News ~ Clogs

February 5, 2013

The Return of Clogs

Been wondering what Clogs are up to these days? Most days we wonder the same thing. But today we have actual news for you. The group has just released The Sundown Song EP, an intimate, three-song collection that captures group leader Padma Newsome in his current home base, Mallacoota, one of the most isolated towns in the Australian state of Victoria. The songs explore mortality and bittersweet endings, a theme well-captured in the music video for the title track, "The Sundown Song." Check it out:


Stereogum premiered it earlier today and says "the video is equally as soothing as the track, a collage of real life clips, sepia-toned and almost like living photojournalism." Pitchf...


June 27, 2012

Clogs re-emerge, go on tour

What ever happened to Clogs? It's a question we periodically ask ourselves. Well, guess what, they're re-emerging this summer for a tour that will explore the northeastern U.S. and Maritime provinces. (We'd never heard of the Maritme provinces either. Apparently it's a Canadian thing.) They also played Los Angeles this past weekend but we forgot to tell you about it. We hear it was awesome.

Anyway, band co-founder and O.G. Brasslander Bryce Dessner will be sitting out this round, but they group will have several guests joining in the music-making. Guitarist Ben Cassorla will join the group throughout the entire tour. Creatures vocalist Shara Worden will sing at the H...


January 24, 2011

Clogs re-emerge for NY & London love & shows

Well, we're as red as a tomato in the sun from all the praise Clogs received in 2010. And apparently, so are they, as we're happy to announce their first live dates of 2011.

First the praise part. Our friends at NPR took a few minutes out of their busy schedule praising Buke & Gass to give some kudos to Clogs, naming their album 'The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton' to their very short list of the best genre-defying albums of 2010. 'By turns wistful and playful, the album is one of the most evocative and appealing records of the year, in any genre,' they said. Across the pond, NME named the album among the most underrated of 2010. And, well, underrated...


December 14, 2010

Holiday Download! Brassland Fans get a free Clogs track (with special guests Sufjan & Shara).

Well, the holidays are fast approaching and you know what that means. Holiday party awkwardness, gifts you didn't ask for that you have to pretend to like, and loud Santa sing-a-longs with your pals...

We can help you with that last part! To wish you a Happy Holidays, we are offering you a free download of Clogs “We Were Here” featuring Sufjan Stevens & Shara Worden from My Brightest Diamond!

Just head over to this page we've set up to connect with us on Facebook for the link.

We at Brassland want to thank you for a great 2010! Please take this song as a token of our gratitude! See you in 2011!


August 3, 2010

Clogs Release "Last Song" Video and 3-Song EP

Last week, Clogs released a video for their latest single, "Last Song," on Pitchfork.tv. Directed by twin brothers Benjamin and Stefan Ramirez Perez, the video layers animation over traditionally filmed images to gracefully show a fragmented narrative in which two characters shift between isolation and interaction. The tune itself features The National's Matt Berninger (pictured at left with daughter Isla on the latest cover of Under the Radar), whose baritone enters a minute and a half in. You can watch the video below.

In addition to the video, Clogs are releasing the digital-only Last Song EP. Featuring the title track, two exclusive b-sides ("No Bridge" and the curiousl...


June 14, 2010

Clogs Receive Mid-Year Love from eMusic and Drowned in Sound

Though we've tweeted it, 140 characters just doesn't quite do this story complete justice. The news? Clogs' The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton continues to rack up praise, this time from eMusic and Drowned in Sound.

eMusic's article, The Best Albums of the Year...So Far, places Clogs on an eclectic list that includes Titus Andronicus, Caribou, The New Pornographers, and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), among others. What did they have to say about The Creatures? We found a pertinent quotation: "Clogs have developed an accessible style of composition that draws on both Renaissance lute and keyboard music, as well as American minimalism... Newsome (has) create...


May 18, 2010

Clogs' Creatures and The National's Back Catalog Receive UK Release

On May 24th, our friends across the pond will be able to purchase Clogs' The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton, marking the first time in many years that Britons have access to a physical copy of a Brassland album (other than as an import, of course).

If that's not enough to whet your appetite, The National's back catalog will be available, as well. For those Englishmen (and Welshmen and Scotsmen and their sexual counterparts) interested in tracing the sonic history of High Violet, now marks the perfect time to begin your research. There’ll be more Anglo-centric news to come from Brassland in the future, so stayed tuned. Cheers!


