Friday 31 May 2013

From the Top Drawer LII - Banco de Gaia


Here's an act that doesn't really need an introduction, but here's a brief one from Wikipedia anyway -
'Banco de Gaia is an electronic music band from England, formed in 1989 by Toby Marks (born 1964, South London).
The music of Banco de Gaia is best categorized as ambient dub, but Marks works to cross genres, often using Arabic and Middle Eastern samples against a bass heavy reggae, rock, or trance rhythm to produce deeply textured tracks that progress layer upon layer.'

'Freeform Flutes & Fading Tibetans' is the second of BdG's cassette-only releases in 1992 (although I believe the album got a limited release on CD-R from the BdG website in 2003).


It has never had a proper commercial issue on CD or vinyl because some of the samples used have never got clearance for copyright, but the sound on tape is pretty good and there shouldn't be too many complaints about the overall quality.


Some tracks here will already be familiar to fans since versions of them also appeared on releases such as 1993's 'Desert Wind' EP, the 'Ambient Dub' compilations on Beyond Records and BdG's 1994 debut full-length album 'Maya'.

Side One: Desert Wind / Lai Lah / Soufie / Alpha (Waves All In My Brain)
Side Two: Therapy / Terra Om / Theta / Darkside / Eternal Recurrence


Ripped @320kbps as two side-long tracks
Get it HERE


Banco de Gaia website

5 comments:

  1. CHEERS MATE//almost played this one into the ground when he first put it out//way ahead of his time back then & fantastic live at those early club dog nights//i lost this in one of my many moves//so it'll be sweet to hear it again//xx

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  2. My first encounter with Banco De Gaia was 1995's 'Last Train To Lhasa', after hearing a track on a middle-of-the-nite radio program here in Canada. I worked my way backwards but never did come across any of the first 3 cassettes. This, at last, takes care of one of them. Now for the other two! Many thanks.

    -Brian

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    Replies
    1. Stay tuned Brian, the other two tapes are in the pipeline and will be posted in time, but maybe not for a while as I like to mix things up a bit on the blog...cheers.

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  3. I'll be here waiting! Thanks.

    -Brian

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