One of my favorite songs of the year is “Iso Residue” by Centro-Matic off their album Candidate Waltz. Will Johnson just released a video where he performs the song live and acoustic and Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio. It’s a real nice alternate take of the track and very nice video production.
Catch the band on the road in November:
10 – Kansas City MO – Record Bar
12 – Denver CO – High Dive
13 – Durango CO – Abbey Theatre
15 – Salt Lake City UT – Urban Lounge
16 – Reno NV – The Underground
17 – San Francisco CA – Bottom of The Hill
18 – Los Angeles CA – The Satellite
19 – Tucson AZ – Club Congress
I feel really bad for snubbing Centr0-matic in our best albums of 2011 so far post. Candidate Waltz really is one of my favorite albums of the year. The band recently released a new video for one of my favorite tracks on the album, “Iso-Residue” as well as a 24-song sampler. Here’s what Will Johnson has to say:
People often ask what Centro-matic or South San Gabriel album to start with. There’s no easy answer to this, so we are giving away a couple of songs from each album spanning the band’s 15 years of making music together. Please share this with your friends who might not know about Centro-matic or South San Gabriel.
A few weeks back, Shirk and I were talking about the logistics of a potential Centro-matic live session. Unfortunately schedules didn’t work out, but Shirk asked me to describe them. I said the session would similar to The Mother Hips. Like Tim Bluhm and Greg Loicano, I imagine Will Johnson to be the quintessential pro that would just lead his band in for a cracking session – everything nailed on the first take. And like The Hips, Centro-matic has managed to become one of America’s most under-appreciated bands, flying under the radar as they continually produce some of the best music around under the names Centr-matic and South San Gabriel.
Candidate Waltz is not Centro-matic’s first album, but it sure does sound that way. The album’s sound is fresh and full of energy. They sound hungry and the album is no shrinking violet as it comes banging out of your speaker. Johnson has this to say on their site:
I’d just hate for people to say, ‘It’s the same ol’ Centro-matic record.’ Do we go back and do the old things that please everyone, or go in the direction that challenges us and scares us? Because that’s where you learn things about your craft.
“All The Talkers” is phenomenal, painting a scene at a club where the band fights through all the bullshit-hipsters, talkers and posers to win over the crowd. Johnson paints the scene like this:
Talkers’ is an attempt to tell a story. As rock fans we’ve all witnessed it, and I love seeing it happen—when an unexpected comes through town and blows the doors off the joint.
The outro for this song is great as Johnson fades off singing, “It was not like the night before.”
Johnson further describes Candidate Waltz as the band’s “meat-and-potatoes pop record.” I’ll describe it as infectious, addicting and just plain ol’ fantastic. They are playing at Schubas in Chicago on July 3rd and – take it from me – Centro-matic is a real treat to see live.
I’m not quite sure how we made it through 2008 without reviewing the latest album from indie pimps Centro-matic. They released a split-double album with Will Johnson’s other band, South San Gabriel, way back in June on Misra records and somehow no one on HearYa was talking about it. Or maybe they were and they just put me on probation for writing about Virginia Coalition. Either way, if you like Centro-matic’s old stuff, Lucero, or Drive-By Truckers, then Dual Hawks is going to be right up your alley.
I actually had to go back and review our top 50 albums of 2008 to make sure it wasn’t on there. The album is stellar through and through. It’s an epic 23 songs in all and, while I haven’t had a chance to fully appreciate the South San Gabriel tracks just yet, the standouts from the first half include “Twenty-Four,” “The Rat Patrol and DJ’s,” “I, The Kite” and “All Your Farewells.”‚ Enjoy the sample track and video from Dual Hawks below and dig into some mp3′s from their past albums a bit further down.
