Customer Reviews

Maya

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While "Last Train to Lhasa" remains my all time favorite Banco de Gaia disk, "Maya" is the first public CD by BdG, and a superb introduction to the music. While Banco de Gaia, like many other ambient/techno entities, offers great dance beats, it soars above this basic form, creating something richer than most dance/dub/club sample music--something enticing and addictive that stands up to many repeated listenings...which is not something you can say about the majority of the music in the genre. Transcendent.

In hindsight, this album is definitely a platform of sorts for Toby Marks from which he plunged into ambient mastery. This album was released while still on the Planet dog label which I think definitely had an influence on the style. Huge deep soundscapes and melodical texture combine to transport the listener to other worlds. Awesome album. Well worth the bucks.

This is actually the first Banco de Gaia record I have listened to, but it is still my favourite. OK maybe it is a bit more simple than some of his others, but that is not a bad thing, I don't think. This is the kind of record that starts you on a different kind of music than you were used to. Especially in today's landscape of mind numbing, repetitive and everybody-sings-the-same-thing pop music, it makes an especially refreshing listen. As with all good music, it might not appeal to you straight away, but if you give it a chance and you listen to it a couple of times, it is impossible not to get caught in the depth of the music. Beautiful staging, with layers of sounds interlacing perfectly, it just takes you away on a ride that you don't want to stop. Somewhere it kind of reminded me of Tangerine Dream, but not really as style, more in what concerns the beauty of the music, the way everything fits perfectly. All right, I went on long enough. Bottom line is, I am glad I had the chance of getting to listen to it, my music experience would have been so much poorer without it.

MAYA, released in 1992, is Toby Mark's first album under his Banco de Gaia moniker. It's nine tracks fall into the ambient, acid house, or dub genres. All feature what is BdG's trademark, the use of samples which are either taken from indigenous musical traditions of the world (Middle East mutterings, Bushmen chants), or from other sources but electronically altered to sound like they are from indigenous musics. I find BdG's music interesting as a document of an era when this kind of exotica was penetrating youth culture more than at any time since the 1960s. Though its kitchen sink collection of Third World sample joined to the predictable 4/4 beat of house, Banco de Gaia seem to represent musically the global village the world was fast becoming.

The tracks here would make a solid contribution to a DJ set, but as an artist album I find it unsatisfying. All of the tracks seem to meld into each other, and there's no enough diversity to make you feel you're getting your money's worth. Certainly Toby Marks alleviated this in later efforts, especially when he put the slightest touch of pop into his 2000 album IGIZEH, but this early effort doesn't quite have it down yet.

_Maya_, Toby Marks' first full-length offering as Banco de Gaia, bears all the unfortunate hallmarks of mid-90s techno, back when ambient dub roamed the earth. Marks added his voice to the renaissance of ethnic-sample techno with "Heliopolis," which uses the same Dead Can Dance riff as the Future Sound of London's classic "Papua New Guinea," but the overall effort seems dated. On _Maya_, Marks focuses primarily on the Middle East (despite the South American title), and while there's nothing here that calls for jihad, neither are any of the tracks particularly inspiring. Indeed, "Mafich Arabi" suffers from a slight case of cheesiness, a symptom that reappears in the electric guitar and dull samples of the title track. If anything, this album is more of a chill-out test run, a first try that would only lead to better things.

Get your wallets out people! Everyone I have pestered with this stuff likes it. To date, I feel this is still Banco's best work. As before, tracks 1,5 and 9 are the highlights. Very few albums can be played from start to finish with your undivided attention - this is one of them. An upbeat beginning...slips into typical electronica pace... followed with a mellow finale. Don't be put off by the 1994 release date, this is not dated! Original sounds, a moderate pace, plenty of funky bleeps and weird effects. The only downside are tracks 3 and 4. They don't go very far, but the rest of the album more than makes up for that.

This is the best album I have ever heard. Toby Marks is a musical genius. I can't understand why this album hasn't reached a larger market. Tracks 1, 5, and 9 are the best, but all are good. You can't go wrong by getting this CD. There's no way you'll be disappointed. Some parts do get a little weird and techno, but the rest make up for it. If you like synth, bass, and strong looping drum beat patterns, you will love this CD.

Excellent. I just got Maya today, along with another one by the same artist, but from a different seller. When I rated this seller, I was thinking of the other disc. Woops. Unfortunately, I cannot change a rating, so I had to do it here. I give the seller, kaikates (at Wherehouse Entertainment) 5 stars. Prompt shipping. Disc is new, still in the wrapper. Case is uncracked. Sorry for the mixup, guys.