Louis Cole (musician)
Louis Cole is an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, best known as the co-founder of the electronic/avant-pop/jazz-funk duo Knower. He is also a solo artist and has released six solo albums: Louis Cole (2010), Album 2 (2011), Time (2018), Live Sesh (2019), LIVE 2019 (2020), and Quality Over Opinion (2022). It is speculated that he is a member of the avant-garde musical duo Clown Core.
Louis Cole | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | Los Angeles, California, US |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Drums, keyboards, guitar, vocals, bass |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Labels | Brainfeeder, Ninja Tune |
| Member of | Knower, Clown Core (speculated)[1] |
Early life and education
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 USC Thornton School of Music in 2009.[2][5]
Musical 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 song in the album, "Let it Happen", was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals.[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]
Style and songwriting
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 doesn't 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 and recognition
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] 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
Solo albums
- Louis Cole (2010)
- Album 2 (2011)
- Time (2018)
- Live Sesh (2019)
- LIVE 2019 (2020)
- Quality Over Opinion (2022)
With Knower
- Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi (2010)
- Think Thoughts (2011)
- Let Go (2013)
- Life (2016)
With Clown Core
- Clown Core (2010)
- Toilet (2018)
- Van (2020)
- 1234 (EP; 2021)
As a guest
- 7 by Seal (2015)
- Family Dinner – Volume 2 by Snarky Puppy (2016)
- Drunk by Thundercat (2017)
- (Album) Greatest Hits Volume 2 By Jacob Mann Big Band (July 20, 2018)
- WILKES by Sam Wilkes (2018)
- Hill Climber by Vulfpeck (2018)
- It Is What It Is by Thundercat (2020)
- (Album) 106 By Jacob Mann (Mastered by Louis Cole) (August 28, 2020)
References
- ^ a b c Kuhn, Sarena (October 17, 2020). "Clown Core's 'Van' is artful absurdity". The Daily Californian. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kellman, Andy. "Louis Cole Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Richardson, Kitty (April 4, 2019). "The delightful deviance of Louis Cole". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b Kalia, Ammar (October 3, 2022). "Louis Cole: 'Funk is fun but with jazz you can just go wild'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Hollins, Evan (November 15, 2013). "Louis Cole and Knower". USC Thornton School of Music. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c Sherburne, Philip (August 16, 2018). "Louis Cole – Time". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ Simpson, Paul. "Genevieve Artadi Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c Roller, Emma (April 12, 2021). "Monday Song: I Love Louis Cole". The Brick House Cooperative. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ "63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards (2020)". Grammy Awards. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Goble, Corban (November 17, 2014). "Grand Theft Auto V Reveals Expanded Radio Station Tracklists for Game Relaunch". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
- ^ Murray, Robin (August 23, 2022). "Louis Cole Announces New Album 'Quality Over Opinion'". Clash. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ "Grammy Awards 2023: The Full List of Nominees". The New York Times. November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
- ^ a b Burks, Tosten (April 5, 2019). "Louis Cole Jam Sessions Look Fun As Hell". Spin. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b Sidran, Leo (November 18, 2020). "Who Is Louis Cole". All About Jazz. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c Schube, Will (October 13, 2018). "An Interview with Louis Cole". Passion of the Weiss. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ Shapiro, Ari (November 19, 2020). "Play It Forward: Thundercat Eases Loneliness With Trippy Music". NPR. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ 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.