Hello, I'm Back ! Yes the computer has been cured, turned out it had some sick memory, that doesn't happen often hence most producers giving a lifetime guaranty, unfortunately haven't been able to find my receipt for this pc which i bought August 2013. More then a decade of receipts but somehow the one that mattered is still illusive, anyway i bought a lighter memory just 2 GBytes as the 4 GBytes which got sick was never fully used as my PC running XP Pro could handle just 3.2 GBytes. Sure could upgrade to Windows 7 but i just don't like working with W7-too idiot proof. So zipping and converting is a bit slower, I can live with it..
Meanwhile I've already re-upped the last 2 Roots posts and the previous Banco de Gaia Sundaze as well as an Associates request. I wish to note that the files never were corrupt but the zipping proces corrupted them, anyway I will re-up on request.
Good to be back
In the spotlight once more a former busker entertaining Portuguese tourists but his birthtown London's music scene call had him return to take a serious dip into the music scene and within 3 years he released his first albums on cassette. Toby Marks aka Banco De Gaia's ambient dub created his own niche as you you can find out more here..N'joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
In 1978, Marks began his musical career as a drummer in a heavy metal band. Marks moved to Portugal in 1986 and played Beatles music for tourists. He first delved into electronic music in 1989, when he bought a digital sampler. The first tune he recorded on it was called "Maxwell House."
Inspired to enter the field of electronic music by Britain's acid house explosion of the late '80s, Toby Marks took quite a different spin on electronica with his recordings as Banco de Gaia, introducing elements of Eastern and Arabic music, sampling similarly exotic sources, and tying the whole to ambient-dub rhythms. Marks began releasing cassette-only albums in the early '90s, distributed through a network of clubs and artists known as Planet Dog. These excellent self-produced albums Medium and (in 1992) Freeform Flutes And Fading Tibetans. His unique and evocative blend of electronica with world-music styles earned him a fast-growing and loyal live following.
When Planet Dog became a record label as well (later the home of Eat Static and Timeshard), Banco de Gaia debuted on disc with the Desert Wind EP, released in November 1993. Early the following year, Marks released his first much acclaimed album, Maya. Maya featured studio versions of many of the tracks that had become the mainstay of Banco de Gaia's live sets and consequently was an immediate hit with his growing fan-base. The Heliopolis EP was also released in 1994, a track from which appeared on Sasha and Digweed's ground-breaking Northern Exposure compilation the next year.
After a big success of the debut album Maya and a European tour with Transglobal Underground Toby Marks travelled the world collecting inspirations. He joined The Tibet Support Group, a part of International Tibet Independence Movement. As a response to the decision to build the Qingzang railway between the cities of Xining and the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, in 1995 Marks recorded a 12-minute long track with looped chants from Tibet. It soon appeared to be a start for the whole project, eventually creating a new album. As Marks said, the compositions were made as a result of political and human sensitivity
Banco's Last Train To Lhasa album collected huge critical acclaim across Europe as well as the US and Canada. The skilful blend of sounds on Last Train To Lhasa produced a timeless release that was one of the 'must have' albums of that year and limited edition versions of the release (featuring bonus mixes) now change hands for huge sums on the internet.
Live At Glastonbury was released in 1996. Featuring a storming set recorded in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995, the album consolidated what had been a period of huge growth in Banco de Gaia's standing within the dance community and gave Toby a breathing space to work on his next studio album.
The result, Big Men Cry, released in 1997 was a deep and very personal album featuring many timeless and deeply moving tunes. The simultaneous release of Big Men Cry both across Europe and in the US, gave Toby the opportunity to completely revamp what had up till then, been a one-man live show. His already massive reputation for stunning live performances was enhanced by the creation of a 5 piece band to enable Banco de Gaia to perform Drunk As A Monk as 'live' as possible. band that included Ted Duggan (drums), Ashley Hopkins (bass), Larry Whelan (wind synth, saxophone and ethnic flutes), and Gary Spacey-Foot (percussion and saxophones). Enhanced with a specially designed lightshow, the band toured the US and much of Europe over the next year, securing a reputation for quality music that has endured to this day.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.
