Album Notes: Banco De Gaia includes: Toby Marks. This is the sound of the techno-tribe, banging a drum with one hand and a mouse with the other. Toby Marks, AKA Banco de Gaia, doesn't want to work; he just wants to bang on the drum all day. Thankfully, he makes a pretty joyous noise-a full-bodied amalgam of the Orb, Loop Guru, and Transglobal Underground. Using an army of ethnic and indigenous samples (from Indian drums and chants to woodblocks, rainsticks, and Oriental shakers) and zapping them through the technological prism, Banco de Gaia creates a modern-day techno-folk music that calls up the shaman buried deep in our ancestral memory. Of course, Marks' idea of the shaman is the contemporary electronic-music producer or the DJ. The barmy rhythms pouncing about here work at home and on the disco-floor, but their most appropriate setting would be a dancehall in Uganda. Marks' natives whip up the digital atmosphere with incendiary frenzy. From the chugging locomotive techno of "Last Train to Lhasa"' to the pan-cultural rhythmic stew of "Kincajou" and the burbling Orient-meets-the-Orb synthesizer textures of "887," LAST TRAIN TO LHASA is an intoxicating descent into primitive ritual madness.
Album Reviews: Q (7/95, p.113) - 3 Stars - Good - "...blends electronic dance with the musical and cultural images of another people. Rather than just being a crude cut-and-paste raid on an invaded people....it's skillfully and attractively worked, generally managing to avoid sounding patronising or pretentious..." Q (May 2002, p.126) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...'global techno' and 'eco-ambient'..." Option (9-10/95, p.94) - "...cleverly integrates sequencer-driven German space rock with ethnic percussion workouts..."
...An extraordinary double disc (1995) offering from ' BancoDeGaia ' . This ones worth getting for the title track alone which begins with a steam train slowly panning across the stereo spectrum followed by sampled station voices mixed with sweeping synth pads. In comes some sparkling plucked string arpeggios and eventually solid rhythmic beats/ bass join in with again sampled vocals. Very atmospheric and multi layed , this just builds and builds in sync with the steam train. Absolutely awesome work here which the rest of the CD cannot quite compete with , superb as it is! I'd say this is probably ' Banco' s ' best song ever here. An absolute gem!
The whole of the 2 discs are really all excellent though with lots of tribal and oriental sounds throughout. Fantastic display of sampled instruments / vocals too! Very high calibre...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
...'Maya ' was my first introduction to the wonderful music of ' BancoDeGaia ' who is by the way ,one ' Toby Marks ' .from the UK.
Although initially releasing several casettes this was his debut CD. It's a really excellent electonic music you have here. Absolutely filled with flowing rich spacey rhythms / melodies and cross cultural influences with ethnic embellishments. Basslines and synth arpeggios play an important part in his music and they are fantastic on ' Maya ' particularly on tracks like ' Heliopolis' and ' Sunspots ' .Trance and Psy styled ...yes! But definitely done with great style.
A supremely enjoyable CD then and still probably my favourite next to his ' LasttrainToLhasa '. Every song here is really spectacular and if you don't know his music this is the one to start with. Nice colorful artwork too to match...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average not helpful
Advantages: Top notch recording! Very Good music! Disadvantages: Although some excellent tracks a little dissapointing overall!
...A 1999 offering from ' BancoDeGaia ' . Despite the title i found this one to be a little less than magical to earlier works. Although it does contain some excellent songs especially the slow burning ones ' Sinhalla' and ' Frogs Dinner' which he seems to excell at with his mixtures of Dub and Trance / Techno / Ethnic. Most other songs though seem a little overblown and somehow not so memorable as earlier works. Some of the vocal samples didn't seem to work on this one either. At least to me....others might think different though.RECOMMENDED nevertheless!!
Track Listing:
1 I Love Baby Cheesy
2 Harvey And The Old Ones
3 Sinhala — Real Audio
4 Touching The Void — Real Audio
5 144K?
6 Frog's Dinner
7 Glove Puppet
8 No Rain...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average not helpful
not helpful 12.04.2005
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