Louis Cole

Last updated

Louis Cole
Louis Cole musician2.jpg
Cole performing with Knower at The Haunt, Brighton, England, 2018
Background information
Birth nameLouis Maxwell Cole
BornDecember 5, 1986
Los Angeles, California, US
Genres
Occupations
Instruments
  • Bass
  • drums
  • guitar
  • keyboards
  • vocals
Years active2008–present
Labels
Member of

Louis Maxwell Cole is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and video producer who is the drummer, keyboardist, and occasional singer of the independent electronic jazz-funk duo Knower. He is speculated to be a member of the avant-garde musical duo Clown Core.

Contents

Cole has released five albums with Knower and four albums with Clown Core, beginning in 2010. As a solo artist, he self-released two albums before signing with Brainfeeder and releasing his third album, Time (2018). His next album, Quality Over Opinion (2022), was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Jazz Album.

Early life

Louis Cole was born in Los Angeles to a family with musical roots. [2] [3] His father plays jazz piano, while his mother played bass. Cole started drumming when he was 8. [3] [4] He graduated in jazz studies at the USC Thornton School of Music in 2009. [2] [5]

Career

After graduating from USC in 2009, Cole was encouraged by his friend Jack Conte to put music videos on YouTube, including one called "Bank Account", which showcased a split-screen of him playing keyboards, drums, and singing. [6] [2] This video catapulted him into the public awareness, as it was posted on social media by various celebrities and musicians such as John Mayer, Charlie Day, and Björk. [3] [4]

After doing several other short songs and uploading them to YouTube, Cole wanted to focus more on writing longer material. [3] He co-founded Knower with another jazz studies graduate, Genevieve Artadi. [7] In 2010, he released both his self-titled solo album and the debut album for Knower. [2] [5] After releasing his second solo album, he focused more on Knower, producing three other albums. In the meantime, Cole co-wrote "Padded Cell" for Seal's 2015 album 7 , and together with Artadi, got featured on Snarky Puppy's Family Dinner – Volume 2 . In 2017, he co-wrote two songs for Thundercat's album Drunk . [2] This led to signing a contract with Flying Lotus' label Brainfeeder and releasing his third solo album through the label in 2018. [6] [2] [3] The album featured appearances by Artadi, Thundercat, Dennis Hamm and Brad Mehldau. [2] Cole also appeared on Thundercat's 2020 Grammy Award winning album It Is What It Is , performing on a song called "I Love Louis Cole", which was dedicated to him. [8] [9]

In 2020, Cole wrote an exclusive song for Grand Theft Auto Online called "Planet X", which was added to the FlyLo FM radio station through The Cayo Perico Heist update. [10] [11] Knower's song "Fuck the Makeup, Skip the Shower" was previously featured on the same radio station. [12] "Planet X" was later included in Cole's fourth studio album Quality Over Opinion , which was released on October 14, 2022 via Brainfeeder. [13] Another single from the album, "Let it Happen", was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals in 2023, and the album as a whole was nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Album the following year. [14]

It is speculated that Cole and saxophonist Sam Gendel are behind Clown Core, a surrealist musical duo of two anonymous clowns who blend grindcore, jazz, and electronic music. [1] [15]

Artistry

Style and writing

Cole is a classically trained jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist who plays drums, keyboards, guitar and bass, sings, and produces his material. [16] [3] [15] His work contains elements from a diverse range of music genres such as jazz, funk, pop, avant-garde, electronic, lo-fi (early) and grindcore (with Clown Core). [3] [5] [1] Cole is a "bedroom" musician who does not like working in a professional recording studio. [17] He practices drums for four hours a day, and writes music for seven hours a day. Cole feels his mission is to write his own favorite music, and he "never [tries] to make [his] music accessible to anyone." [3] He is known for using strange and counterintuitive chord progressions. [6] His lyrics often include humor and vulgarity, and his music features home-made videos. Cole is more creative during the early hours of the day, and documents this phenomenon on his song, "The Weird Part of the Night". [3]

Influences

Cole's influences include his father, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, Boards of Canada, Nate Wood, The Beatles, and Skrillex, among others. [3] [17] [16] Cole is also influenced by science fiction and video game sounds and visuals, and notes that the music of classic Nintendo games and Tron shaped Knower's aesthetic:

"That music really dug its way deep into my developing brain. There are a lot of imaginative chord changes, pretty melodies, heavy funk grooves, modulations, insane synth trumpet hits and really cool sounds in those games. I still, to this day, strive to include those kinds of things in my music."

