Toby Marks and Andrew Heath 'Motion' Review

Artists:

Toby Marks & 

Andrew Heath

Release:

Motion

Label:

Disco Gecko Recordings

Released:

10^th May 2019

Motion is an innovative new album by sound artists Toby Marks and Andrew Heath. Although the pair have collaborated on individual tracks and shows before, this is the first album they have worked on together.

Toby and Andrew started making extensive field recordings on trips to the four corners of Britain during 2018. They went deep into Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Wales, explored Suttle Stone Quarries in Bournemouth, hopped on the Swanage Ferry to Poole Harbour, took to the air with the Yorkshire Gliding Club, floated down the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and rode the Bure Valley Railway in Norfolk.
By the end they had a staggering hundred hours of audio in total, which they processed and transformed, blending piano, guitars and electronics, to produce a deeply meditative, endlessly unfolding collection.

Sometimes evoking images of machinery, sometimes of nature, these pieces flow and twist, at all times maintaining a humanity and sense of personal experience at their core. At times intense, sometimes barely even present in the mix, the music enthrals and entices, drawing the listener into a world both seemingly familiar and weirdly unknown – a quite alien, and yet still organic, space, which is of this world and yet ultimately of Marks and Heath’s own invention.

The first track of the album ‘For Stone (West)’ sets the ambience with an ethereal quality drifting through choral voices, delayed guitars, melancholic piano, creaking floorboards and machinery. This is followed by ‘With Iron (South)’ which beginnings with footsteps and flowing water, subtle piano and guitar nestled amongst eeire synths, which sets me in mind of Pink Floyds ‘Signs of Life’ from their album ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’.

Next up is ‘In Air on Water (North)' where the intro of buzzing insects, birdsong, boat engines and church bell chimes leads into passages of piano, indistinct vocal samples and guitar licks that once again have a Floyd’esque quality to them. The final piece of the journey ‘By Fire (East)’ initially layers a shuffling train beneath brooding synths before the guitar strings bring a gentle ambience to the piece.

To Summarise this collection comes across as a natural pairing of Toby and Andrew creating this ambient sound collage, which is probably more closer linked to Libary Music and Musique concrète than Toby’s more dancefloor inspired Banco de Gaia releases.

Links

http://www.discogecko.com/

http://www.andrewheath.co.uk/

To celebrate the release, Toby and Andrew are touring the UK, playing in Stroud on May 10, Sheffield on May 11, Kingskerswell on May 17, Frome on May 18, London on June 14 and Birmingham on June 15.

Various Artists 'Strange-Eyed Constellations 2' Review

Artist: Various

Title: Strange Constellations 2

Label: Disco Gecko Recordings

Released: 19^th Oct 2018

The second release in this series, which places the focus on downtempo grooves, atmospheric soundscapes and ambient moods, mixing field recordings, classical instruments and electronics. Combining artists from the Disco Gecko label, associates of Toby Marks and a few which came as a result of asking a wider audience to send in their tracks for consideration. While the artwork chosen to complement the music once again fell to Zoe Heath (possibly the wife or a relative of Andrew?)

The album begins with Simon Power a games and film soundtrack producer who has created soundscapes for none other than Doctor Who! This piece entitled ‘Immerse’ layers classical piano over spacey atmospherics and while relatively short is a wonderful intro to the album. This is suitably followed by Banco de Gaia’s ‘Pavlov’s Children’ which delivers an eerie sense of descent as the atmospheric synths transports you into a chasm of monks chants and intangible spoken samples. Next on the agenda is Halcyon Daze’s ‘Orbiting a Distant Star’ which is a more string infused piece of electronica with Clanger’esque sound fx, that never cause any disharmony to the gentle beauty of the piece.

The atmospheric mood re-emerges with Experiments in Silence ‘Cerulaen’ a side project from Spatalize (Neil Butler) I would draw comparison with Banco de Gaia, with some of the synth sounds floating alongside heavenly choral voices and chimes which blend seamlessly into the sound fx utilised, this really is an exceptional piece of work. I could be wide of the mark assuming the next track is one of the submitted pieces but I can’t say I am familiar with Project Transmission. However, I can say ‘At Dusk’ the track in question, sounds like a field recording of walking through a sodden marsh accompanied by an eerie electronic drone, while the sound of pipes entice you to follow and escape to freedom. The mood lightens somewhat and you almost sense you are stepping out of the marsh, with what I guess is the second of the submitted pieces ‘Beast from the East’ by Peter Toll. Where gentle delayed organ sounds are suitably counter-balanced with natural field recordings.