April 23, 2010

Clogs’ Song “Last Track” for free download at KCRW

On Monday April 26th, influential (i.e. not crappy, in fact quite excellent!) radio station KCRW will be giving away a free MP3 of Clogs' "Last Song" as Today’s Top Tune, a daily download feature both on their site and iTunes wherein they select one of their favorite recent songs for you, the listening audience. “Last Song," which appears on Clogs new album, "The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton," features a lead vocal contribution from The National's singer Matt Berninger. The song has proven to be pretty popular. The National guys are getting pretty popular.

Anyhoo, the song will only be available for download for 24 hours so get it while you can, or you won't b...


March 29, 2010

Clogs

The past month or so was busy for Clogs -- in addition to releasing their fifth full-length album, The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton, the band played high-profile shows in Minneapolis, New York, and Knoxville. We thought we'd recap the month's doings in further detail.

Pitchfork rated The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton an 8.2/10.0 while stating:

Like their new approach to cover art - once muted and minimal; here a spectrum of vivid color - The National's Bryce Dessner and Co. have crafted a new version of Clogs that revels in pushing boundaries and redefining their sound... Lady Walton contains the most accomplished and varied music Clogs have...


February 17, 2010

New Clogs Album Ships Early Only at The Brassland Store, Lantern Now on Limited-Edition Vinyl

On March 2nd, Clogs will release their fifth studio album, The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton. Their first long-player since 2006's Lantern, The Creatures was recorded in Brooklyn and Sydney over 2007-2008 and features a variety of guests, including Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), Sufjan Stevens, Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner (The National), and the Osso String Quartet.

Now for the new news. As of today, you can pre-order the album from The Brassland Store, where it will ship early and arrive at your doorstep before it's available in fine music retailers across the country. We've put together a few bundles that you can choose from:

Bundle #1...


January 12, 2010

Clogs To Release New EP in January 2010, New Record in March

Back in September, Asthmatic Kitty posted a playlist that included a new song by Clogs. Featuring Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), "We Were Here" was teased as a possible track off their follow-up album to 2006's Lantern. Over the past three months we've hammered out details and now have information on the album, including title, tracklist, and artwork.

You can read a lot more details than even we know as reported on the internet websites Stereogum and Pitchfork.

Recorded in Brooklyn and Sydney over the course of 2007 and 2008 then mixed & finished over the next year and a half, The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton includes performan...


April 6, 2009

Clogs To Play Pablo Neruda Tribute Concert

After a long period of R&R, Clogs resurfaced in 2009 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, sharing a bill with Bell Orchestre and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. As was duly noted, the show went very well, indeed.

Now the band returns for its second major show of the new(-ish) year, playing a new piece by Padma Newsome at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden on April 15th as part of Songs of Love and Despair: A Musical Tribute to Pablo Neruda. The evening, which aims to "feature readings and...new music as settings for Neruda's poetry," takes place from 8:00-9:30 pm and will also feature Irene and Vojtech Havel, Laurie Anderson, and Colin Stetson (Bell Orchestre, Arcade Fir...


March 2, 2009

Clogs Receives Interweb Love Following BAM Show

Last Thursday, Clogs played the Brooklyn Academy of Music with Bell Orchestre and the Brooklyn Philharmonic in a comeback concert (of sorts). The band's emergence from relative hibernation was greeted with enthusiasm on various music websites, including The New York Times, whose critic (Jon Pareles) concluded that "there was no question that the classical and indie realms can share a border where music turns pensive, knotty and otherworldly." It's obviously been a while since the dude reeled through Lantern on his Walkman, but better he come to this conclusion late rather than never.



Stereogum was also present, snapping photos and gushing over the appear...


February 22, 2009

Clogs and Nico Playing BAM This Week

If you check this site regularly, you already know both Clogs and Nico Muhly have events at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this week. Not to brag, but given The National's two-night residency at the venue in 2008, it starting to feel like BAM is Brassland's friendly neighborhood club -- albeit one that seats 2000 people and was home to legendary early works by artists like Philip Glass and Robert Wilson.