Louis Cole [5]

Cole is best friends with Thundercat, who has called him "one of Los Angeles's greatest musicians". [18] [8] Flying Lotus has also expressed admiration for Cole on Twitter, calling him "super inspirational" during the writing of his album Flamagra . [19]

Reception

Bob Mintzer has described Cole as "the paradigm for today's musician". [5] Will Schube of Passion of the Weiss has compared Cole's "auteur approach" to that of another Los Angeles musician, Ariel Pink. [17] Emma Roller of The Brick House Cooperative has described Cole as "a dopey yet cerebral jazz composer and percussionist who whaps out brain-meltingly complex beats with Terminator-like precision". [8]

Discography

Studio albums

Solo albums

TitleAlbum details
Louis Cole
Album 2
  • Released: March 22, 2011
  • Label: Self-released
  • Format: CD, digital download
Time
Quality Over Opinion
  • Released: October 14, 2022
  • Label: Brainfeeder
  • Format: CD, vinyl, digital download, streaming
Some Unused Songs
  • Released: May 11, 2023
  • Label: Brainfeeder
  • Format: digital download, streaming
Nothing
  • Released: August 9, 2024
  • Label: Brainfeeder
  • Format: CD, vinyl, digital download, streaming

With Knower

With Clown Core

Live albums

TitleAlbum details
LIVE 2019
  • Released: July 6, 2020
  • Label: Brainfeeder
  • Format: Digital download, streaming

Extended plays

TitleDetails
Live Sesh and Xtra Songs

Singles

As lead artist

TitleYearAlbum
"Weird Part of the Night"2016Time
"Bank Account"2017Non-album singles
"Thinking"
"Blimp"
"Things"2018Time
"Doing the Things"2019Non-album single
"Let It Happen"2022 Quality Over Opinion
"I'm Tight"
"Not Needed Anymore"
"Dead Inside Shuffle"
"Things Will Fall Apart"2024 Nothing
"Life"
"These Dreams are Killing Me"
"nothing"

As featured artist

TitleYearAlbum
"The Grid Generation"
(Cory Wong featuring Louis Cole)
2023The Lucky One

Production and songwriting

These are writing and production credits for music outside of Knower, Clown Core, or his own solo work.

TitleYearArtistAlbumNotes
"Padded Cell"2015 Seal 7 Co-writer
2020Jacob Mann106Mastered

Other appearances

TitleYearCredited artist(s)Album
"Bus in These Streets"2016 Thundercat Drunk
"Jameel's Space Ride"
2018Jacob Mann Big BandGreatest Hits, Vol 2
"Tonight"2018 Sam Wilkes Wilkes
"Descending"
"It Gets Funkier IV" Vulfpeck
(featuring Louis Cole)
Hill Climber
"Edge of the Cliff"2020 Genevieve Artadi Dizzy Strange Summer
"Hope Song"
"Hits!"Henry Solomon and Logan Kane
2023 Genevieve Artadi Forever Forever
"Mad Hope" Gen Hoshino Lighthouse
"—" denotes he wasn't on one song, but an entire album.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Hargrove</span> American jazz trumpeter (1969–2018)

Roy Anthony Hargrove was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles of jazz in 1998 and 2002. Hargrove primarily played in the hard bop style for the majority of his albums, but also had a penchant for genre-crossing exploration and collaboration with a variety of hip hop, neo soul, R&B and alternative rock artists. As Hargrove told one reporter, "I've been around all kinds of musicians, and if a cat can play, a cat can play. If it's gospel, funk, R&B, jazz or hip-hop, if it's something that gets in your ear and it's good, that's what matters."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flying Lotus</span> American record producer from California (born 1983)

Steven D. Bingley-Ellison, known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder.

