Pitchfork

Devendra Banhart started out recording lo-if goofs in his bedroom on his 2002 debut Oh Me Oh My... a record no one who went to Michigan State could ever forget (yeah, I know, he was talking about the Mitten as a whole, not the university, but still). And now, after two records of steadily increasing production values and more focus on the intricacies of songcraft (relatively speaking), he's taking a step toward the loose, improvised, and silly in Megapuss, his  new project with Priestbird's Greg Rogove. Of the two songs on their MySpace page, one, "Duck People, Duck Man", is pretty much a throwaway worth a laugh or two, maybe, notable mostly for its meditation on the varieties of hummus available from Trader Joe's (white bean and basil, yeah, it rules). But "Crop Circle Jerk '94" is, despite its title, a damn catchy 1960s pop-soul pastiche, capturing the vibe of the era with its twangy guitar, horns, bongos, handclaps, and easygoing background vocals. (via Naturalismo, who also has mp3s of these tracks available for download)

MP3:> Megapuss: "Crop Circle Jerk '94"
[from MySpace]