoping to collaborate with other artists and make music when we arrived.
The cycling was fairly tough in Bulgaria but also very beautiful. the Roads through the Rhodope Mountains leading to the festival site are amazing and perfect for the bikes we're using. We stopped at some local sites on the way recommended to us by a couch surfing host and music which was really fun.
The festival did not disappoint! It was amazing to meet friends, listen to music and get swallowed up by an amazing festival spirit after being on the road for so long... Not to mention DJ as part of the Strangers In Paradise Sunday afternoon session.
We're hoping to return next year to premiere the album that we will have written on the road from London to Tokyo. See you next year, Meadows!