In a dance music world where performances have become more automated thanks to the accessibility of programs like Serato, live musicians are a foreign concept. Despite the seeming novelty, there are acts performing today looking to preserve the funkiness brought to the fore by the likes of James Brown and Prince, among others. Two of them, Tortured Soul and Amp Fiddler, will bring their soulful stylings and love of 4/4 rhythms to the 9:30 Club Saturday.
Brooklyn trio Tortured Soul got started in 2000 after serving as the rhythm section for an acid jazz band. The lineup consists of former Cooly’s Hot Box member John-Christian Urich on lead vocals and drums, Ethan White on keys, and bassist Jason Kriveloff. From the onset, TS was a musical departure from even their closest musical relatives, like The Brand New Heavies. As Kriveloff explains, the band performs “soulful music with a heavy dance groove and a lot of raw live energy.” The emphasis on what could be called a disco beat served as a distinguishing point from other groups, and eludes to their appreciation of 1970s bands like Chic.
Aside from the music itself, TS further sets themselves apart with their live act. “Our approach to the live set is much like a club DJ today in that we never stop and string the songs together into one seamless set of music,” said Kriveloff.
Given these traits, it makes sense that when their debut album, Introducing Tortured Soul, hit shelves in 2004, two of the biggest house music producers had blessed it with their talents. According to Urich, their former label “reached out to Osunlade and asked him to do a remix on ‘I Might Do Something Wrong’, and the remix actually ended up being the version that everybody who knows that record is familiar with today.” Regarding DJ Spinna, “We had a good collaborative thing happening,” says Urich. TS contributed to Spinna’s solo album and Spinna had remixed a song for Cooly’s Hot Box when Urich was with that band. As a result of those relationships, “Fall In Love” came to fruition.
Despite conventional wisdom’s suggestion that house music is DJ-centric, White insists it’s “very natural for us to play the music as a band.” TS has done just that up to this point, and hopes to continue as they prepare for the release of an EP this coming Fall.
