Louis Cole (musician)
Louis Cole | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Los Angeles, California, US |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician, producer |
Instruments | Drums, keyboards, guitar, vocals, bass |
Years active | 2009–present |
Labels | Brainfeeder, Ninja Tune |
Associated acts | Knower, Clown Core, Thundercat, Snarky Puppy, Vulfpeck |
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 five solo albums: Louis Cole (2010), Album 2 (2011), Time (2018), Live Sesh (2019) and LIVE 2019 (2020).
Early life and education[]
Louis Cole was born in Los Angeles to a family with musical roots.[1][2] His father played jazz piano, while his mother played bass. Cole started drumming when he was 8.[2] He graduated in Jazz Studies at USC Thornton School of Music in 2009.[1][3]
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.[4][1] 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.[2]
After doing several other short songs and uploading them to YouTube, Cole wanted to focus more on writing longer material.[2] He co-founded Knower with another Jazz Studies graduate, Genevieve Artadi.[5] In 2010, he released both his self-titled solo album and the debut album for Knower.[1][3] 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.[1] This led to signing a contract with Flying Lotus' label Brainfeeder and releasing his third solo album through the label in 2018.[4][1][2] The album featured appearances by Artadi, Thundercat, Dennis Hamm and Brad Mehldau.[1] 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.[6][7]
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.[8][9] Knower's song "Fuck the Makeup, Skip the Shower" was previously featured on the same radio station.[10]
It is speculated that Cole and saxophonist Sam Gendel are behind , a musical duo of two anonymous clowns who blend grindcore, jazz, and electronic music.[11][12]
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.[13][2][12] 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).[2][3][11] Cole is a "bedroom" musician who doesn't like working in a professional recording studio.[14] 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."[2] He is known for using strange and counterintuitive chord progressions.[4] 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".[2]
Influences and legacy[]
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.[2][14][13] 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[3]
Cole is best friends with Thundercat, who has called him "one of Los Angeles's greatest musicians".[15][6] Flying Lotus has also expressed admiration for Cole on Twitter, calling him "super inspirational" during the writing of his album Flamagra.[16] Bob Mintzer has described Cole as "the paradigm for today's musician".[3] Will Schube of Passion of the Weiss has compared Cole's "auteur approach" to that of another Los Angeles musician, Ariel Pink.[14] 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".[6]
Discography[]
Solo albums[]
- Louis Cole (2010)
- Album 2 (2011)
- Time (2018)
- Live Sesh (2019)
- LIVE 2019 (2020)
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)
- Hill Climber by Vulfpeck (2018)
- It Is What It Is by Thundercat (2020)
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f g Kellman, Andy. "Louis Cole Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Richardson, Kitty (2019-04-04). "The delightful deviance of Louis Cole". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ a b c d e Hollins, Evan (2013-11-15). "Louis Cole and Knower". USC Thornton School of Music. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ a b c Sherburne, Philip (2018-08-16). "Louis Cole - Time". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ Simpson, Paul. "Genevieve Artadi Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ a b c Roller, Emma (2021-04-12). "Monday Song: I Love Louis Cole". The Brick House Cooperative. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ "63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards (2020)". Grammy Awards. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ McGlynn, Declan (2020-12-21). "Grand Theft Auto's musical legacy continued to push the boundaries in 2020 — here's how". DJ Mag. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
- ^ 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 (2014-11-17). "Grand Theft Auto V Reveals Expanded Radio Station Tracklists for Game Relaunch". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
- ^ a b Kuhn, Sarena (2020-10-17). "Clown Core's 'Van' is artful absurdity". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ a b Burks, Tosten (2019-04-05). "Louis Cole Jam Sessions Look Fun As Hell". Spin. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ a b Sidran, Leo (2020-11-18). "Who Is Louis Cole". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ a b c Schube, Will (2018-10-13). "An Interview with Louis Cole". Passion of the Weiss. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ Shapiro, Ari (2020-11-19). "Play It Forward: Thundercat Eases Loneliness With Trippy Music". NPR. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
- ^ 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.
External links[]
- American multi-instrumentalists
- Jazz-funk musicians
- American male jazz musicians
- American electronic musicians
- American pop musicians
- American funk musicians
- American drummers
- American jazz drummers
- American keyboardists
- American male singer-songwriters
- 21st-century American musicians
- American YouTubers
- Jazz-pop musicians
- Living people
- American singer-songwriters
- Music YouTubers
- American male jazz composers
- 21st-century jazz composers
- Brainfeeder artists
- Ninja Tune artists