Yeasayer

Even for a band known for going totally bonkers in the studio, Yeasayer might throw longtime listeners for a loop with its latest release, Erotic Reruns. The Brooklyn-based trio has been guided by an exhilaratingly strange sensibility since debuting with 2007 LP All Hour Cymbals, mashing up elements of indie rock, world beat, and electronic music in the manner of Animal Collective, often warping and stretching individual sounds into otherworldly realms. When these dudes make a record, nothing is off the table, and that’s why it’s surprising for Yeasayer to put out such a conventional album. It’s conceivable that falsetto-heavy funk songs like “Ecstatic Baby” and “People I Loved” will cross over to the radio this summer, which is itself telling. And about that falsetto singing: At its best, it sounds like Midnite Vultures-era Beck, and, at its worst, like Bret from Flight of the Conchords. Either way, his new version of Yeasayer is fun.