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EarthRise SoundSystem : Product Reviews
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| The Yoga Sessions: EarthRise SoundSystem |
| Spinner.com: EarthRise SoundSystem Twist Yoga Music Into New Postures |
With the holidays coming up, you're going to eat a lot -- perhaps too much. So naturally you're thinking, "Hey, maybe it's time to go back to yoga classes." But there's something keeping you away. The pain? The humiliation? The falling over? Repeatedly? Well, sure. But the thing really holding you back is ... the music!
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!"
See, the music at yoga classes is supposed to enhance the experience, to help the practitioners glide through the poses, mind emptied of external distractions. But if your mind is distractedly filled with thoughts about what music you'd rather be hearing, well, it seems to defeat the purpose. "Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" is not an effective mantra.
Well, would you feel better with something more like this?
[linked sample of EarthRise SoundSystem, 'Rama']
That's 'Rama,' from the album 'The Yoga Sessions,' by EarthRise SoundSystem, due for official release on New Year's Day.
"All the record works well in class," says yoga instructor Derek Beres. "I teach 15 classes a week, and this is geared toward that."
In a remarkable coincidence, Beres is also half of EarthRise SoundSystem, his partnership with producer-percussionist David Schommer, a.k.a. Duke Mushroom. But it was, in fact, their frustration with conventional yoga music and their deep interest in real global sounds -- not manufactured "exotica" -- that led them to create this set. The idea was to make something that somehow had both the right flow for accompanying yoga poses and substance for those who want the music to stand by itself. A nice balance, you might say.
"David and I took this very much into consideration, especially sequencing for different parts of class," Beres, also a noted world music DJ and journalist, says. "The record is made to be played sequentially for Vinyasa-style [yoga]. Picks up and flows as a class would. Even as I present and pitch the postures, people are moving into my approach and change as the rhythms play."
But what about for those who don't know Uttanasana from Uma Thurman? There's more than one kind of stretching intended with this album.
"Really, the precursor, from a production standpoint, is this 'Bole 2 Harlem' record I did, fusing Ethiopian music with the sound of Harlem," says Schommer, who has made several extensive trips to Ethiopia. "It came from being in class and they were playing what you might call typical yoga music, a biscuit short of Enya. I thought, 'Do we really need 17 layers of synthesizers to reach nirvana? Or can it be more organic?' Derek and I started talking, and the same teacher had another playlist with more world influences. I realized the yoga community is open to that. It's the perfect path to be on. This is where we're living and it's more about the whole, the composite. It's not just music for yoga class. The potential has a different, bigger meaning."
The trick, he said, was to draw on a multitude of cultures in a way that allows all of them to breathe.
"We can talk about our heritage, that we're the American melting pot that takes the best of the best and fuses them," he says. "Unfortunately, it's become more of an assimilation pot. The community of friends and musicians we have on this have an appreciation for that."
The guest list is, indeed, diverse. Among those joining in are singer Lucy Woodward, Basya Schechter of Middle Eastern fusionist band Pharaoh's Daughter, Canadian producer/DJ/musician Eccodek, gnawa musician Hamid Boudali and vocalist Lital Gabai of the Israel-based modernist Idan Raichel Project.
"We had five different languages on songs -- Farsi, Hebrew, Urdu, English, Arabic and Sanskrit," Schommer says. "There are elements of raga on Indian-leaning songs. Rhythmically, we built some beats around Moroccan gnawa."
Beres cites eclectic producer Bill Laswell and the group Thievery Corporation as aesthetic relations. Both, he says, keep the rhythms and "warm bass line" up front for its "healing" quality but never compromise the source inspirations.
"David is so versed in world sounds," he says. "When we did something Egyptian, he said, 'I'm going to lay down an Egyptian rhythm.' Maybe we take some liberties, but overall we are pretty spot-on."
"Especially things like scales," says Schommer. "One track we did with Eccodek, 'Sombience,' is a beautiful track based on a kalimba that I had. My father used to live in Ethiopia and this is from Gataama Island [in Lake Tana], a very minor pentatonic scale. I talked with Eccodek about that scale and he adhered to it, although playing a bamboo flute and shakuhachi. So there's a thing from Ethiopia and Japan in a pentatonic scale. Every song on the album had a deeper intention to the hidden story line."
[linked sample of EarthRise SoundSystem, 'Sombience']
Wait. Back up. "Hidden story line?"
"The Ramayama is the classical Indian text," explains Beres. "And it's very patriarchal, as many Indian texts are."
He summarizes the tale of Sita, stolen from her husband, Ram, by the demon Ravana and later rescued by an army led by monkey warrior Hanumam -- but then Ram would not touch her because she had been with another man, even though it had been against her will. Beres -- who studied theology in college, writing a thesis about how Buddhism has been misinterpreted in America -- wrote a summary of this as something of a mission statement, a thematic guide for others involved in the album.
"He would not touch her until she was thrown in a fire -- and if she came out pure, then she could be back with him," Beres says. "I said, 'Let's look at this from a woman's perspective. She was loyal to him.' I threw that out there to the lyricists. The only one I wrote lyrics for was 'Daylight as Sunset.' The others were by the singers."
That's a lot to digest. Need some yoga for the brain?
