We open up [people’s] minds a little bit and help them to appreciate the meditative quality that dance music can have.”   – Ethan White, Tortured Soul.

At the dawn of the 21st century, something has to give. Music of every genre seems to have lost something. Too often dance music is reduced to recycled and re-sampled loops constructed, not created, for the masses by a money-driven industry that has lost sight of any musical integrity.

Tortured Soul is breathing new life into two often-opposing sides of the music world. They are showing fans of live music an unexpected side of dance music, while also showing dance music fans the power of live, organic music. Before House went Tribal, before Disco went Pop, and even before the first remixed dance track, music was musicians. Before drum machines and loops, Dance music (in its pre-disco form) was created and crafted by road musicians who had honed their skills and chops over thousands of miles of performances. Not simply paying lip service, Tortured Soul is truly going back to basics; they are preserving the roots of dance music while keeping it accessible to a contemporary audience. Drummer Christian Urich (also known for his work with Cooley’s Hot Box), Keyboardist and New-York-jazz-mainstay Ethan White, and Oberlin Conservatory

Tortured Soul’s music is easily classified as soulful House but it is also music for the soul, with easy-yet-infectious grooves and pensive lyrics that are a cut above the usual dance music vocal fare. Kriveloff points to the traditional song structure that is central to their work.

“When it comes down it, all our songs are based upon lyrical or vocal ideas and melodies,” he explains. “We call it live House, but there’s also R&B and Hip-Hop influences in there and that’s what is accessible—the song elements.” Tortured Soul comfortably navigates the blurred lines that often separate live music and DJ culture. White explains the familiarity of the territory: “The first three singles we released were all remixed, so we’re pretty familiar with people doing their own interpretation of the songs, whatever niche or genre they might be in. We can appreciate what they’ve done with the music as well, as the exposure that it gives us to people that are into dance music in general. Some of the remixes were definitely pivotal in getting our music heard by people.” “It’s fun to hear somebody else’s take on your music,” Kriveloff says. “It’s a nice community in

Tortured Soul has received the blessings of many of House music’s most respected tastemakers and scene luminaries such as Marques Wyatt, Danny Krivit and Osunlade, who featured several of their tracks on last year’s high-profile Afterdark: New York City compilation. The timeless nature of their music, and the importance they place on Dance music’s root elements, lends Tortured Soul’s music to many different sub-genres and styles, and demonstrates the power of an uncomplicated and organic approach to
music in combating over-categorization.

“It doesn’t affect us much at this point,” Kriveloff explains of the numerous sub-styles and genres that can sometimes divide House music. “It’s ultimately better, I suppose, than the complete homogenization of music that you often see in the corporate world.”

“Even though our recorded stuff is classified as deep vocal house, we’ve gotten in front of all different ‘cliques’ of house music,” Ulrich says. “We’ve played at raves where we were the only live act on the bill, not to mention the only act not playing Techno or Hard House and we got people into it. We’ve played at really soulful underground Deep House parties and gone over really well. Because we have the live thing, it has a certain impact on people and it allows us to bridge some of those boundaries.”

The success that Tortured Soul has garnered with their debut album Introducing and their live appearances across America and the United Kingdom is evidence that the musical boundaries and barriers to which we grown so accustomed may soon be broken down completely.

“Basically there’s a different group of people that listen to dance music versus people who go see live music,” Ethan explains. “We are able to talk to different people or play for different people through two different arenas of music. People who are used to going to clubs and hearing dance music hear us and are like ‘Wow this is like dance music, but it’s something a lot different.’ On the other hand, when we play for people who like live music they’ll hear us a gain a different appreciation of dancemusic; we open up their minds a little bit and help them to appreciate the nuances and meditative qualities that dance music can have.”

“When you hear really good DJs playing, they can move between genres and still play really well,” White adds. “It’s not about the tag; it’s about the quality of music.”

Tortured Soul professes that the future of House is based in live music, but they don’t suffer from an inflated image, nor do they consciously place themselves at the center of the music world. While keeping the roots of dance and house music alive and central to their music is important, they ultimately feel that it is time for the musician to return to the music. “Technology has gotten to a point where it’s indistinguishable from the music itself,” Kriveloff states, “and we think people are hungry for organic and live sounds.”

Words, interview and live photos by Alex R. Mayer for JJazproJect.com

Many thanks to Jason, Ethan and Christian for taking the time to speak with us. For more info, including tour dates, visit http://www.torturedsoulmusic.com