Benjamin Shwartz: "I'm a musician born in Mexico City. I mainly play viola and piano, but also compose music for film and television shows. I just recently finished KM31, Without Return, the sequel to the original horror film by Director Rigoberto Castañeda out later this month.

I also I have a band called Klezmerson that combines rock, jazz with traditional Mexican and Jewish music influences. With that band I've recorded 5 albums and currently I'm working in the 6th. With Klezmerson I've toured Europe, United States, Canada and Latin America, I own a studio in Mexico called "La Caja Acustica," where I produce and mix other bands as well. I don't think I chose that profession it's just what I've been doing since I can remember.

I think that my specialty is experimental music combining different styles such as traditional Mexican rhythm (Son) with Klezmer (traditional Jewish music), from a contemporary point of view. I'm always searching for new sounds and new approaches.

I am always very comfortable working with orchestras; as a matter of fact I played in one for many years. When it comes to film scoring I try to always use these elements in a non-traditional way."

"Todd Clouser is a composing guitarist, songwriter and performer based between Mexico City and the USA. 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. As guitarist for the group Klezmerson, Todd has recorded for the prestigious Tzadik Records, going on to perform the compositions of John Zorn at The Village Vanguard in New York City and as part of "Masada Marathons" in Sarajevo and Vienna.

Clouser's recent solos releases are "You The Brave : Live at Icehouse" in trio with John Medeski and JT Bates, a series of 3 EP's of quarantine-time compositions entitled "Solitary Daydreams", and a series of collaborations with Mexican experimental guitarist Alex Otaola highlighted by the "sonic calendar", an interactive creative interface up at www.toddclouser.com/otaola-clouser.

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."