Banco de Gaia parted company with Planet Dog Records in 1998 and went on to set up his own Disco Gecko label through which he has released The Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia two years later. In late 2000, Marks returned with Igizeh through Six Degrees Records, a label with which he decided to stay for 2004's You Are Here and 2006's Farewell Ferengistan. In 2009 Banco released Memories Dreams Reflections featuring an superb cover of Pink Floyd's "Echoes"
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Banco de Gaia (basically studio wiz Toby Marks and whomever he invites over) get their ethnic-electronic groove on again, but this time with extra vision. Maybe it's the four years since the last proper Banco de Gaia album, or maybe the troubled globe of 2004, but whatever it is, You Are Here feels better put-together than any other Banco album before and the most direct message to the listener that Marks has ever attempted. You can use the cover art as a representation of the general feel of the album. Marks' music is elaborate as ever but it's compact in purpose, like the cover's red dot and just as vivid. If Banco could cleverly noodle before, there will be none of that here and every bit of sampled filigree and every mystic sound fits. William S. Burroughs and a slew of news broadcasts fill "Waking Up in Waco," but they all have their place in this frightened vision of America. Igizeh's Jennifer Folker returns for an extra-smoky performance on the cinematic torch song "Gray Over Gray," a gripping number for all of its 12-plus minutes. None of the tracks are under seven minutes, which is a good thing since the slow development of the songs calls for it, and if "Not in My Name"'s hypnotic and heavy bass groove ended any earlier it would be a travesty. Two tracks aimed at the dancefloor, "Zeus No Like Techno" and "Tongue in Chic," are both excellent and keep the album from being a totally introspective, headphone record.
Banco De Gaia - You Are Here> (flac 434mb)
01 Down From The Mountain 9:16
02 Zeus No Like Techno 6:01
03 Waking Up In Waco (Voc.Shannon) 7:46
04 Gray Over Gray (Voc.Jennifer Folker) 12:01
05 Tongue In Chic (Voc.Jennifer Folker) 7:09
06 Not In My Name 10:22
07 We Are Here 7:13
08 Still Life (Voc Julie Daske) 8:46
Banco De Gaia - You Are Here> (ogg 170mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
"Ferengistan" is a term used in Central Asia to denote an imaginary place that represents the superficiality and materialism that too often characterize Western culture. So there's no real secret to the message behind the latest album by Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia. While the music is (thankfully) free of didactic lyrics, its instrumental tracks were written with serious matters of geopolitics in mind: one track has reference to a law recently passed in Mongolia, reinstating the use of surnames (a practice previously forbidden under Communist rule); the ironically titled "Harmonious G8" consists of eight overdubbed vocals, each an improvisation by a singer from one of the G8 nations; "White Man's Burden" requires little amplification. If you're not interested in the politics, you can just relax and enjoy the variously danceable and relaxing moods that Marks creates; the robust ethno-funk of "Kara Kum" is a highlight of the program, as is the very pretty and gently swinging "Flow My Dreams, the Android Wept" (based on a lute tune from Renaissance England titled "Flow My Tears," which was reportedly the favorite piece of music of science fiction author Philip K. Dick). The jittery Middle Eastern dub of "Chingiz" is also lots of fun. The only consistent irritant here is the exceptionally long track length, which wouldn't be a problem if every selection didn't seem to take forever to actually get underway. More and shorter tracks of the same quality would have made for a better album, but this one is still quite good. Recommended.