Clogs' performance, part of an event titled Shuffle Mode, takes place this Thursday (February 26). The band will play alongside the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Bell Orchestre in a "musical dialogue that defies the expectations for classical concert programming." Basically the two ba...


November 14, 2008

Clogs Emerge From Hibernation With BAM Show

As reported on Brooklyn Vegan, Clogs will re-emerge in 2009. In addition to their show tonight at Middlebury College, the band has scheduled a February 26th performance with Bell Orchestre, titled Shuffle Mode, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The show's format involves the two groups performing alongside the Brooklyn Philharmonic in a collaborative attempt to blend classical and popular music. Each band will play three to five original songs; the Brooklyn Philharmonic will then perform established classical works that share sonic parallels to the bands' originals, creating a musical dialogue that highlights the similarities between the popular and classical spheres.

...


April 28, 2008

Clogs Featured in Turn the River

Clogs are featured on the original soundtrack to writer/director Chris Eigeman's debut film Turn the River. The soundtrack features songs from Lantern as well as new music.

Starring Famke Janssen and Rip Torn(!), the film's narrative centers around Kailey, a divorced, tough-as-nails mother who makes her living playing poker upstate and hustling games in a Manhattan pool hall. In order to gain back her 11 year old son, Gulley, from his abusive upper-class father, Kailey must first gain the necessary cash to secure bootleg passports by participating in a $10,000-per-rack game of nine ball.


Will her plan work? Will everything turn out all right in the end? W...


March 7, 2008

Clogs Percussionist Tours with Loop 2.4.3

Clogs' percussionist Thom Kozumplik will be touring the Midwest throughout March and has an April show in New York with Loop 2.4.3. The dates are:

3/9/08 Pittsburgh, PA (Your Inner Vagabond)
3/11/08 Chicago, IL (The Empty Bottle)
3/12/08 University Center, MI (Saginaw Valley State - Free Show)
3/13/08 University Center, MI (SVSU Master Class)
3/14/08 Caledonia, MI (Duncan Lake MS Auditorium)
3/15/08 Caledonia, MI (Strike Percussion Weekend Master Class)
4/9/08 New York, NY (The Players Theatre)

In addition, Rachael Elliot from Clogs will be performing with her bassoon duo Tuple at Loop 2.4.3's April show in New York.


March 20, 2006

Clogs' Lantern Still Lit

Clogs' Lantern is shaping up to be one of the most critically acclaimed releases of 2006. Check out the band's Metacritic page to read a few of the great reviews, and try to catch their upcoming major market


February 10, 2006

Clogs' Lantern on Fire?

We apologize for all the bad punning. However, we wanted to thank you for supporting Clogs new album, Lantern, released to stores this week. A few days ago, Pitchfork gave the album a glowing 8.2 rating, calling the record "the most fully realized version of Clogs' aesthetic." In its first week at college radio, the album charted in Dusted's Top 25. (We like to think of Dusted as the thinking man's CMJ chart.)

The response to their UK tour with The Books has been even more unrestrained. Major papers like The Independent, The Guardian, and Scotland's The Herald have all weighed in with kind words.

So, thank you America. And Europe too.


February 2, 2006

Clogs' Lantern Soon To Be Released

On Tuesday, February 7th, Clogs' Lantern will be available in stores everywhere, including online vendors, Amazon & Insound. The quartet are currently on tour in England with their friends The Books thanks, in part, to the UK's Contemporary Music Network. May we suggest you read this great feature story which appeared on the cover of the Guardian UK's Culture pages last week. It's an intriguing conversation between The Books and Bryce Dessner (Clogs/The National/Brassland), about process, filing cabinets, and Renaissance lutes. Visit our tour page to peep more Clogs dates through May 2006 at venues such as The Kitchen, Merkin Hall, and Cincinnati's Contemporary Art Center...


December 15, 2005

Clogs Tour

Clogs have scheduled tour dates through May 2006, including their Contemporary Music Network sponsored UK tour with The Books, and a series of New York shows at Bowery Ballroom, The Kitchen and Merkin Hall. Additional European dates will be announced soon.


November 12, 2005

Clogs and Blogs

Tonight marks the final evening of Clogs' short east coast tour with Bell Orchestre. We are happy to report it was a wonderful excursion. Most of the shows sold out; Bell Orchestre are lovely people; and the bloggeratti went crazy for both groups. If you don't believe us click here, here, here, here, here, or here. Phew! Special thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for posting some lovely pictures of Clogs from the Tonic gig.



