''Bird-Brains'' (stylized as ''BiRd-BrAiNs'') is the debut album by American

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

musician Merrill Garbus' project

Tune-Yards Tune-Yards (stylized as tUnE-yArDs) is the Oakland, California–based music project of Merrill Garbus (vocals, various instruments) and Nate Brenner (bass, various instruments). Garbus's music draws from an eclectic variety of sources and use ...

. It was originally released as a

Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company ...

Marriage Records Marriage Records is a small, independent record label formed in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 2001 by Curtis Knapp and Adrian Orange. The label has released a number of albums by musicians such as Adam Forkner, Dirty Projectors, Little Wings ...

on June 9, 2009, and was re-released on August 17 by

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

as a limited-edition pressing. It was released worldwide on November 16, 2009, with two bonus tracks. The album was recorded almost exclusively by Garbus on a hand recorder and mixed using Audacity. Speaking to Charlotte Richardson Andrews of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', she noted her instrumental limitations and how they led to a dependence on percussion: "I had no bass – literally, I didn't own one – so the drums had to be big."

Critical reception

''Pitchfork'' ranked ''Bird-Brains'' at number 44 on their list of the top 50 albums of 2009.

Track listing

*The vinyl edition does not include the track "" and instead ends with "Fiya".

References

External links

* *

' Tune-Yards at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bird-Brains 2009 debut albums 4AD albums Tune-Yards albums Marriage Records albums