170: KNOWER (A→A-)

KNOWER in tier list

pretty cool. It’s definitely still Louis Cole, but I do think I can hear pretty noticeable differences. The melodies feel different, and I think especially in their first couple albums KNOWER feels dissonant in a way just Cole didn’t really. Not just harmonically, but overall. It’ll have crazy drums going over slow, measured singing, it’ll have some parts soft and other parts sharp and hard, it’s interesting. Albums one and three are good, album four I think is a little weak, albums two and five are great. The songs are all really tight, they accomplish their mission and then end, and they feel super designed to me. Every part of every song feels like a conscious decision, it really sounds like I’m listening to deliberate choices instead of just vibe-vomit. It’s very engaging. Album 5, Knower Forever, is particularly legit, really really good album. It’s interesting and consistent, produced in a way more enjoyable way to me than the previous albums, it’s less overwhelmingly harsh and digital. It’s fun and funky and I consistently like it’s instrumental solos. Often times those can be pretty hit or miss for me, whether I like them or dislike them or just feel like they’re a waste of time. In Knower Forever, I think they all add to their song, they’re all really strong. 

All around I think I like KNOWER more than just straight Louis Cole. Well, that’s not quite true. I think pure Louis Cole feels more raw to me, for all of the good and bad that entails. The stuff I like from that side of him feels more personal, and when it hits I think it hits harder. But I also think it’s not as polished as KNOWER, it’s not quite as well packaged for enjoyable listening all the time. For that reason I’m inclined to rank KNOWER higher, but I’m definitely open to that changing. For now, I think a high A is appropriate

RELISTEN1: I think when I first listened, I thought of the stuff done through KNOWER as more focused and directly listenable, and the stuff done as Louis Cole as more experimental and loose. That’s funny to me because listening now, I think it’s the exact opposite. “Louis Cole” is dialed in and laser focused. “KNOWER” isn’t not that, but it’s more playful, there’s more compromise. And I don’t think I like it as much. Knower Forever is legit, but the rest of the albums don’t hit me super hard. The highs aren’t as high and the lows I think are a little lower. And I know it’s still Cole in there, but his attention is arranged differently and it makes a difference. 

I said my first go around that KNOWER feels more dissonant to me. I think I stand by that, only I don’t like it as much as I thought I would. I knew that I thought KNOWER and Louis Cole were weird and interesting to me and I like that, and I thought the dissonance was part of that. I don’t think it’s the dissonance anymore, or at least, I think the dissonance is a smaller part of it. Mostly, the dissonance just makes it less easy to enjoy listening to. The thing that’s interesting, the thing that makes me want to care, is something else that’s harder to identify.

I also said that I think KNOWER is more polished and listenable than Louis Cole. I can see where I was coming from, but I don’t think that’s true. I think KNOWER has a little bit of a more established target, there’s a more specific feeling and type of sound they’re aiming towards. That type is pretty anarchistic, but I don’t think it’s not there. Louis Cole by himself I think is more, just, himself. I don’t think it’s less polished at all. And at this point, I think I mostly do enjoy listening to Louis Cole more, too. I also have done my listen of Genevieve Artadi now and was not sold. To the point that, as I stand now I think she distracts from the things I like about Louis Cole more than anything else.

So yeah. I overestimated a little bit how much of the attractive, curious energy KNOWER had. I overestimated how much I just enjoyed listening to them. Enough that I’m gonna move them down to an A-. I’ll say, top A-, which I think is fair on its own merit and also appropriate symbolically with Louis Cole at the top A spot.