October 29, 2005

A Quick Word About the Clogs Tour

Our recent updates have been looooooooong. This one will be. Short.

Clogs are on tour in November with Bell Orchestre, a chamber instrumental project of Richard Reed Parry (multi-instrumentalist) and Sarah Neufeld (violin) from the Arcade Fire. Clogs will be selling copies of their fourth album, Lantern. (A picture of the album's cover appears to the left.) Brassland will release the record nationwide in February. It may be available at some of our favorite New York record stores before then. We'll let you know, okay?



August 31, 2005

Clogs: Resting, Traveling, Then Re-Grouping

Clogs have been hibernating. Bassoonist Rachel Elliott spent the summer in rural Vermont. Percussionist Thom Kozumplik has been occupied by projects like Loop 2.4.3 and Uncle Jimmy's Dirty Basement. Guitarist Bryce Dessner has been traveling in Europe with The National. Strings player Padma Newsome has made occasional appearances with the group, but mostly been composing in Australia, save for a spell at the Walton Estate in Ischia, Italy -- the latter thanks to a commissioning award from Harvard University's Fromm Music Foundation.

Clogs will be re-grouping in November for a short tour with Bell Orchestre, the Pitchfork-approved side project of indie rock sensations, The Ar...


March 24, 2005

Pitchfork Still Sporting Clogs

The Pitchfork love for CLOGS does not stop. Check out this revealing and informative profile that ran on the site earlier this week. We also recommend visiting the American Music Center's online magazine NewMusicBox.com to view an exclusive web video of Clogs performing Ingram Marshall's "In Deserto (SmokeCreek)" at Symphony Space this past January. It's available until April 15th.


March 4, 2005

Clogs' Stick Music Continues to Rack Up Acclaim

Much to our surprise and satisfaction, word on Clogs' Stick Music does not stop. Earlier this week both DustedMagazine.com and PitchforkMedia.com joined the chorus of acclaim from the New York Times, Mojo, the Guardian UK, etc. Dusted said: "This is music that breathes a solitary chill into bone, barely supported by its elegant dissonance and spider-web silk textures." Pitchfork rated it an 8.6 explaining, "When trying to describe Clogs' music to other folks, it might be better to forgo any genre distinctions and head straight for the thesaurus so you can find fresh and exciting ways to say 'sublime.'" Thank you to the interweb for your support!

If that wasn't en...


February 15, 2005

Clogs Have Been Very Busy

It's been an unbelievably productive and artistically satisfying five months for the group since we published our last update on them in September. In lieu of trying to figure out how to string it all together, here are some bullet points:

* Clogs continue to receive high praise in the American and European press, following the release of their third album, Stick Music, and subsequent touring on both continents. Click on the respective publication names to see the glowing notices in [LINK TO COME]New York Times, [LINK TO COME]Mojo, All About Jazz, and [LINK TO COME]The Wire. Most notably, we were high-fiving over a five-star live review in [LINK TO COME]The Guardian UK. It ran a...


September 19, 2004

Clogs Touring the US

Clogs are in the midst of the US leg of their world tour. It's already found them playing the sales floor of the world's largest record store (Amoeba Hollywood), a warehouse (PICA's T:BA festival in Portland), and a movie theater (providing live score to silent films in Seattle). They play clubs sometimes, too. These days they are mixing repertoire from their three albums, as well as debuting new material including crowd favorite "Lantern," or "Candle," or "Lighthouse." (They haven't settled on a name yet.) The excitement continues throughout the fall. Right now, the final American date is a CMJ blowout at the Knitting Factory on Wednesday, October 13th featuring sax player P...


August 13, 2004

Clogs Tour Stick Music

We've just posted a full itinerary for Clogs' extensive fall tour. Their third album Stick Music will begin appearing in stores next week, though we expect it will become more widely available as word spreads throughout the fall. Buy it now online, or ask for it by name at your favorite local record shop.


July 19, 2004

Clogs Release Stick Music, Tour US and Europe

The ensemble is gearing up for a big wave of activity starting in late August, when they release their third album, Stick Music. This will be followed by an extensive US and European tour. We will have more details soon.