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| Review Source |
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| The Yoga Sessions: EarthRise SoundSystem |
| MTV IGGY Album Review: EarthRise SoundSystem, Daylight As Sunset EP |
Yoga lovers watch out. The music you know, love, and have ‘ohm’ed to will be shaken (not stirred) and revitalized.
Meet EarthRise SoundSystem: a.k.a. Derek Beres, known for his column in National Geographic World and as well as a DJ and certified yoga instructor, and David “Duke Mushroom” Schommer — a talented percussionist and producer. Though famous enough on their own, together they form ERSS — the live team that aims to redefine yoga music with their debut, The Yoga Sessions, which is due to come out on New Year's Day 2010.
EarthRise SoundSystem’s “Daylight As Sunset” EP is everything I expected out of an EP: short and sweet, a tantalizing taste of what should be expected from the full length album. The track list is simply three versions of the band’s single, “Daylight As Sunset” — a combination of the tantric soothing qualities of traditional Yoga music, easy listening, and the floaty vocals of Lucy Woodward.
As expected, first there is the album version of the single — a combination of a plucked sitar, a reverberating electric guitar, and drum beats that seem to dance hypnotically around Woodward’s airy voice, like moths around a flame. The listener gets drawn in deep into the sultry sounds — so much so that you are left feeling like you’re lounging comfortably on a couch, surrounded by dimmed lights and flickering candles.
Though the second track, the “Ramin Sakurai (Supreme Beings of Leisure Remix)” is just as soothing as the original, the prominent use of an acoustic guitar — as opposed to the Santana-worthy strumming of the electric — makes it less a song suitable for yoga practices. Instead, it’s a jam closer in tone to the contemporary acoustic trend of female folk artists — despite a dash of electro from a synthesizer.
The employment of echoing lyrics, repetitions, and the constant beat from a table give the third and last track (“ERSS Retake”) a rhythmic quality akin to the repetitive chanting found in mantra. It brings back the lounge qualities of the track that were found in its original form as an album single.
Though not exactly suitable for the meditation and concentration required by yoga, “Daylight As Sunset” in all its forms is nonetheless a highly relaxing and enjoyable track which left me wondering what the full length album The Yoga Sessions has in store.
If it’s anything like the EP, then the album — which is due to be released on January 1, 2010 — should be mesmerizing. Until then, there’s nothing to do but push play, sit back, and let the music envelop the senses.
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| The Yoga Sessions: EarthRise SoundSystem |
| Global Noize: EarthRise SoundSystem |
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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. Beres does teach yoga in NY- but equally relevant is the fact that he has consistently been the most intelligent writer to cover the "global fusion" scene through his excellent book 'Global Beat Fusion' and his articles in a variety of magazines and on line publications. He's also a great DJ as a member of the Globesonic crew. Schommer helmed the excellent Ethiopian flavored Bole 2 Harlem project a few years back and has played on over 50 records. Together these guys have crafted a lovely album which is filled with atmosphere and nuance but is also not afraid to be tuneful and soulful.
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| The Yoga Sessions: EarthRise SoundSystem |
| The Afrobeat Blog: EarthRise SoundSystem - The Yoga Sessions |
Any aspiring yogi knows that when channeling transcendental energy, nothing helps focus the mind like music. Especially music that is downtempo, deep, and steady. EarthRise Sound System (Derek Beres and David “Duke Mushroom” Schommer), have put together an album of remixed chants and percussive elements that will definitely help the mind channel its energy.
Derek Beres is a writer, yoga instructor, and dj. He blends those three elements of his personality with his production partner Duke Mushroom—a producer, writer, and performer who has played on over 50 records in the past two decades. Their objective with this record is to move you inside and out. They channel elements of their multicultural experiences seamlessly to create a deep expressive collection of songs.
Derek Beres and Duke Mushroom are two multi-talented cats are capable of making great music. The album doesn't officially drop until January 2010, but you can check out the tracks on their website in the meantime: www.earthrisesoundsystem.com.
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| The Yoga Sessions: EarthRise SoundSystem |
| The Boston Globe: EarthRise SoundSystem: "The Yoga Sessions" |
January 18, 2010
The Boston Globe
This blissed-out project from producers Derek Beres and David Schommer comes with proper yogic credentials: Beres is a Jivamukti instructor in Manhattan, and one record-release event took place at the Kripalu retreat in the Berkshires. But the musical chops are heavy, too: Beres is a noted DJ and Schommer a first-call percussionist on the New York global music scene. And on “The Yoga Sessions" they’ve gathered some fine contributors from the serious wing of world fusion, including singers Lital Gabai (from Israel’s Idan Raichel Project), Basya Schechter (from Pharaoh’s Daughter), Morocco’s Hamid Boudali and France’s Morley. In a rebuff to the New Age soup into which some “yoga music" degenerates, these songs subordinate electronic effects to the live instrumentation, which is thick on bass and rich with traditional percussion and complex rhythm schemes that reward repeated listening. The mid-tempo, cosmopolitan approach resembles a Thievery Corporation project, but with attention to the pace and sequencing of yoga practice. Purists might object that yoga requires silence; fortunately, this record’s combination of soothing and smart suits it just as well for late in the party or general lounging.
--Siddhartha Mitter, The Boston Globe
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