After Ian Eagleston traveled over to Africa to document the Benga music of Kenya, the musician returned home with something more than his doctoral thesis: a new group called Extra Golden. Eagleston was living in the working-class neighborhood of Buruburu in the Kenyan city of Nairobi studying Benga, when Alex Minoff, his bandmate from the Washington D.C. band Golden, came to visit in 2004.

As Eagleston and Minoff were tossing back and forth ideas for some new songs, Otieno Jagwasi of the African outfit Orchestra Extra Solar Africa started to contribute his opinions about the music.

“[Jagwasi] was really open to anything,” Minoff says. “He was a really, really good guitar player and great singer.”

The trio got along so well that they decided to cut a CD together at Nairobi’s The Annex Club. Along with drummer Onyango Wuod Omari, the musicians set up in a small passageway under a tin roof within the venue and recorded the better part of their debut album OK-Oyot System in just two hours.

At the time, Eagleston and Minoff regarded the recording as nothing more than a souvenir from their African trip. “We were just hoping to make it a document,” Minoff says. “We never honestly considered being a band.”

But, then two years after the lightning fast recording session, the Chicago indie rock label Thrill Jockey, which is home to acts including David Byrne and Califone, put out OK-Oyot System. Unfortunately, Jagwasi had passed away the previous year from liver failure, but Extra Golden pushed on with Omari and vocalist Opiyo Bilongo.

This past March, Extra Golden released its third CD, Thank You Very Quickly, which has Jagwasi’s brother Onyango taking over the lead vocals position. Even though Thank You Very Quickly was recorded on the cramped third floor of Eagleston’s parents’ Washington D.C. home, the six songs are a gigantic, festive burst of sound. The almost eight-minute long opener “Gimakiny Akin” is a hybrid of African music and indie rock with a hailstorm of drumbeats in the song’s mid-section. Meanwhile, with its expressive slide guitar and tumble of complex rhythms, “Anyango” sounds like The Allman Brothers jamming with an ensemble of African musicians.

Part world music group, part indie rock outfit, part jam band, Extra Golden has the potential to appeal to a diverse set of music fans. Last summer, the band did a wide array of shows, from the Pitchfork Music Festival (which also featured indies Dinosaur Jr. and Bon Iver) to the 10,00 Lakes Festival (with jam band icons Mickey Hart and Leftover Salmon.)

“I’m pretty sure we are the only band with American musicians and Bengan musicians,” Minoff says.

EXTRA GOLDEN play 3pm-5pm Saturday, May 9, at the Big Sur Spirit Garden, located 26 miles south of Carmel on Highway 1, Big Sur. $15. 667-3100