Austin Topper Peralta was an American jazz pianist and composer from Los Angeles, California. He was the son of film director and Z-Boys skateboarder Stacy Peralta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Bruner Jr.</span> American drummer

Ronald Ray Bruner Jr. is an American drummer, composer and producer. He has played with hardcore punk/crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. Bruner was part of the band that received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 2010 for The Stanley Clarke Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brainfeeder</span> American independent record label

Brainfeeder is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Flying Lotus in 2008, focusing on electronic music and instrumental hip hop. It has signed artists such as Ras G, Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer, Thundercat, The Underachievers, Lapalux, Daedelus, and Mr. Oizo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thundercat (musician)</span> American musician and producer (born 1984)

Stephen Lee Bruner, better known by his stage name Thundercat, is an American musician, singer, record producer, and songwriter from Los Angeles. First coming to prominence as a member of crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, he switched his music with funk, soul, progressive R&B, psychedelia and jazz-fusion, has since released four solo studio albums and is noted for his work with producer Flying Lotus and his appearances on Kendrick Lamar's 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly. In 2016, Thundercat won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance for his work on the track "These Walls" from To Pimp a Butterfly. In 2020, Thundercat released his fourth studio album, It Is What It Is, which earned him a Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flying Lotus discography</span>

The discography of Flying Lotus, an experimental multi-genre music producer, laptop musician, and rapper from Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamasi Washington</span> American saxophonist and bandleader

Kamasi Tii Washington is an American jazz saxophonist. He is a founding member of the jazz collective West Coast Get Down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knower</span> American independent electronic music duo

Knower, also stylized as KNOWER, is an American independent electronic jazz-funk duo. The group primarily consists of Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi ; their full band includes saxophone, bass and keyboard players. They have gained success releasing music online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anderson .Paak</span> American singer (born 1986)

Brandon Paak Anderson, better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak, is an American singer, rapper, and record producer. He released his debut mixtape, O.B.E. Vol. 1, in 2012 and went on to release his debut album Venice in 2014. In 2016, he followed up with his second album, Malibu, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album, followed by his third album, Oxnard (2018). At the 61st Grammy Awards, Paak won his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance with his 2018 non-album single "Bubblin". In 2020, he won two additional Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album with his fourth album Ventura, while a song from the album won Best R&B Performance with "Come Home".

<i>Drunk</i> (album) 2017 studio album by Thundercat

Drunk is the third studio album by American musician Thundercat, released on February 24, 2017, by Brainfeeder. It features guest appearances from Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, and Pharrell. It was released nearly four years after his previous studio album, Apocalypse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Gilmore</span> American jazz drummer (born 1986)

Marcus Gilmore is an American jazz drummer. In 2009, New York Times critic Ben Ratliff included Gilmore in his list of drummers who are "finding new ways to look at the drum set, and at jazz itself", saying, "he created that pleasant citywide buzz when someone new and special blows through New York clubs and jam sessions".

<i>It Is What It Is</i> (Thundercat album) 2020 studio album by Thundercat

It Is What It Is is the fourth studio album by American musician Thundercat, released through Brainfeeder on April 3, 2020. It was preceded by five singles: "King of the Hill," which was released as a single from the label's compilation album Brainfeeder X in 2018, and "Black Qualls," "Dragonball Durag," "Fair Chance," and "Innerstellar Love," the latter four being released in 2020. The track "Unrequited Love" had previously been used in an episode of the anime Carole & Tuesday in 2019. The album was executive produced by Thundercat and Flying Lotus, and features guest appearances from Louis Cole, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, Childish Gambino, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, BadBadNotGood, and Zack Fox.

"Oh Sheit It's X" is a song by American singer-songwriter Thundercat. He co-wrote it with record producers Flying Lotus, Mono/Poly, and Durand Furbee for his second studio album Apocalypse. Brainfeeder released it as a single on May 7, 2013. Musically, "Oh Sheit It's X" is a funk and disco song, whose lyrics describe the protagonist in an altered state of consciousness after consuming MDMA—otherwise known as "ecstasy" or "X"—at a party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domi and JD Beck</span> French-American jazz duo

Domi and JD Beck are a jazz duo consisting of French keyboardist Domi Louna and American drummer JD Beck. The two met in 2018 and have since worked with Thundercat, Anderson .Paak, Herbie Hancock, Eric Andre, Ariana Grande, Earl Sweatshirt, Bruno Mars and many more. They released their first single, "Smile", and debut album, Not Tight, as a duo in 2022. They received two Grammy Award nominations in 2022, for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for Not Tight.