Label boss Toby Marks drops the Banco de Gaia moniker on this production ‘Sleep, Boy and Dream’ quite possibly, as it is far removed from his more groove guided world dance or ambient dub productions. Switching from gentle field recordings and spooky sound fx to electronic drones which at times times build a foreboding sense of terror. Another unfamiliar name to myself, Glenn Marshall restores the calm with a suitably ambient piece of electronica entitled ‘Spring Shade’. This is followed by a collaboration by Toby Marks and Andrew Heath, a short piece of field recordings, electronica and Andrew’s trademark piano.

The apples not falling far from the tree with the next piece ‘Falls’, again by an artist I’m personally not familiar with Phonsonic. A slow burning piece of electronica, where indistinct voices wash over the atmospheric backbone alongside the deeper bass notes. The strings employed by yet again another name I’m unfamiliar with Simon McCorry, initially provide a Celtic folk feel to ‘Anima Mechanica’, which transcends into far more of a classical piece throughout. The compilation comes to a close with ‘In the Presence of Angels’ where an aptly gentle piano and lovely guitar strings nestle in amongst the synth voices, a combination that embodies everything I love about Andrew Heath’s productions.

To summarise I don’t think this album has as much variation as it’s predecessor and in some cases may not appeal to those looking for an album of ambient dub or world music infused chill out. However, if when the mood takes me, then this is an album that appeals to me, it’s an immersive, experimental journey which I found to be very thought provoking and at times simply beautiful.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links

http://www.discogecko.com/product/strangeeyedconstellations2/?mc_cid=5877c4894a&mc_eid=aad2749a47

Disco Gecko's 'Strange-Eyed Constellations' Compilation Review

Artist: Various

Title: Strange-Eyed 

Constellations

Label: Disco Gecko

Released: 4^th Sept

Compiled by Toby Marks (Banco De Gaia) with a title inspired by a Tom Hardy poem and as tribute to Mike Barnett the founder of Beyond Records who featured some of Toby's earlier works on their Ambient Dub series.

The album begins with 'Dum Spiro, Spéro' by Astropilot, whose space style synth work I've always admired but the four by four beats he often employs can become repetitive. There's no such problem here with this beat less number which hooked me immediately with it's sheer aural elegance. This is followed by 'Sirens of Lorelei' by Dr Trippy as I've never heard him before. Admittedly, there's an ethnic element to the track which increases in the middle but either side throws a sheet of angelic voices and flutes over a snail pace beat. The theme of mixing angelic voices and tribal chants continues with 'The Inuit Snow Song' by 100^th Monkey a superbly chilled psychedelic dub and by this point I'm tipping my hat at Toby's fabulous selections.

The looped sequences that kick off 'The Future's Bright the Future's Incandescent' by Radium88 immediately brought Fluke and Underworld to mind (albeit with the brakes on) upon which an ethereal vocal leads to a more eastern flavour and you'd be hard pressed to find a more chilled vocal than this. The mood turns slightly darker with a combination of eerie atmospherics and tribal beats with 'Floating World' by Spatialize but the light shines through the darkness with some lovely strings. This theme of light and dark continues with a Far East drone fusion with the Shanghai 8am mix of 'Falling Tides' by the man himself and surprisingly not under his Banco De Gaia moniker.

I'm not sure you can go much slower than the dreamy tribal dub 'Festival of Lights' by Oombata Key. Whilst the tempo is taken up a notch with 'Dimensions' by Temple Hedz this piece initially layered with guru monologue and complemented further with a lovely eastern vocal is still more than suitably chilled. Moving towards a more experimental direction with 'Project Transmissions' by The Heavenly Hundred combines soft gentle piano with fuzzy atmospherics and distorted orchestral tweaks.

Back under his Banco De Gaia pseudonym 'To the Nth Degree' threatens to bring an uplifting surge with it's opening tribal chorus but soon dips down into soothing ambience with field recordings and piano. 'It's Beautiful Mike, It Really Is' by James Eller is a wonderful combination of NASA transmissions, spacey fx and piano. Although, he may not be the first to utilise this theme with the samples it works superbly well. 'Penates' by Sam Salem drifts back to the eerie atmospheric tribal drones of some of the previous tracks and leads us to the climax 'Epiphany' by Andrew Heath where once again the piano takes centre stage in a beautifully gentle melodic piece.

To summarise as with many compilations some tracks appeal more than others. However, there are some really strong tracks on here for me and I can't say I particularly dislike any of them. The years not over yet but for me this has to be a contender for ambient album of 2015. Full marks to Mr Marks so to speak and hopefully this isn't the last we hear of his selections.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links

http://banco.co.uk/

http://www.discogecko.com/

Pre-Order here https://discogecko.bandcamp.com/album/strange-eyed-constellations