Drop

Many bands use second albums to expand their musical horizons, but Danish quartet Pinkunoizu rein things in on The Drop -- relatively speaking, that is. Where their debut album, Free Time!, was an often gloriously overstuffed mix of psych, folk, and world music, here Pinkunoizu deliver expansive jams that nevertheless sound more cohesive than what they've done before. "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" -- named for the giant, swirling mass of detritus in the Pacific Ocean -- offers more proof of how enduring, and enduringly trippy, Krautrock's motorik rhythm is, while the nearly ten-minute "Necromancer" allows the band to showcase its fondness for bouncy synth pop and moody psych rock without sounding jumbled. The album's more intimate moments, such as "The Swollen Map" and "Down in the Liverpool Stream," have just as much impact as the showier ones, and reaffirm that Pinkunoizu have gained more than they lost by paring down a bit on The Drop. ~ Heather Phares