He rose to prominence as part of the group Houses and is also known for his work as Dawn Golden, as well as his production for pop and hip-hop artists.
After spending several months off the grid in Hawaii at the beginning of 2010, Tortoriello and his partner Megan Messina returned to Chicago, where he began to combine samples of older projects with field recordings from the island to create his first songs as Houses.
Soon after Tortoriello posted the song "Endless Spring" on his Myspace page, Pitchfork featured the track on their website, and within three days Houses was signed by Lefse Records.
[4][5] At the same time, their single "Soak It Up" was featured as part of a multimedia photography retrospective at the New York Public Library Main Branch.
[8] In 2012, Tortoriello and Messina began work on their second record, an apocalyptic concept album titled A Quiet Darkness.
[12] The duo used field recordings from abandoned houses, schools, and cabins in Desert Center, California to build out their ambient electronic soundscapes.
[13] Tortoriello turned samples of light switch clicks, stomping feet and sweeping dust into drum kits, and augmented studio instrumentation with impulse responses from inside and outside the buildings.
Praise for "Fast Talk" and Drugstore Heaven has come from a range of publications including Nylon[29] and Billboard, with the latter calling the single "entrancing.