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...MEMORIES DREAMS REFLECTIONS, THE NEW ALBUM...

Toby Marks, the creative force behind Banco de Gaia, is one of the worlds leading exponents of globally inspired eclectic electronica. Mixing electronic and accoustic instruments and voices his work defies genre classification. He has worked with a variety of musicians ranging from legendary saxophonist Dick Parry, who played on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon”, to Anglo-Egyptian singer Natacha Atlas and cutting edge dance producers such as Jack Dangers and Fluke. Toby Marks cut his teeth as Banco de Gaia on the early 90’s Ambient Dub compilations (a precursor of the more recent “chill out” marketing phenomenon). In 1994 he released his first studio album MAYA on Planet Dog Records. MAYA was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize on its release, followed in 1995 by the critically acclaimed LAST TRAIN TO LHASA. Both albums reached No1 in the UK independent charts as well as the national album chart top 40 and topped the CMJ RPM charts in the US. Few artists, even with major label support, have viable careers beyond that ‘difficult second album’ but in the following decade Banco de Gaia released a further eight albums including five studio albums, beginning with BIG MEN CRY in 1997, a live album (recorded at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival) and the ‘best of’ compilations 10 YEARS and 10 YEARS REMIXED. His work has been included on numerous compilation albums, TV and film soundtracks, and advertising campaigns. He has been remixed by the great and the good, Dreadzone, Asian Dub Foundation and Rabbit in the Moon to name just a few. In 1999 Toby Marks formed his own record label, DISCO GECKO RECORDINGS, to release a new album, THE MAGICAL SOUNDS OF BANCO DE GAIA, followed by IGIZEH in September 2000. In 2001 he bought back the rights to his entire back catalogue which had ended up in the hands of the Disney Corporation in the US and over the following two years re-released all the earlier albums as well as the two 10 Years compilations. This was followed by the release of two further studio albums, YOU ARE HERE in 2004 and FAREWELL FERENGISTAN in 2006. Banco de Gaia has always been as much about performing live as recording, the first shows being as early as 1989, and Toby Marks has never been happy to let the live show stagnate. Various permutations of humans and electronics have seen live shows ranging from him onstage alone with a laptop to as much as a ton of hardware and a five-piece band, and in 2003 he decided it was time to explore the possibilities of working with video as well as music. In 2004 he took to the road with video artist Mik Findlay and together they explored issues including the environment, rights of indigineous peoples and globalisation before audiences worldwide. As a result the first Banco de Gaia video release, a DVD based on the 2004 live shows and titled, not surprisingly, TWO THOUSAND AND 4, was released in June 2005. In 2007 Toby Marks took on the epic task of recreating a complete cover version of the classic Pink Floyd track ECHOES in his own inimitable style. The result was both recorded and performed live as a full 23-minute rendition including live guitar, video and contemporary electronic trickery. This led to further cover version explorations which are finally being released, along with reworkings of early Banco classics and over an hour of live recordings from across the years, on a double CD celebration of Banco de Gaia's 20th anniversary. The album, titled MEMORIES DREAMS REFLECTIONS, will be released worldwide in September 2009.