Banco de Gaia

artist: Banco de Gaia
track: Drippy
recording: Big Men Cry (1997)

www.goyo.net/musicaluni/bdg-d.mp3

artist notes
Banco de Gaia (a.k.a. Toby Marks) is an electronic music outfit from England. For almost twenty years Marks has been traveling the world collecting sounds, bringing them home and cooking up his signature sonic soups.

Banco de Gaia’s latest release, “Farewell Ferengistan” (2006), has been receiving high marks (“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). Visit www.banco.co.uk for more information.

According to Marks, “Banco de Gaia” is the title of a short opera by Giacomo Puccini (who dreamt of being an accountant…?) about a retired soldier who decides to set up his own bank — the most boring and unsuccessful opera in the history of Western music. Hmmm. Marks on a another occasion confidently stated that “Banco de Gaia” was the nom de plume of deceased Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s gay lover. Hmmmmm… So he has a sense of humor. Good.

track notes
I must first admit that electronic music typically has a negative reputation for being overly synthetic and cerebral, perhaps even contrived. While this may be true in many cases (actually true in most musical genres, IMHO), Toby Marks has distinguished himself by mixing technology with gathered sounds, textural elements, cultural cues and grounded beats; on “Big Men Cry” he explores further by introducing a greater live element to his material. Marks has great ears, which for me truly defines a great musician.

As one reviewer states, “…it hits the Gaian, spiritual part of your mind more than your simple human intellect…it has the feeling of a sane child free to play…with tribal drums, exotic voices and live recordings of engines mixed with alien electronic tweeked tones, fat base and silence…”

“Drippy” rocks hard. Real hard. Evolving from the sound of a single drop of water, it gradually builds into an orgiastic frenzy of rhythms and textures. To the drop of water is added marching footsteps, then multiple layers of drums are patiently folded into the mix. The requisite chest-thumping kick drum arrives at 2:23 (this is where you must get on your feet). More evolutions and variations in density and color. Then arrives the descending bass line at 4:23 — you MUST own a subwoofer to really experience this. More evolutions. The track’s apex occurs at 5:40, followed by a rare occurrence for the mostly-instrumental Marks — a lead vocal (just another texture). This builds to…a graceful ending.

Is it simplistic? Yup. Elementary? Sure. Repetitive? Certainly. But it’s a marvelous and heroic track. I have counted no less than twenty-seven distinct rhythmic, harmonic and melodic components in “Drippy” — a layer cake of sonic energy.

“Drippy” is featured on the soundtrack for Darren Aronofsky’s exquisite film “Pi (Faith in Chaos)”, a collection of music as paranoid, dense and precise as the film’s narrative and characters. (Also check out Aronofsky’s sublime “Requiem for a Dream” and long-anticipated upcoming release “The Fountain”, due out in the US on 22 November)