Contrary to any images the name may conjure, EarthRise SoundSystem’s, The Yoga Sessions, aren’t slow, new-agey tunes designed to numb the corporate-mindset while they adopt strange positions and stretch their backs.  Mixing Eastern voices, instruments, and thoughts with some serious downtempo beats and chill bass, this is luscious yogic lounge music of the highest order.  Anyone who’s ever spent any time in a Hindi ashram knows how beautiful the bhajans can be.  What EarthRise does is take the pulse of those bhajans and marry them to Western beats and rhythms, creating a heavenly, pulsing, throbbing, intoxicating blend of Hindi-chill.

Again, there’s way too much pulse here to use it as background music while you wrangle your body out of “downward dog” pose into “cobra.”  But that’s not the intent.  Think of this as a sumptuous late night chill album, or an early Sunday morning coffee riser and you’ll get the feeling.  

Exotic in flavor, spiritual in nature, the vocals float and dance above the lingering dancefloor beat.  Basses throb in sensual pulses, approaching a point of complete higher-self eroticism. “Intention” leads us off, with its prayer of a vocal chant, repetitive in nature, blessing us as we embark on this journey. Harmonies layer on, building softy over the heartbeat of bass.   Songs like “Dash Nayad,” could create a swirling throng of heated bodies on any late-night dance floor. Forget all thoughts of this being a “world beat” album, this is just addictive down-tempo chill.  Perfect for calming the night, settling the soul. “Daylight as Sunset” reminds me of some of the best of Si*Se, throbbing downbeat lounge.  

I’m always on the lookout for a good chill album to calm the ears after all the metal, punk, and garage we get at the Ripple.  Previously, my favorite recommendation would’ve been to check out the Angel Beach3-CD set.  Now, I got EarthRise SoundSystem and all is right in Ripple world.