Music

It started as a conversation between Kimee Massie and her husband Scott, on a road trip in 2012 listening to the Bohren & der Club of Gore album, Midnight Black Earth. He ran a small music collective (Innervenus), while she had become a yoga instructor a few years earlier, and had always wanted to do something with her classes that would better fit her teaching style and personality. There were a few other CDs in the car, like Locrian’s The Crystal World and Sleep’s Dopesmoker, so they hashed out the initial blueprint from there. When they returned home and put things together, they contacted their friend Chad Hammitt, who was about the only other person they knew who would not only have a complimenting collection (different sides of the same idea, not just all the same material), but would also be interested in taking on the task with them. He was in immediately, and BLACK YO)))GA was born.

Since 2012, the music for these classes has been a series of mix-tapes. Though in mid 2014, the couple would embark on putting together an eclectic group of metallic hippies and doomlords to produce a more personal and specific soundtrack.

the BLACK YO)))GA Meditation Ensemble

With members involved from Storm King, Veniculture, Agnes Wired For Sound, Moonstation Burning, Vulture, DeathCrawl, Complete Failure, Hero Destroyed, Filth on Demand, Secant Prime, eMay, Crown of Eternity, Torrential Bleeding, and more, this ensemble has produced a soundscape tailored to create a heavy meditative space in order to spread the benefits of yoga to people within their own art and music communities: people who may battle depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drug addiction, trauma/PTSD, phobias, dark passengers, etc.; those who may not feel they fit into the typical yoga classes; the people who, in all rights, may most need the balance and release of yoga to return to and lead rich, fulfilling lives.

<a href="http://blackyoga.bandcamp.com/album/asanas-ritual-vol-1">Asanas Ritual, Vol. 1 by the BLACK YO)))GA Meditation Ensemble</a>

There are also the original mixtapes, curated by Scott Massie & Chad Hammitt, 2012-2014, for use during BLACK YO)))GA classes led by Kimee Massie in Pittsburgh, PA.

Featuring the music of Sunn O))), Earth, Tribes of Neurot, Horseback, Dead Can Dance, Pig Destroyer, Arcana, Lycia, Boris, Portishead, Nine Inch Nails, Lustmord, Blood of the Black Owl, Kwaidan, Bunk Data, Requiem, Diffuse, Peter Gabriel, Glenn Danzig, Type O Negative, Popol Vuh, Year of no Light, Chelsea Wolfe, Adrift for Days, Dolorian, early demos from the BLACK YO)))GA Meditation Ensemble, and many, many more. Carefully crafted, with lo)))ve.

These mixes have been made available via Mixcloud and in small handmade runs for practitioners personal use and listening enjoyment. If you like the music and would like to buy it or hear more from the artists, please follow the paths to find them in the real world.

BLACK YO)))GA on Mixcloud

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