Centro-matic: Fort Recovery (Misra Records, 2006)
Centro-matic first pricked my ears when I heard one of their songs on a British magazine’s ‘Americana’ compilation. The song was a punishing three minute tune called “To Unleash the Horses Now,” and it was one of those rare instances where I felt that I had to immediately know more about this band and own all of their music—though owning all of Centro-matic’s releases and their various side projects could get expensive quick. Whatever frontman Will Johnson doesn’t release as Centro-matic, he releases as a solo act or part of his equally great band, South San Gabriel and he’s frighteningly prolific.
Johnson has a knack for melody in rock music and can split your heart with a lyric like the more I learn about this world/ the less I find that I’m not afraid to die before bruising it in the next minute with a distorted riff that emanates warm tube amplification.
Equal cred should go to the phenomenal band members all of whom create fuzzed out Americana in the vein of Neil Young and Crazy Horse by way of Pavement with better melodies and a better sense of direction. (Neil Young is one of my favorites artists of all, but even I tune out when his band runs on for fifteen minutes with no discernable climax.) Songs like “Calling Thermatico,” “Patience for the Ride,” and “Monument Sails” all have unmistakable grooves and hooks to them that makes them feel familiar after one listen; and in some instances like the track “Triggers and Trash Heaps,” it’s possible to establish familiarity even before you get to the second chorus.
Fort Recovery is at the top of the pile of Centro-matic releases. Start here and work backwards for an introduction to one of the best bands of the past decade. Their new album (a double disc) is set to be released in May and may end up being the release that breaks Centro-matic into the ranks of Wilco and Dinosaur Jr. Read about what Drive By Truckers’ Patterson Hood has to say about them here.

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