Coming To Your Local Bandstand: Centro-matic

Around this time last year we were just starting to go nuts over The Hold Steady's Separation Sunday, a record we would describe to casual- or non-music fans who heard it and then asked, "hey, what is this?" as the year's best "pure rock record." Which was sort of intended to mean, "well, The Hold Steady is an indie rock band, but you're not really into indie rock, and since the band wears its love for classic rock on its collective, bear-soaked sleeve, we'll meet you halfway with some sort of inane descriptor that sounds sorta credible." Anyway, this is a long way of saying that our favorite indie/classic rock mash-up of 2006 so far is Centro-matic's excellent Fort Recovery, which was released by Misra in March. And it's an even longer way of setting up the rote listing of Centro-matic tour dates posted below. It's the band's first trip to the west coast since the aforementioned record hit racks. If you have yet to get hip to the band, check out this MP3 the nice people over at Misra have posted; you can download and stream more cuts at the band's MySpace domicile here.

Centro-matic -- "Triggers And Trash Heaps" -- Fort Recovery
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08/30 -- Lubbock TX -- Jakes
08/31 -- Albuquerque NM -- Launch Pad
09/01 -- Tucson AZ -- Club Congress
09/02 -- Phoenix AZ -- Modified
09/04 -- San Diego CA -- Casbah
09/05 -- Los Angeles CA -- The Troubadour
09/06 -- San Fransisco CA -- Bottom of the Hill
09/08 -- Portland OR -- Doug Fir Lounge
09/09 -- Seattle WA -- Neumos
09/11 -- Boise ID -- Neurolux
09/13 -- Denver CO -- Larimer Lounge
09/16 -- Austin TX -- Austin City Limits Festival