Santa Barbara Musician is Bringing “Melodic House” Music to Studio Sound Room

Tali Cook a k a TVLI is Pairing up with DJ Traveler for his Debut

Tali Cook, a k a TVLI, makes his debut at Studio Sound Room on Mar. 15 | Photo: Matthew Patrick Donner

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, musician Tali Cook is returning as TVLI to share his melodic house music with the community. After years of moving around California, playing in rock bands, and serving in the U.S. Navy, TVLI is teaming up with another local artist, Traveler, for his debut show at Studio Sound Room on March 15..

With rock and roll roots in guitar and piano, transitioning to electronic house music was more out of necessity than by choice. Cook played piano from a young age and was inspired by musicians like Eliott Smith and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante to pick up a guitar at age 13. In his later teens and twenties, Cook played in bands called Verna Beware and Death Valley before joining the Navy.

During deployment, without the luxury of bringing his guitar, Cook took what he knew from recording his rock music and applied it to learning how to create music completely electronically. “I was kind of forced to start being more creative on my laptop,” Cook said. After 12-15 hour days of monotonous labor in the scorching Middle Eastern sun, escaping to his DJ software helped Cook to decompress at night. He devoted the little free time he had watching YouTube tutorials, entering remix competitions and even spent about half of his week off in Dubai in his hotel room working on songs.

The hobby that started as “nothing too serious” to get Cook through some of his toughest days of deployment has now landed him a record deal with KSS3TE After Dark (pronounced like “cassette”), a sub-label of Black Hole Recordings. A few years after Cook returned from deployment in 2021, a friend introduced him to BT’s Electronic Dance Music (EDM), which he “fell in love with immediately.”

About two years ago, on a whim, he decided to message the Grammy-nominated artist BT through Instagram to ask for help on his next project. A few weeks later he got an email from Black Hole Recordings artist Christian Burns, who BT had recently started KSS3TE After Dark with. “Hey, we actually love your stuff. We’re making a new label and we want you to be on it,” the email read.

“My intention was just to become a more professional engineer and the fact that they wanted to essentially mentor me and have been doing that for the last couple of years is absolutely incredible,” Cook said.

Since then, BT and Burns have been supporting Cook through the process of creating his first two records. TVLI’s debut album is set to drop later this year and features 11 tracks that are currently being mastered, the first of which — “Keep You” — dropped on March 1. The songs range from chill atmospheric compositions perfect for hanging out with friends to uplifting rhythms made for the dancefloor.

With Cook’s current fixation on EDM artist Ben Böhmer, much of the album is inspired by Böhmer’s technique with “pad sounds and synth chords.” Cook often gets lost for hours in his headphones analyzing the sound engineering of his favorite artists then applying their methods to his own craft. Compared to making rock music with a band, as an introvert, Cook appreciates the individuality and freedom that working electronically warrants him.

“There’s thousands of more opportunities with electronic music to create sounds that you can’t create anywhere else and make decisions that you wouldn’t be able to make in a band setting,” Cook said.

For his set at Studio, Cook will be mixing live on his computer, eschewing a DJ setup. Applying his skills as a freelance laser technician, the tracks will be accompanied by a laser show. Having originally invested in the lasers as a way of avoiding being the only focal point of his own sets, Cook has since used them to support shows by artists like CRi and TWO LANES, coming to appreciate what they can add to the music. “I don’t want to just play my music, I want [my shows] to be more of an experience,” Cook said.

Musician TVLI plays Studio Sound Room in the Funk Zone on Friday | Photo: Matthew Patrick Donner
TVLI shares his melodic house music on Mar. 15 | Photo: Matthew Patrick Donner
Tali Cook, a k a TVLI | Photo: Matthew Patrick Donner

On Friday, March 15, Traveler will go on at 8:30 p.m followed by TVLI at 10 p.m. at Studio Sound Room, 28 Anacapa St., Unit C, in the Santa Barbara Funk Zone. Entry is free and no tickets will be required. For more information visit studiosoundroom.com. To keep up with TVLI, find him on Instagram @tvlimusic.