Banco De Gaia - Ferengistan (flac 437mb)
01 Farewell Ferengistan 6:17
02 Ynys Elen 7:26
03 Chingiz 6:41
04 Kara Kum 9:15
05 The Harmonious G8 2:20
06 Saturn Return 10:25
07 Flow My Dreams, The Android Wept 9:16
08 White Man's Burden 8:04
09 We All Know The Truth (You Have God) (Voc.Maya, Toby) 9:10
Banco De Gaia - Ferengistan (ogg 153mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
To celebrate two decades of creating ambient and downtempo electronica under the name Banco de Gaia, Toby Marks put together this enjoyable if slightly uneven two-disc set, a retrospective of sorts that takes a fresh look at his past rather than simply gathering and recapitulating it. On the first disc, he reinterprets both his own work (longtime fans will get a particular kick out of his Euro-trance reconstruction of "Soufie") and that of others -- Hawkwind's "Spirit of the Age" is given a long, luxurious interpretation that incorporates elements of house, funk, and ska, while King Crimson's "Starless" gets an even longer -- and frankly rather plodding -- arrangement of its own. His most ambitious experiment on the first disc is a rendition of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" that lasts fully 22 minutes -- an impressive feat, and one that does a fine job of blending Marks's own personal electronic vision seamlessly with Floyd's unique sound. But it's about twice as long as it has any excuse to be. On the second disc, he gathers together live performances going back as far as 1993, one -- the jazz and shamelessly smooth "Celestine" -- featuring a full band. Top honors on this part of the program go to "Qurna" (which starts out in a pleasantly dubwise mood and then gradually gets darker and more Middle Eastern) and "No Rain", with its densely packed textures and exotic choral samples.
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Studio (flac 413mb)
1.01 Spirit Of The Age (Voc.Neil Sleat) 7:16
1.02 Starless 11:19
1.03 Echoes 22:24
1.04 Soufie (Now That's What I Call 2009) 8:43
1.05 Tempra (Voc.Maya Preece) 7:19
1.06 Terra Om 5:34
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Studio (ogg 147mb)
xxxxx
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Live (flac 551mb)
2.01 Analogique 6:50
2.02 Indecision 6:54
2.03 Soufie (Blue Mix) 7:23
2.04 Qurna 8:59
2.05 China 7:24
2.06 Celestine 11:50
2.07 How Much Reality Can You Take? 6:35
2.08 No Rain 7:38
2.09 Drunk As A Monk 7:09
2.10 Last Train To Lhasa 7:08
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Live (ogg 186mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Meanwhile I've already re-upped the last 2 Roots posts and the previous Banco de Gaia Sundaze as well as an Associates request. I wish to note that the files never were corrupt but the zipping proces corrupted them, anyway I will re-up on request.
Good to be back
In the spotlight once more a former busker entertaining Portuguese tourists but his birthtown London's music scene call had him return to take a serious dip into the music scene and within 3 years he released his first albums on cassette. Toby Marks aka Banco De Gaia's ambient dub created his own niche as you you can find out more here..N'joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
In 1978, Marks began his musical career as a drummer in a heavy metal band. Marks moved to Portugal in 1986 and played Beatles music for tourists. He first delved into electronic music in 1989, when he bought a digital sampler. The first tune he recorded on it was called "Maxwell House."
Inspired to enter the field of electronic music by Britain's acid house explosion of the late '80s, Toby Marks took quite a different spin on electronica with his recordings as Banco de Gaia, introducing elements of Eastern and Arabic music, sampling similarly exotic sources, and tying the whole to ambient-dub rhythms. Marks began releasing cassette-only albums in the early '90s, distributed through a network of clubs and artists known as Planet Dog. These excellent self-produced albums Medium and (in 1992) Freeform Flutes And Fading Tibetans. His unique and evocative blend of electronica with world-music styles earned him a fast-growing and loyal live following.
When Planet Dog became a record label as well (later the home of Eat Static and Timeshard), Banco de Gaia debuted on disc with the Desert Wind EP, released in November 1993. Early the following year, Marks released his first much acclaimed album, Maya. Maya featured studio versions of many of the tracks that had become the mainstay of Banco de Gaia's live sets and consequently was an immediate hit with his growing fan-base. The Heliopolis EP was also released in 1994, a track from which appeared on Sasha and Digweed's ground-breaking Northern Exposure compilation the next year.
