Louis Cole

Louis Cole, a gifted multi-instrumentalist whose buoyant compositions often cast an upbeat light on routine setbacks, constitutes one half of Knower and maintains regular studio ties with figures such as Thundercat and Sam Wilkes. His catalog reveals an expansive appetite for sounds that stretch from soul, jazz, funk, and pop into extreme metal—he is widely believed to belong to the anonymous pair Clown Core—alongside science-fiction scores and video-game music. As a solo act he has issued multiple albums on Brainfeeder, among them Time in 2018 and Nothing, recorded with Metropole Orkest, in 2024.

Prompted by associate Jack Conte to place material online, the Los Angeles native—who began drumming at age eight—turned to recording after completing the Jazz Studies program at USC Thornton School of Music. In 2010 he issued a self-titled solo album while he and Genevieve Artadi delivered Knower’s first full-length. Further independent solo and duo projects, together with an array of videos, followed over the ensuing years. Cole co-wrote “Padded Cell” for Seal’s 2015 album 7; within months he and Artadi appeared on Snarky Puppy’s Family Dinner, Vol. 2.

The year 2017 proved especially active, encompassing co-writing credits on Thundercat’s Drunk for “Bus in These Streets” and “Jameel’s Space Ride,” placement of “Dance of Doom” on the soundtrack to The Lego Ninjago Movie, and opening dates for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The accumulated momentum yielded a contract with Brainfeeder, the imprint led by fellow native Angeleno Flying Lotus. Time, Cole’s third solo album and Brainfeeder debut, appeared in 2018. Assembled over two-and-a-half years, it featured Artadi, Thundercat, keyboardist Dennis Hamm, and pianist Brad Mehldau.

Cole contributed to projects by Vulfpeck and Thundercat before finishing his next solo record. Quality Over Opinion, his second Brainfeeder LP, arrived in 2022 with Artadi, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, and saxophonist Sam Gendel among its participants. The interim collection Some Unused Songs surfaced in 2023. Cole subsequently worked with Metropole Orkest and conductor Jules Buckley on the 2024 album Nothing, which centers on original material while incorporating reworked versions of several tracks from Quality Over Opinion.