Todd Clouser
Rock Jazz Open Eyed Music
Todd Clouser is a composing guitarist, songwriter and performer based out of
Mexico City. Combining elements of rock, jazz blues, spoken word and improvised
musics, Clouser has toured the world with his group A Love Electric, as a solo
act and performed alongside luminaries from John Lurie to John Zorn, Flea, Cyro
Baptista, John Medeski, Keb Mo, and more, performing at rock, jazz and world
music festivals across the globe.
Clouser's prolific output and genre-evading creativity had NPR call Todd
"a fascinating musician ..... (he) doesn't belong to any scene and doesn't
want to", Time Out NYC hailing his rock jazz trio A Love Electric as
"illuminating", and Mexico City's La Jornada mentioning the group as
"one of the most important acts of recent years". A native of
Minneapolis, MN, Clouser grew up traveling the USA following his favorite
artists and self publishing poetry and recordings before being signed to
Ropeadope Records for his first "proper" release, entitled "A
Love Electric". As time and tours passed, A Love Electric became a band,
first an instrumental act joined by NYC downtown scene heroes Steven Bernstein,
Cyro Baptista, and Billy Martin, eventually settling as a trio that explores
Clouser's songwriting while honoring the inquisition and fearlessness or jazz
tradition, with Hernan Hecht on drums and Aaron Cruz on bass. The trio has gone
on to release 6 records on labels in the US and Mexico while performing nearly
1,000 concerts in the span of 7 years.
While Clouser is perhaps most recognized in his Mexico City home as the leader
of A Love Electric, he has also released the "psychedelic naked
lunch" (Distorsioni Magazine - Italy) record "Butterfly Killer"
with the group Magnet Animals (featuring Shanir Blumenkranz, Eyal Maoz, and
Jorge Servin) on Rarenoise Records (London, UK). An experimental offering,
CHANT found Todd collaborating with street singers, friends, and artists from
Mexico City and Minneapolis, the live CHANT show turning into a freewheeling
conduction experiment calling the audience to the stage. Clouser also writes
songs for a duo project with Mexican singer Renee Mooi, the two performing at
festivals and in clubs throughout latinAmerica. His solo song record entitled
"Man With No Country" was produced by Anton Fier (Golden Palominos)
and released on Billy Martin's Amulet records. A record of "music for
unmade film" entitled "Cinema" was self released with pianist
Alex Mercado in 2017.
Clouser's most recent release is "You The Brave : Live at
Icehouse" in trio with John Medeski and JT Bates
Philanthropy and community outreach work have been an important of Clouser's
work in Mexico and beyond. With the founding of his "Music Mission"
initiative, Todd and patrons have donated thousands of dollars worth of
instruments, education materials, workshops and basic needs support to
communities in Nicaragua, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Mexico City, Durango, and more. Todd
is also the founder of Ropeadope Sur, a record label based out of Mexico City
with a focus on Mexican acts in search of increased projection of their music,
the first act signed being Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz, an acapella group
singing slave-era songs on the ranches on northern Mexico.
- Website:
- http://www.toddclouser.com/
- Facebook:
- https://www.facebook.com/toddclousermusic/