Vids › The Weirdness, Part 5

KNOWER – I'm The President

2023

60K Likes

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Best comments

1.“We put the lyrics in the description. Also, stop being pussies about the snare drum mix.”

More comments

2.“Bassist came out of the womb with bass face.”
3.“The neighbors called the cops with a noise complaint. Genevieve called an airstrike with a neighbor complaint.”

The story

KNOWER is Louis Cole on drums and Genevieve Artadi on vocals, two musicians who built a following on YouTube with jazz-funk so tight it squeaks. For this one they invited an entire orchestra and choir over to the house. Sam Wilkes on bass, Jacob Mann and Paul Cornish on keys, and a brass crew with a tuba, two sousaphones and trombones, all crammed in for the kind of DIY party video the duo is known for.

The song is Artadi playing a brand-new president who is very pleased with herself, and the jokes get filthier as it goes. Stereogum put it on its best songs of the week list and pointed out the horn flourishes, the backing choir and a structure that goes completely off the rails – bass-driven funk, then marching band, then free jazz.

It was the first single from KNOWER FOREVER, their first full-length album since 2016, recorded at Cole's house and sold only on Bandcamp at first. Three songs went up free on YouTube, and this was the opener. Every politician should have to campaign with two sousaphones behind them. Honesty in brass.

In my playlists

The Weirdness, Part 5 · #56

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