* * * Ass Ponys, “The Known...

* * * Ass Ponys, “The Known Universe,” A&M.;

On their second major-label album, the Ponys serve up twisted, literate, guitar-fueled slices of Americana in the post-R.E.M. tradition of bands such as American Music Club and Grant Lee Buffalo. Chuck Cleaver’s nasal baritone may remind you of Michael Stipe, but his lyrics are like plot lines from some lost David Lynch film.

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