There is a moment during a house music event where it becomes less about the song and more about what Jackson-based artist Tyler Tadlock describes as “the pulse.”
“It becomes more about controlling the energy of a huge crowd,” Tadlock said. “The pulse can freak people out, they can get into it and then later it can get deeper, grimier and weirder. That’s the stuff I really like."
A trained drummer and graphic designerby trade, Tadlock combined his experience with technology with his desire to create music beyond just being an accompanist tocreate Spirituals. While in art school at Belhaven, the Pearl native found a love of mixed media art while being inspired by musicians Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) and Dan Snaith (Manitoba, Caribou).
“It felt natural to treat music like mixed media art,” Tadlock said. “It felt natural to ‘paint’ with all of the audio elements that I had and massage it until it sounded right.”
Tadlock released his project, Spirituals, while living in Portland, Oregon, in 2010. A combination of electronic music, found sounds and loops of freeform jazz recordings he made with friends, the self-titled debut garnered acclaim, including a sterling review from Pitchfork. The positive press came too quickly, however. Tadlock and his girlfriend had to turn down a show opening for Swedish electro-soul band Little Dragon because they had limited live experience.
“They just assumed that because I was making electronic music that I knew how to DJ,” Tadlock said. “I said ‘no’ enough times to try and learn.”
Tadlock returned to Jackson in early 2012 and set up shop in the city’s Midtown district, where he became fast friends with DJ Scrap Dirty Rob Mercado, who hails from the country’s house music mecca, Chicago.
Tadlock began to learn to play his music as a live DJ as he and Mercado moved Scrap’s “the blast” event to their space in Midtown in the building on Millsaps Avenueknown colloquially as “The Mosquito.” You can walk past the space left over from an old restaurant into a boiler room covered in vines.
“It is this weird, eerie enchanted forest kind of spot,” Tadlock said. “You go back there and you’re like ‘I’m not in Jackson anymore.’”
Spirituals’ second album, “Every Day Will Be Like This,” was released last year on New Orleans label Articulated Works. The album’s enveloping bass groove and rhythmic melodies make it immediately accessible, while Tadlock’s expert use of ambiance, world beats and improvised music make it so intellectually satiating that you can feel your synapses firing on all cylinders.
Tadlock’s deliberate build to his Spirituals project has paid off. He’s taken the house influence from Mercado, where he dined on a diet of genre progenitors Ron Hardy and Gene Hunt and their lineage, to introduce more “dance” to his music.
Spirituals' newest work was released on a vinyl 12-inch split last week by Berlin-based renowned electronic label Kann Records and its imprint, Mana All Nite. Sharing the release with German artist Perm, Spirituals songs “Carl’s Trip to Florida” and “Godwasinit,” prove his merit.
The latter track features a vocal sample obtained from a gospel over barrel-rolled drums, a mangled piano hook and synth lines compiled from one of Tadlock’s many improvised sessions. Inspired by a colorful souvenir coffee mug, “Carl’s Trip to Florida,” frenetic, glitchy melody keeps the listener on their toes and showcases a Jon Hopkins influence.
His release has already garnered airplay on London’s influential Internet station NTS and in front of hundreds at a festival in Amsterdam. He hopes he’ll one day be able to play in Europe, but with a focus on changing the culture of Jackson and Mississippi.
“If you have a decent standard for how you want to effect things, you want to be a progressivelyminded person in place that needs it,” Tadlock said.
Tadlock thinks about all of the like-minded transplants he met while living in Portland and wonders the kind of impact they could’ve made if they stayed at home.
“If all of those guys either returned or stayed in their home town, those hometowns would be so much cooler than they are now,” Tadlock said.“It’s why I like being here, and I have a stake in some place here because it is my home.”
Contact Jacob Threadgill at (601) 961-7192 or jthreadgil@gannett.com. Follow @JacoboLaSombra on Twitter.
