Thanks to TV show The Wire, most right-thinking people think they know Baltimore. A world away from re-ups, street rips, and the systematic failure of administrations to provide for civilians under their care, there's Ponytail. A hip band trading in a hectic and psychedelic chaos, this is a band who appear to reside, spiritually at least, in Brooklyn. Labelmates of the terrific Yeasayer, and makers of a tribal and complex take on the depths of psychedelic rock, they sound like Yoko Ono fronting a deranged jam band, though somehow quite catchily so. If that sounds a bit chaotic and contrived - and their current second album Ice Cream Spiritual assuredly does - then it's worth a bit of context. Available footage of them live makes a Ponytail gig look like a kind of ecstatic prog rock ceremony, and as strange as it may appear, it looks worth being part of.
• Barden's Boudoir, N16, Thu 4; Liars Club, Nottingham, Fri 5
