Spinner
Let's face it: For many of us, when paired with "music," "yoga" is a four-letter word. That smug serenity! That bland New Agey-ness! That indiscriminate, dilettantish plundering of sounds from cultures for the sake of seeming "exotic" and "spiritual!" "Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" is not an effective mantra. Well, would you feel better with something more like this?
LA Yoga
If you’re looking for an album to aid your Yoga practice, here is something to believe in. The Yoga Sessions, a compilation of tracks inspired on and for the mat, is the integration of Yoga and music in its finest form, especially when considering the track record of the minds behind the creation.
EthnoTechno
Listening to The Yoga Sessions has made me realize that maybe I'm just a stick in the mud and should ease up, let down my guard and accept that anything that gets our fat asses away from the TV and the computer to get down on the ground and stretch is a good thing.
MTV Iggy
Yoga lovers watch out. The music you know, love, and have ‘ohm’ed to will be shaken (not stirred) and revitalized.
Global Noize
Don't let the fact that Derek Beres & David "Duke Mushroom" Schommer have called their debut album, "the Yoga Sessions" fool you. This beautiful mix of dubby global textures and soulful pop influences may very well be the perfect soundtrack for your Yoga practice (I wouldn't pretend to know)-but this project certainly transcends any one usage.
Chicago Now
The Yoga Sessions by EarthRise SoundSystem has mastered the balance of being able to go from yoga practice to iPod to chill evening with friends no awkward transitions. From yoga instructor and DJ Derek Beres and producer David "Duke Mushroom" Schommer, The Yoga Sessions is Thievery Corporation's amazing Mirror Conspiracy album meets dubby electronica and global beats that has something for all your moods.
Perceptive Travel
The production is "light up your headphones" stunning, with a rich fullness that sounds even better on a cranked-up stereo system with real bass. There are real instruments throughout too, not just a bunch of bleeps and beats. This is not the kind of crap your massage therapist puts on to set the mood, or something your hack yoga teacher brings in to try to make you think you're in Haridwar instead of Houston. This is good music that fits a mood, not mere mood music.
Properly Chilled
EarthRise SoundSystem's "May All Beings" gets spun alongside Tosca, The Spy From Cairo, Quantic, Alice Russell, and many other great artists on this episode of Properly Chilled's podcast.
KPFK Cosmic Barrio
Duke Mushroom was on Cosmic Barrio, 92.7 FM Los Angeles, for the second hour of Derek Rath's show. Click above to hear him discussing and playing clips from The Yoga Sessions.
The Afrobeat Blog
These two cats know what they're doing when it comes to putting beats together. While these tracks might not fit into the dance party category, they're perfect for the inbetween moments when you're working, reading, meditating, practicing your headstand, etc.
Properly Chilled
EarthRise SoundSystem remixes "Egypt By Air" as well, giving it layers and layers of tribal drums. The added percussion gives the movie soundtrack a powerful vibe, pushing it out of the ambient and onto the dancefloor.
Exclaim
Novalima: Coba Coba Remixed (Cumbancha): EarthRise's "Bedouin Breakdown" remix of "Se Me Van" takes the driving Spanish guitars to a crescendo few other tracks on the disc match.
Pasadena Weekly
EarthRise SoundSystem’s remix of “Goumari” would fit comfortably alongside Issa Bagayogo’s Malian electro-folk.
Adequacy
And before that, EarthRise SoundSystem covers the same song, except here it’s laid-back and where the vocals provide the melody in the original, here it’s conveyed through oud player, Brahim, incorporating elements from the original such as the rebab.
Lucid Forge
“Goumari,” a deeply North African-sounding track, is remixed by New York City-based DJs EarthRise SoundSystem, and its sparse, hypnotic beat stands in stark contrast to the sixth track, the same, but remixed by Shazalakazoo.
