Banco de Gaia is an English

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

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

South London South London is the southern part of Greater 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, Lon ...

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

ambient dub Dub is a musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae, p.&nb ...

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 Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and Middle Eastern samples against a bass heavy

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

, 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 in 1986 and played

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

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". Having cut his teeth on the early 1990s ambient dub compilations, in 1994 he released his first studio album ''Maya'' on the Planet Dog label, which was submitted to the

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

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

and featured in the top 40 of the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. In the following decade, Marks released ''Live at Glastonbury'', ''Big Men Cry'', ''The Magical Sounds of Banco De Gaia'', ''Igizeh'' and ''You Are Here''. In 1997, Marks 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, Marks played an album launch show for his album ''Memories Dreams Reflections'' at

Dingwalls Dingwalls Dancehall (original name at time of opening) is a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden in London. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings which were put to new use in the 20th centur ...

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, Marks returned to playing with a live three-piece band, with 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 is an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. Both of them began as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, '' Simple Things'', was released in 2001; their song "Destiny" stayed in ...

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 albu ...

(

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/outtake ...

Dick Parry Richard Parry (born 22 December 1942) is an English saxophonist. He has appeared as a session musician on various albums, most notably in solo parts on the Pink Floyd songs "Money", " Us and Them", " Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and " Wearing th ...

(

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, 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 experiments ...

) and his band. Marks' tenth studio album, ''Trauma'', was released on 6 September 2024, on Disco Gecko Recordings.

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 legal 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, ...

issues with several of the samples used on them.

Albums

*''

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

'' ( Planet Dog, 1994) – UK No. 34 *'' Last Train to Lhasa'' (Planet Dog, 1995) – UK No. 31 *'' Big Men Cry'' (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 as part of their ''Travel Series''. Track listing References External links''CMJ New Music Report'', February 22, 1999 ...

'' (Six Degrees Records, 1999) *'' Igizeh'' (Six Degrees, 2000) *'' You Are Here'' (Six Degrees, 2004) *'' Farewell Ferengistan'' (Six Degrees, 2006) *'' Memories Dreams Reflections'' (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)'' *''Trauma'' (2024)

Live albums

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

Compilation albums

*''

10 Years 10 Years or Ten Years may refer to: *Decade, a period of ten years Film *10 Years (2011 film), ''10 Years'' (2011 film), a film starring Channing Tatum *Ten Years (2015 film), ''Ten Years'' (2015 film), a Hong Kong film Music *10 Years (band), a ...

'' (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) *''Rewritten Histories Vol.4 2013 – 2017'' (2021) *''Rewritten Histories Vol.5 2017 – 2022'' (2022) *''Altered Realities'' (2023)

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) *''My Little Country'' (2023)

References

External links

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