Clown Core is an American musical duo. It is composed of two anonymous artists who wear clown masks, speculated to be drummer Louis Cole of the indietronica/jazzfunk band Knower and Sam Gendel, a saxophonist and frequent Cole collaborator. Their eponymous album Clown Core was released in 2010. The album Toilet followed eight years later. Their album Van was released in 2020. The EP 1234 released in 2021. Their projects are all self-released.

<i>Quality Over Opinion</i> 2022 studio album by Louis Cole

Quality Over Opinion is the sixth solo album and fourth studio album by American musician Louis Cole. It was released on October 14, 2022, on Brainfeeder. It was nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards; and the single "Let it Happen" was nominated for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals the previous year.

<i>Time</i> (Louis Cole album) 2018 studio album by Louis Cole

Time is the third studio album by American musician Louis Cole. It was released on August 10, 2018, on Brainfeeder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genevieve Artadi</span> American musician and singer-songwriter (born 1982)

Genevieve Artadi is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and video producer who is the lead vocalist and occasional instrumentalist of the independent electronic jazz-funk duo Knower. She was previously the lead vocalist of the electropop band Pollyn.

<i>Knower Forever</i> 2023 studio album by Knower

Knower Forever is the fifth studio album by American independent electronic jazz-funk duo Knower. It was self-released on June 2, 2023. Recording was done sometime in 2023 at member Louis Cole's house. Cole was responsible for the album's production in its entirety. Musically, Knower Forever diverts from the duo's four previous albums, featuring an experimental sound with avant-pop and jazz-funk whilst continuing their theme of humorous and vulgar lyrics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kuhn, Sarena (October 17, 2020). "Clown Core's 'Van' is artful absurdity". The Daily Californian . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kellman, Andy. "Louis Cole Biography". AllMusic . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Richardson, Kitty (April 4, 2019). "The delightful deviance of Louis Cole". The Line of Best Fit . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Kalia, Ammar (October 3, 2022). "Louis Cole: 'Funk is fun but with jazz you can just go wild'". The Guardian . Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Hollins, Evan (November 15, 2013). "Louis Cole and Knower". USC Thornton School of Music . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 Sherburne, Philip (August 16, 2018). "Louis Cole – Time". Pitchfork . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  7. Simpson, Paul. "Genevieve Artadi Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Roller, Emma (April 12, 2021). "Monday Song: I Love Louis Cole". The Brick House Cooperative. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  9. "63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards (2020)". Grammy Awards . Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  10. McGlynn, Declan (December 21, 2020). "Grand Theft Auto's musical legacy continued to push the boundaries in 2020 — here's how". DJ Mag . Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  11. Louis Cole [@louiscolemusic] (December 16, 2020). "New Louis Cole song in the new grand theft auto. It's called Planet X. It's about how they will name Planet X after me (when they finally find it). It's a good song. It's on the @flyinglotus radio station. Go listen to it while you run over people or whatever you're doing" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  12. Goble, Corban (November 17, 2014). "Grand Theft Auto V Reveals Expanded Radio Station Tracklists for Game Relaunch". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  13. Murray, Robin (August 23, 2022). "Louis Cole Announces New Album 'Quality Over Opinion'". Clash . Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  14. Minsker, Evan (November 10, 2023). "Grammy Nominations 2024: See the Full List Here". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  15. 1 2 Burks, Tosten (April 5, 2019). "Louis Cole Jam Sessions Look Fun As Hell". Spin . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  16. 1 2 Sidran, Leo (November 18, 2020). "Who Is Louis Cole". All About Jazz . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  17. 1 2 3 Schube, Will (October 13, 2018). "An Interview with Louis Cole". Passion of the Weiss. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  18. Shapiro, Ari (November 19, 2020). "Play It Forward: Thundercat Eases Loneliness With Trippy Music". NPR . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  19. Flying Lotus [@flyinglotus] (April 3, 2020). "I love Louis Cole. I love Louis too. He's crazy. All the stories told n this song are true. Louis was actually super inspirational to me in Flamagra time. Check him out @louiscole and listen to @KNOWER_music" (Tweet) via Twitter.