downtown jazz Archive

Magnet Animals – Butterfly Killer – RareNoise

Magnet Animals – Butterfly Killer – RareNoise

Willfully risk-taking music from the RareNoise label. Magnet Animals – Butterfly Killer [TrackList follows] RareNoise RNR063, 49:35 [5/20/16] ***1/2: (Todd Clouser – guitar, vocals; Eyal Maoz – guitar; Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz – bass; Jorge Servin – drums) Magnet Animals live up to their name. On the foursome’s debut, the 49-minute Butterfly Killer, the band can be polarizing; can attract and repel; can be sonically beastly; and can be as potent as a large magnetic force. Magnet Animals is the brainchild of guitarist/vocalist Todd Clouser, whose background includes the New York City downtown jazz/skronk scene. It’s there he met guitarist Eyal Maoz (who has worked with John Zorn and released solo albums on Zorn’s Tzadik label). Clouser also found his bassist, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, in the same NYC community.  Clouser and Blumenkranz met at a John Lurie tribute show. Rounding out the group is drummer Jorge Servin. Clouser discovered Servin in Clouser’s new home, Mexico City. Butterfly Killer has been issued as a digital download, as a vinyl LP, and on compact disc. This review refers to the CD configuration. Over the course of ten Clouser originals, Magnet Animals oscillate through a myriad of auditory approaches, and like other performers on […]