After a big success of the debut album Maya and a European tour with Transglobal Underground Toby Marks travelled the world collecting inspirations. He joined The Tibet Support Group, a part of International Tibet Independence Movement. As a response to the decision to build the Qingzang railway between the cities of Xining and the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, in 1995 Marks recorded a 12-minute long track with looped chants from Tibet. It soon appeared to be a start for the whole project, eventually creating a new album. As Marks said, the compositions were made as a result of political and human sensitivity
Banco's Last Train To Lhasa album collected huge critical acclaim across Europe as well as the US and Canada. The skilful blend of sounds on Last Train To Lhasa produced a timeless release that was one of the 'must have' albums of that year and limited edition versions of the release (featuring bonus mixes) now change hands for huge sums on the internet.
Live At Glastonbury was released in 1996. Featuring a storming set recorded in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995, the album consolidated what had been a period of huge growth in Banco de Gaia's standing within the dance community and gave Toby a breathing space to work on his next studio album.
The result, Big Men Cry, released in 1997 was a deep and very personal album featuring many timeless and deeply moving tunes. The simultaneous release of Big Men Cry both across Europe and in the US, gave Toby the opportunity to completely revamp what had up till then, been a one-man live show. His already massive reputation for stunning live performances was enhanced by the creation of a 5 piece band to enable Banco de Gaia to perform Drunk As A Monk as 'live' as possible. band that included Ted Duggan (drums), Ashley Hopkins (bass), Larry Whelan (wind synth, saxophone and ethnic flutes), and Gary Spacey-Foot (percussion and saxophones). Enhanced with a specially designed lightshow, the band toured the US and much of Europe over the next year, securing a reputation for quality music that has endured to this day.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.
Banco de Gaia parted company with Planet Dog Records in 1998 and went on to set up his own Disco Gecko label through which he has released The Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia two years later. In late 2000, Marks returned with Igizeh through Six Degrees Records, a label with which he decided to stay for 2004's You Are Here and 2006's Farewell Ferengistan. In 2009 Banco released Memories Dreams Reflections featuring an superb cover of Pink Floyd's "Echoes"
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Banco de Gaia (basically studio wiz Toby Marks and whomever he invites over) get their ethnic-electronic groove on again, but this time with extra vision. Maybe it's the four years since the last proper Banco de Gaia album, or maybe the troubled globe of 2004, but whatever it is, You Are Here feels better put-together than any other Banco album before and the most direct message to the listener that Marks has ever attempted. You can use the cover art as a representation of the general feel of the album. Marks' music is elaborate as ever but it's compact in purpose, like the cover's red dot and just as vivid. If Banco could cleverly noodle before, there will be none of that here and every bit of sampled filigree and every mystic sound fits. William S. Burroughs and a slew of news broadcasts fill "Waking Up in Waco," but they all have their place in this frightened vision of America. Igizeh's Jennifer Folker returns for an extra-smoky performance on the cinematic torch song "Gray Over Gray," a gripping number for all of its 12-plus minutes. None of the tracks are under seven minutes, which is a good thing since the slow development of the songs calls for it, and if "Not in My Name"'s hypnotic and heavy bass groove ended any earlier it would be a travesty. Two tracks aimed at the dancefloor, "Zeus No Like Techno" and "Tongue in Chic," are both excellent and keep the album from being a totally introspective, headphone record.
