Louis Cole New Album ‘Quality Over Opinion’ | Music News

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole is thrilled with feedback for new album ‘Quality Over Opinion’.

The star enjoys wearing animal prints, and skeleton bodysuits. Sometimes he likes to film himself playing the drums topless and sporting a plastic waffle suspended on a rope chain. These are all things that many of us would struggle to pull off with any style or panache, but Cole can pull it off. Fans include Quincy Jones, Thundercat describes him as “one of Los Angeles’s greatest musicians” and earlier this year invited him to play drums on his recent tour of Japan. The pair have frequently written together including on the aptly titled “I Love Louis Cole” from Thundercat’s album It Is What It Is.

The LA artist is at the spearhead of a community of jazz-adjacent musicians, creating something startlingly new in the process. Working with Brainfeeder, his new album ‘Quality Over Opinion’ is out now.

An ambitious 20 track project featuring a raft of guests, Louis Cole has built his own nexus, drawing on the talents of close friends and collaborations. As he puts it: “This album is a representation of me trying to make the best, most powerful and listenable music I can. For myself and also others…”

Matching fusion steppers to syrupy electronics, hip-hop production elements and more, Louis Cole’s music is rooted in the expression and individuality of jazz. A further quote: “The root of jazz is pure freedom… no limits… just what you’re thinking right at that moment… a pure blast of limitlessness”.

A hugely intriguing project, the album is led by bolshy new single ‘I’m Tight’ and it’s muscular, maximalist feel – there are echoes of Mahavishnu Orchestra at play, while it’s also extremely succinct, and kinda catchy in a very left-field manner.

“I’m Tight” follows “Let it Happen” — “a timeless modern power ballad classic” — released earlier this month. In contrast, “I’m Tight” is a sleek, laser-focused Funk rocket, based on an utterly irresistible bassline. “It comes from me recording about 100 different cells of funk, choosing my favorite ones and quilting them together into a song,” says Louis. “I had to practice the bass part a lot for this one,” he adds, smiling.

Touring incessantly, Louis sold out two shows at EartH Hackney (1k cap) in London during his last UK tour. He has also appeared at North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Rock En Seine, Jazz a Vienne, Jazz à la Villette, Wonderfruit, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Maiden Voyage and more. Last year Louis embarked on his biggest collaboration to date with the Grammy-winning Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley, for a string of unique shows in the Netherlands, with more to come in 2023. This October he will tour the US with his big band with special dates featuring his longtime collaborator Genevieve Artadi.

Louis is the figurehead of an LA jazz-adjacent scene that includes Genevieve Artadi (with whom Cole co-founded the alt pop / electrofunk band KNOWER in 2009), Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes, Jacob Mann, Pedro Martins and more.

Louis Cole recent 2022 tour dates

19 Oct – August Hall, San Francisco, CA*
20 Oct – Sessions Music Hall, Eugene OR
21 Oct – Revolution Hall, Portland, OR
22 Oct – Earshot Jazz at The Town Hall, Seattle, WA
23 Oct – Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA*

*with Genevieve Artadi

Louis Cole
Quality Over Opinion
Brainfeeder

Tracklisting

1. Quality Over Opinion
2. Dead Inside Shuffle
3. Not Needed Anymore
4. Shallow Laughter
5. Bitches (feat. Sam Gendel)
6. Message (feat. Chris Fishman & Nate Wood)
7. Failing in a Cool Way
8. Disappear
9. I’m Tight
10. True Love
11. Planet X
12. Let Me Snack (feat. Marlon Mackey)
13. Forgetting
14. Park Your Car on my Face
15. Don’t Care (feat. Genevieve Artadi)
16. Laughing in her Sleep
17. Outer Moat Behavior
18. When (feat. Kurt Rosenwinkel)
19. Let it Happen
20. Little Piano

A work of real individuality, you can check out ‘I’m Tight’ online.

Quality Over Opinion, dropped on October 14th on Brainfeeder Records.