Wow, Centro-matic! Let's get the band comparisons out of the way first: Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, Superchunk, etc. Blah blah blah.

But forget about all that. This is a great record. We're talking serious "lost my dog, lost my girl, got no money, hole in my leg, kinda confused, forgot my keys, it's too damn hot, let's get a burrito" fuzzed out, melodic, heartbreaking indie-rock. You know, the kind that comes from Texas.

Indeed, Mr. Will Johnson, the voice and main force behind Centro-matic, is from Texas, and as far as I can tell the band is currently based in Denton, a dusty little town with a curiously active music scene.

Geography aside, what's so great about Centro-matic? Johnson's voice, for one. You have a hard, hard heart if you're not touched by the pure, yearning emotion Johnson puts out on tunes like "Cool That You Showed Us How" and "Saving a Free Seat."

Melody is another strong point here. It's one thing to write fuzzy guitar tunes and warble earnestly above the din. It's quite another to warble memorably, melodically, tunefully. Centro-matic has that one down!

Plain old prettiness is a third. "Strategy Room" is about as pretty a tune as I can remember hearing in a long time, especially from a guitar based rock band. Slide guitar, organ, vocals -- it's all there.

This is an honest, pretty, sad, catchy rock record, and it leaves me with the sense that I'll be doing a lot more Centro-matic listening in the future. Luckily they have a number of other singles, EPs and CDs floating around out there. I hope they're even half this good.