Centro-matic "The Given Geography" from Distance and Clime Live at King Club Madison, WI Apr 9, 2006 PODCAST EXCLUSIVE!

The King Club turned out to be kind of a weird venue for this show. First of all, there's a disco ball and crazy stage lights going the whole time, which is kind of odd in a club that's about 10 feet wide. When the first band up, Goat Radio, took the stage, there were maybe 15 people in there and most of the lights were on. Their sound fit the headliners well, but the next band, Toronto's Great Lakes Swimmers, were a surprising choice. Their folky, acoustic-y ballads -- played in near-complete darkness -- wowed some of the crowd but put me to sleep. Sorry.

It seemed to actually get darker when Centro-matic come out. Frontman Will Johnson's banter -- much of it about baseball on the cold weather from their last Madison show -- helped to bring the audience in through the darkness, but I was shocked to be able to get anything out of these clips. I'm going to another King Club show this Friday, so we'll see if that's just how shows are there or if it was particular to Centro-matic's stage presence.