Consumer Guide Album

Ass Ponys: Electric Rock Music [A&M, 1994]
Before lo-fi liars convince you to put out a search on Grim, remember that where concept bands are designed to blow up on impact, song bands have a way of, well, improving. Preserved on tape by Afghan Whig John Curley, the music of their normal Middle American freak show--tunes, beat, Chuck Cleaver's anxious falsetto--has gained decisive aural legibility on their major-label sellout, which cost a whopping $2500 to record. And the folk-rock lyrics are firmly grounded in literalist local color from Sherwood Anderson to Tom T. Hall. A−