After 12 years and 12(ish) albums, Centro-matic/South San Gabriel remain mainstays of Texas music. In that time they’ve found acceptance beyond the Lone Star State – namely SSG in Europe – but they’ve always been very much a “Texas” band, having danced the “Denton-Austin-Houston Three Step” thousands of times, and never having strayed far away from home for long. With such feelings of familiarity and community, listening to the new double-album, Dual Hawks, is a lot like heading over to the neighbor’s place to check out his new grill while he cooks a few juicy ‘gers.

The Centro-matic side is a return to the low-fi edge that has marked their sound on almost every album, except 2006’s Fort Recovery, a very polished but largely boring album. Familiar low-fi, overdriven guitars mark “Rat Patrol and DJs,” followed up with vocal harmonies and a lot of “ooh”-ing, classic Centro-matic, through-and-through. Immediately there is a return to the advances the band made on albums like Love You Just The Same, combining their knack for low-fi guitar rock with Johnson’s more consistently well-written songs.

Even songs like “Quality Strange” and “I, The Kite,” which are more calculated and precise as on Fort Recovery, feel original and hold up as some of the best tunes on the album. Like almost every Centro-matic album though, there is a certain amount of filler, especially in the back half of the album. “All You Farewells” has its moments, but for the most part feels lifeless and stagnant with crescendos that lead nowhere; “Counting the Scars” is stripped down to Johnson and an acoustic guitar, an interesting sound, but one I can’t help think would be more appropriate on one of his solo records rather than an otherwise upbeat Centro-matic one.

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We now come to the second half of our Dual Hawks post. Just to recap, Dual Hawks (a double LP!) is the latest album from both Centro-matic and South San Gabriel. As I discussed in the Centro-matic post, South San Gabriel is essentially the side project of Will Johnson, even though it features all the members of Centro-matic. The band was formed after Centro-matic released an album of quieter, more delicate songs titled South San Gabriel Music/Songs a good number of year back. While still clearly connected to Centro-matic, the band has taken on an entity of its own with separate releases (two other albums before Dual Hawks), separate tours, and a distinct South San Gabriel “sound.”

That “sound” ranges from soft soundscapes with heavenly strings, to drum machines and tape loops. And then almost everything in between. Dual Hawks isn’t quite as cohesive as the band’s last release, The Carlton Chronicles, a concept album about a cat (trust me, it works), but Johnson and Co., especially in their SSG form never cease to impress me with the uniqueness of the songs, and even just the different noises they can conjure up. For as many traditional instruments you can find on the album (drums, acoustic guitars), there are just as many or more that I can’t identify (probably because they’ve all been run through reality-altering effects).

“Trust To Lose” is not exactly the best representation of the album. It’s a bit more direct than the usual wandering and adventurous spirit of a SSG song, but it ventures into new areas for the band. Strings (or at least instruments that sound like strings) are paired with a distorted guitar that serves more to give the song a rugged texture than to drive it. Johnson’s voice is more exposed, though again, not as much as traditional SSG songs. My minor complaints aside, the song is an interesting one, different from anything I’ve heard from either of the two bands.

It also does a fine job of defining the often confusing boundary between Centro-matic and SSG; essentially, SSG songs are more like sonic compositions, whereas Centro-matic songs are your more “traditional” rockers. Of course, there are about a thousand exceptions to that generalization. Such is the nature of Will Johnson.

Get the track after the jump.

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Today on the Daily Dic, we begin a two part post on the new Centro-matic/South San Gabriel double LP, Dual Hawks. Will Johnson, leader of both bands (we’ll get to that shortly), is more or less one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. Aside from his main project, Centro-matic, started in Denton over a decade ago, he has released solo albums, as well as albums with his side project South San Gabriel, which is essentially Centro-matic and a rotating cast of guest musicians. For the upcoming release in June, the two bands split the bill, or rather, double up on Dual Hawks, which features a full album from each band.

Johnson and the boys have been through a lot, toying with everything from lo-fi on some of their earlier albums, all the way to the super-produced gloss of their last release, Centro-matic’s Fort Recovery. On Dual Hawks, the band returns to their roots, at least marginally. The tracks tend to be grittier, though not necessarily as lo-fi as the early stuff, but Johnson’s continual evolution as a songwriter is quite visible. Basically, best of both worlds: classic(ish) Centro-matic sound, coherent Will Johnson songwriting.

I’ll admit, Fort Recovery had me worried that Centro-matic might be slipping, but this album (so far) seems to be one big reassurance.

This track, “I, The Kite,” doesn’t quite showcase the lo-fi of some of the tracks, but it does a pretty good job of affirming how great the band is, but also how influenced they are by themselves (as if that even makes sense). For as much as South San Gabriel seems to be the outlet for all things non-Centro-matic, it’s easy to see SSG seeping back into its counterpart. The layered vocals, and deep, acoustic guitar-laden mix recalls scenes from SSG’s The Carlton Chronicles. Take “I Feel Too Young To Die,” juice it up a bit with some unobtrusive drums and an electric guitar, and you’ve got a close approximation of “I, The Kite.” Guitar solo: 5/10, guitar tone: 10/10.

It is one of the “catchier” songs on the album, so don’t be afraid to sing along. The track’s after the jump.

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