Knower, also stylized as KNOWER, is an American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

duo who have gained success releasing music online. The group consists of Louis Cole and

Genevieve Artadi Genevieve Artadi (born July 1, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer. She is best known as the co-founder of the jazz-funk duo Knower, along with Louis Cole. She was also the lead vocalist of the electro-pop band Pollyn, which ...

. Their full band is a

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat ( groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creat ...

act that includes saxophone, bass and keyboard players.

Background

Louis Cole studied music in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, graduating from the Jazz Studies program at USC Thornton in 2009. He became good friends with fellow musician

Jack Conte Jack Conte (; born July 12, 1984) is an American musician and co-founder and CEO of Patreon. He is one half of the band Pomplamoose, along with his wife Nataly Dawn, co-leader of the band Scary Pockets, and leader of the band Magaziine. Career C ...

in 2006. Both composed and recorded some songs which are present on Conte's YouTube channel. Conte suggested Cole start releasing his music online. Genevieve Artadi also studied music in Los Angeles. She received her Bachelors in Jazz Studies at California State University (CSU) Northridge and did post-graduate studies at CSU Long Beach. Louis Cole met Genevieve Artadi through the LA-based saxophonist Robby Marshall. In 2009 Cole and Artadi joined forces. They released their first album in 2010. In addition, they maintain their own respective channels, often collaborating on each other's solo releases.

Career

In early 2010, the group began to upload their music to YouTube. Their first video, a cover of Britney Spears's song "3" got a lot of hits quickly thanks to

promoting it on YouTube. Another early video release, "Window Shop" (originally recorded on Louis Cole's first album) also got a lot of hits thanks to a front page YouTube feature. In this same year, they released their debut album, ''Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi''. In 2011, their second album ''Think Thoughts'' was released. Songs such as "Around" and "I Remember" presented some heavy funk grooves. Soon after the release of this album, the group collaborated with

Pomplamoose Pomplamoose is an American musical duo composed of husband-and-wife multi-instrumentalist Jack Conte and singer-songwriter and bassist Nataly Dawn. The duo formed in 2008 and sold approximately 100,000 songs online in 2009. They are known for ...

to release a single, "It Goes On." Sporting the group's distinctive electro-funk sound, the single brought increased visibility to the duo. ''Let Go'', Knower's third album, was released in 2013. They followed the release of ''Let Go'' with a performance at Bonnaroo Festival with Soul Khan, Jenny Suk, and Black Violin. Knower also went on a tour of the east coast United States with duo WeYou, consisting of Nate Wood and Jesske Hume. In 2014, Knower released the non-album single "I Must Be Dreaming", and toured the East Coast and the South. They were also presented by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

in a new artist concert series in Los Angeles. Their song "Fuck the Makeup, Skip the Shower" was featured on ''FlyLo FM'' (hosted by

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), 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. Flying Lotus ha ...

) on the next-gen version of '' Grand Theft Auto V''. In 2015, Knower recorded with

Snarky Puppy Snarky Puppy is an American instrumental band led by bassist Michael League. Founded in 2004, Snarky Puppy combines a variety of jazz idioms, rock, world music, and funk and has won four Grammy Awards. Although the band has worked with vocalis ...

on their ''

Family Dinner – Volume 2 ''Family Dinner – Volume 2'' is an album by American jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy that was released on February 12, 2016. Track listing All songs arranged by Michael League. Bonus DVD and digital download tracks Personnel * Michael Leag ...

''. In 2016 they formed a 5-piece live band as an alternative lineup. Apart from the core members, the band at various points included

Tim Lefebvre Tim Lefebvre (born February 4, 1968) is an American bass guitarist. Both as a session musician and band member, he has worked with a wide range of musicians, including David Bowie, The Black Crowes, Elvis Costello, Sting, Empire of the Sun, The Sl ...

, Dennis Hamm, Sam Wilkes, Sam Gendel,

Nate Wood Nate Wood (born October 3, 1979) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. He has performed with Wayne Krantz, Kneebody, Tigran Hamasyan, Louis Cole, The Calling, and Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. Background Nate learned to p ...

and Jonah Nilsson. Their European tour of 2016, as well as parts of the US tour, featured the live band. In July 2017, Knower opened for the

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk ...

in four major European cities. In 2018, Knower toured Europe, China, Japan, and the US, continuing the live band formation and also unveiling a renovated duo set with Artadi and Cole. In 2019, Knower expanded their touring to South Africa and South America, including Rapa Nui. Since 2017, Knower has performed in multiple European cities with the Swedish big band

Norrbotten Big Band Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swed ...

. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

pandemic, the pair released a "living room power set" onto their YouTube Channel, which included live performances of "Overtime", "Time Traveller", "PIZZA", and "It's Time", among other songs.

Members

Permanent members * Genevieve Artadi — vocals, composer/songwriter, keyboards, bass guitar (2009–present) * Louis Cole —

multi instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

, percussion, keyboards, vocals, strings, choral conducting (2009–present) Members of full band, guests or former members *

— bass * Sam Wilkes — bass * Petter Olofsson — bass * Sam Gendel — saxophone *

David Binney David Binney (born August 2, 1961) is an American alto saxophonist and composer. Early life Binney was born in Miami, Florida, and was raised in Carpinteria, California. From his parents, who loved music, he was exposed to albums by John C ...

— saxophone *

John Escreet John Escreet (born 18 August 1984) is an English jazz pianist. Biography Escreet moved to New York in 2006. In 2008 he graduated from the Master’s Program at Manhattan School of Music, where he studied piano with Kenny Barron and Jason Moran ...

— piano * Vikram Devasthali — raps * Aya Toyoshima — trombone *

— keyboard, drums *

Nataly Dawn Natalie Dawn Knutsen Conte (born October 29, 1986), known by her stage name Nataly Dawn, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is one half of the duo Pomplamoose with her husband Jack Conte and has released four studio albums and f ...

— bass, vocals * Adam Ratner — guitar *

Rai Thistlethwayte Rai Thistlethwayte (born 21 April 1980) is an Australian rock, pop and jazz musician and songwriter. Thistlethwayte is an accomplished pianist, guitarist, and vocalist. He is the lead singer and primary songwriter in the Australian pop rock band ...

— keyboard * Dennis Hamm — keyboard * Jacob Mann — keyboard * Thom Gill — guitar, vocals * Jonah Nilsson — keyboard * Nicholas Semrad — keyboard

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* {{Authority control Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups from California American musical duos Jazz fusion ensembles Electronic music duos