Banco de Gaia is an English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

project, formed in 1989 by Toby Marks (born 1964,

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

, England). The music of Banco de Gaia is mostly categorized as

ambient dub Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

and

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

. Marks works to cross genres, often using

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and Middle Eastern samples against a bass heavy

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, rock, or

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

rhythm to produce deeply textured tracks that progress layer upon layer.

History

In 1978, Marks began his musical career as a drummer in a heavy metal band. Marks moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in 1986 and played

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

music for tourists. He first delved into electronic music in 1989, when he bought a

digital sampler A sampler is an electronic or digital musical instrument which uses sound recordings (or " samples") of real instrument sounds (e.g., a piano, violin, trumpet, or other synthesizer), excerpts from recorded songs (e.g., a five-second bass guitar ...

. The first tune he recorded on it was called "Maxwell House". Having cut his teeth on the early 1990s ambient dub compilations, in 1994 he released his first studio album ''Maya'' on

Planet Dog Planet Dog Records is a small ambient/techno/breakbeat/ psychedelic trance record label based in London, UK. It is part of the same organisation headed by Michael Dog (real name Michael Sassen) that ran Club Dog in London and the touring Me ...

records, which was submitted to the

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

on its release. It was followed in 1995 by the critically acclaimed '' Last Train to Lhasa''. Both albums reached No. 1 in the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

and featured in the Top 40 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. In the following decade, Banco De Gaia released ''Live at Glastonbury'', ''Big Men Cry'', ''The Magical Sounds of Banco De Gaia'', ''Igizeh'' and ''You Are Here''. In 1997, Banco De Gaia put together a five-piece band that included Ted Duggan (drums), Ashley Hopkins (bass), Larry Whelan (wind synth, saxophone and ethnic flutes), and Gary Spacey-Foot (percussion and saxophones). The band reduced in number to just Marks, Duggan, and Hopkins in 1999, and then just Marks and Duggan from 2000 until 2003, when Marks went back to being a solo artist. On 20 September 2009, Banco De Gaia played an album launch show for his album ''Memories Dreams Reflections'' at

Dingwalls Dingwalls was a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden, London, England. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings that were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, ...

in London. This show was to celebrate 20 years of Banco De Gaia. Marks was joined on stage by three members from the original five-piece band: Hopkins, Whelan, and Duggan and vocalist Maya Preece, who sang on the latest album. He released a studio album ''Apollo'' on 8 April 2013, on his own Disco Gecko Recordings. In 2015, Banco (Toby Marks) returned to playing with a live three-piece band, Ted Duggan (drums) and James Eller (bass). On 7 October 2016, he released his ninth studio album ''The 9th of Nine Hearts'', featuring collaborations with

Sophie Barker Sophie Alexandra Jessica Barker (born 5 November 1971) is a British singer and songwriter from London, best known for her work with the British downtempo group Zero 7. Biography Barker left University College London after two years to become a ...

(

Zero 7 Zero 7 are an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. They began as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, '' Simple Things'', was released in 2001 in which their song "Destiny" stayed ...

Tim Bowness Tim Bowness (born 29 November 1963) is an English singer and songwriter primarily known for his work as part of the band No-Man, a long-term project formed in 1987 with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson. Music career In addition to recording album ...

(

No-Man No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island (Except the Isle of Man) by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes ...

), Dick Parry (

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

) and his band.

Discography

Early cassettes

*''Medium'' (World Bank, 1991) *''Freeform Flutes and Fading Tibetans'' (World Bank, 1992) *''Deep Live'' (World Bank, 1992) These first three albums existed only on tape and are no longer being sold due to

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

issues with several of the samples used on them.

Albums

*''

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

'' (

, 1994) – UK No. 34 *'' Last Train to Lhasa'' (Planet Dog, 1995) – UK No. 31 *''

Big Men Cry ''Big Men Cry'' is an album by Banco de Gaia. It was released in 1997 by Mammoth Records and Planet Dog Records. The album peaked at No. 77 on the UK Albums Chart. Critical reception ''The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also kno ...

'' (Planet Dog, 1997) *''

The Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia ''The Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia'' is an album by Banco de Gaia. It was released in 1999 on Six Degrees Records Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocal ...

'' (Six Degrees Records, 1999) *''

Igizeh ''Igizeh'' is an album by Banco de Gaia. It was released on September 26, 2000, on Six Degrees Records Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists. Histor ...

'' (Six Degrees, 2000) *'' You Are Here'' (Six Degrees, 2004) *'' Farewell Ferengistan'' (Six Degrees, 2006) *''

Memories Dreams Reflections ''Memories Dreams Reflections'' is an album by Banco de Gaia Banco de Gaia is an English electronic music project, formed in 1989 by Toby Marks (born 1964, South London, England). The music of Banco de Gaia is mostly categorized as ambie ...

'' (2009) *''Apollo'' (2013) *''Ollopa:Apollo Remixed'' (2013) *''Maya: 20th Anniversary Edition'' (2014) *''Last Train to Lhasa: 20th Anniversary Edition'' (2015) *''The 9th of Nine Hearts'' (2016) *''Big Men Cry: 20th Anniversary Edition'' (2017) *''The Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia: 20th Anniversary Edition'' (2019) *''Igizeh: 20th Anniversary Edition (2020)''

Live albums

*''Live at Glastonbury'' (

, 1996) *''Live at Glastonbury: 20th Anniversary Edition'' (2016)

Compilation albums

*'' 10 Years'' (2002) *''10 Years Remixed'' (2003) *''Songs From The Silk Road'' (2011) *''Rewritten Histories Vol.1 1992 – 1995'' (2011) *''Rewritten Histories Vol.2 1996 – 2001'' (2012) *''Rewritten Histories Vol.3 2002 – 2013'' (2014) *''30 Times Around The Sun'' (2019)

EPs

*''Desert Wind'' (1993) *'' Heliopolis'' (1994) *'' Last Train to Lhasa'' (1995) *'' Drunk As a Monk Mixes'' *'' I Love Baby Cheesy'' (1999) *''Obsidian'' (2000) *'' Zeus No Like Techno / Gray Over Gray'' (2004) *'' Kara Kum Remixes'' (2006) *''Wimble Toot'' (2013) *''Apollon'' (2013) *''All Sleeping'' (2013) *''For Such a Time'' (2013) *''Last Train to Lhasa 20th Anniversary EP'' (2015) *''Le Foucauld'' (2016) *''Warp and Weft'' (2016) *''91'' (2017) *''The Princess and the Sky Goat'' (2017) *''Ages of Gaia'' (2019) *''Floatless'' (2020) *''Kintsugi'' (2020)

References

External links

*
Interview with Toby Marks
* Banco de Gaia at Allmusicbr>Disco Gecko Recordings websiteBanco De Gaia on Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banco De Gaia British electronic musicians British techno musicians British trance musicians Remixers 1964 births Living people Downtempo musicians Six Degrees Records artists