Banco De Gaia - You Are Here> (flac 434mb)
01 Down From The Mountain 9:16
02 Zeus No Like Techno 6:01
03 Waking Up In Waco (Voc.Shannon) 7:46
04 Gray Over Gray (Voc.Jennifer Folker) 12:01
05 Tongue In Chic (Voc.Jennifer Folker) 7:09
06 Not In My Name 10:22
07 We Are Here 7:13
08 Still Life (Voc Julie Daske) 8:46
Banco De Gaia - You Are Here> (ogg 170mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
"Ferengistan" is a term used in Central Asia to denote an imaginary place that represents the superficiality and materialism that too often characterize Western culture. So there's no real secret to the message behind the latest album by Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia. While the music is (thankfully) free of didactic lyrics, its instrumental tracks were written with serious matters of geopolitics in mind: one track has reference to a law recently passed in Mongolia, reinstating the use of surnames (a practice previously forbidden under Communist rule); the ironically titled "Harmonious G8" consists of eight overdubbed vocals, each an improvisation by a singer from one of the G8 nations; "White Man's Burden" requires little amplification. If you're not interested in the politics, you can just relax and enjoy the variously danceable and relaxing moods that Marks creates; the robust ethno-funk of "Kara Kum" is a highlight of the program, as is the very pretty and gently swinging "Flow My Dreams, the Android Wept" (based on a lute tune from Renaissance England titled "Flow My Tears," which was reportedly the favorite piece of music of science fiction author Philip K. Dick). The jittery Middle Eastern dub of "Chingiz" is also lots of fun. The only consistent irritant here is the exceptionally long track length, which wouldn't be a problem if every selection didn't seem to take forever to actually get underway. More and shorter tracks of the same quality would have made for a better album, but this one is still quite good. Recommended.
Banco De Gaia - Ferengistan (flac 437mb)
01 Farewell Ferengistan 6:17
02 Ynys Elen 7:26
03 Chingiz 6:41
04 Kara Kum 9:15
05 The Harmonious G8 2:20
06 Saturn Return 10:25
07 Flow My Dreams, The Android Wept 9:16
08 White Man's Burden 8:04
09 We All Know The Truth (You Have God) (Voc.Maya, Toby) 9:10
Banco De Gaia - Ferengistan (ogg 153mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
To celebrate two decades of creating ambient and downtempo electronica under the name Banco de Gaia, Toby Marks put together this enjoyable if slightly uneven two-disc set, a retrospective of sorts that takes a fresh look at his past rather than simply gathering and recapitulating it. On the first disc, he reinterprets both his own work (longtime fans will get a particular kick out of his Euro-trance reconstruction of "Soufie") and that of others -- Hawkwind's "Spirit of the Age" is given a long, luxurious interpretation that incorporates elements of house, funk, and ska, while King Crimson's "Starless" gets an even longer -- and frankly rather plodding -- arrangement of its own. His most ambitious experiment on the first disc is a rendition of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" that lasts fully 22 minutes -- an impressive feat, and one that does a fine job of blending Marks's own personal electronic vision seamlessly with Floyd's unique sound. But it's about twice as long as it has any excuse to be. On the second disc, he gathers together live performances going back as far as 1993, one -- the jazz and shamelessly smooth "Celestine" -- featuring a full band. Top honors on this part of the program go to "Qurna" (which starts out in a pleasantly dubwise mood and then gradually gets darker and more Middle Eastern) and "No Rain", with its densely packed textures and exotic choral samples.
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Studio (flac 413mb)
1.01 Spirit Of The Age (Voc.Neil Sleat) 7:16
1.02 Starless 11:19
1.03 Echoes 22:24
1.04 Soufie (Now That's What I Call 2009) 8:43
1.05 Tempra (Voc.Maya Preece) 7:19
1.06 Terra Om 5:34
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Studio (ogg 147mb)
xxxxx
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Live (flac 551mb)
2.01 Analogique 6:50
2.02 Indecision 6:54
2.03 Soufie (Blue Mix) 7:23
2.04 Qurna 8:59
2.05 China 7:24
2.06 Celestine 11:50
2.07 How Much Reality Can You Take? 6:35
2.08 No Rain 7:38
2.09 Drunk As A Monk 7:09
2.10 Last Train To Lhasa 7:08
Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections Live (ogg 186mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
