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…

After taking time out to tour in 1997, Toby Marks moved from the UK Midlands to Somerset, in southwest England to set up a new studio. After recording the new CD, he then decided to set up his own label in England, Disco Gecko Recordings. The Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia travels freely between the violins and cellos of Glove Puppet and the Kenyan rain song that forms the basis of the next piece, No Rain. So maybe it’s world music, or global trance; but it’s not intentional.

Hugely positive and sometimes crushingly sentimental, Germany's Mark 'Oh (Marko Albrecht) is part of a long line of German musicians who threw down the mantle of rock amateurism in order to embrace his country's post-rave mainstream dance. After disbanding his first guitar outfit, Line Up, 'Oh began as a DJ in 1990 and worked his way up to production with the 1993 limited release of "Randy – Never Stop That Feeling," a cheery, helium-sampled single that found its way to the top of Germany's charts for half a year after its re-release. Subsequent singles furthered 'Oh's light Super Mario Brothers trance style and his three albums – 1995's Never Stop That Feeling, 1996's Magic Power, and 1999's Rebirth – showed an increase in guest appearances and unusual covers, such as reworkings of Visage's "Fade to Grey" and Nick Kamen's "I Promised Myself." A premature Best Of collection was released in 2001.

"You Got Me Rocking" is a song by the English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, on their 1994 album Voodoo Lounge. The song received remixes by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, they at least produced three mixes of the track including the notable Perfecto Mix…

Special version adapted from the Epic/Disques Dreyfus release "Oxygene 7-13".
Tracks 1-3: Remixed by Tokapi at Peak Top Studios D'dorf. Track 4: Remixed by Resistance D (Pascal Feos & Maik Maurice), produced at Plan Of Vision Studios - Frankfurt. Tracks 5 & 6: Remixed, manipulated, melanged and meccanoed by Loop Guru at the Shrine - April 1997.

In 1997 when “Big Men Cry” was originally released on Planet Dog Records, no one could have predicted the chaos that would surround and follow it. The campaign was a classic case of the record company marketing one thing and the artist recording another. In this instance, the label and many of the public alike wanted “another Last Train to Lhasa” but for Toby Marks (AKA Banco de Gaia), another “Lhasa” was the last thing on his mind.
Add to that a breakdown of relations between Toby and the record label and you have all the necessary components for a pretty uncomfortable album release. This was compounded by Ultimate Records, who licensed the Planet Dog label, going into liquidation shortly after the album’s release…

Jean Michel Jarre "Oxygene 8", featuring remixes by Hani, The Sunday Club, Takkyu Ishino and the team of Dado & Salsotto.

1995: fresh from finishing and releasing his magnum opus, 'Last Train to Lhasa', Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia, rolled down to Glastonbury Festival to play on the Avalon Stage in the Field of Avalon. The year was one of the first times dance music had been given significant space at the festival, and Toby’s set was much anticipated, with the marquee completely full by the time he came on stage. The set featured many of his most familiar songs, often given radically new arrangements, turning some previously un-danceable tracks into driving club tunes. Ed Vulliamy described it in his review for the Guardian as “electrifying: symphonic, epic, hugely lyrical music in the best traditions of the early Floyd, underpinned by synthetic energy but aiming at an appropriately earthy message, atop which a flute sometimes danced” and credited the show as the highlight of the year…

26 years ago Planet Dog released one of the all-time classic albums of modern electronica - Last Train to Lhasa - which reached #31 in the UK Album Charts and #1 in the UK Independent Charts. Misconstrued at the time as a Tibetan-themed album (it actually contains only one Tibetan sample), its groove-inflected, multicultural soundscapes helped to form the blueprint for much of today's global electronica, with its influence evident today in acts such as Public Service Broadcasting…

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. 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 album, Maya…

Chicane is an electronic music act, and the guise of British musician, composer and record producer Nicholas Bracegirdle. Chicane is known for the singles "Offshore", an Ibiza dance anthem included in many compilations in both chill-out and dance versions; "Saltwater", which featured vocals by Clannad member Máire Brennan and is one of the most well-known and popular singles of the trance genre; and the UK number-one hit "Don't Give Up", featuring vocals by Bryan Adams, which became a top ten hit on singles charts across Europe.
Far from the Maddening Crowds, Chicane's debut album, is still considered a seminal release among the house/trance music community, while the second album, Behind the Sun, was certified gold in the UK…

The Dubnology compilation is a two-disc, 21-track collection of spacy late-'90s electronic dub, heavy on the bass, demonstrating that the music has become more techno-influenced and reliant on electronics and technology. Highlights include tracks by System7, Loop Guru, Zion Train, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Banco de Gaia; the booklet includes biographies and photos of all the artists.

Pete Namlook was one of the most influential protagonists of ambient music during the 1990s. Inspired by Oskar Sala, one of the pioneers of electronic music, Namlook focused on the untapped potential of analogue synthesizers, often developed or extended in his laboratory.

4Voice II (1998). After extensive journeys through the incredible worlds of futuristic and ancient sounds, Pete Namlook rediscovered the Bass Drum. Now reintegrated into the most successful Trance-Product on Fax it is being taken to an area where melodic Dance, Electronic Listening Music and Ambient have their home. Check out the integration of monumental Hip Hop sounds on "New York, 25th of November 2089", travel to the "Cave of Ancient Dreams" with Ambient, dance with "Old Loves Dies Hard", go on a ride with "The Driver" and fall in Love with "Anemra"…