Bird-Brains (stylized as BiRd-BrAiNs) is the debut album by American lo-fi musician Merrill Garbus' project Tune-Yards. It was originally released as a Compact Cassette on Marriage Records on June 9, 2009, and was re-released on August 17 by 4AD 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, she noted her instrumental limitations and how they led to a dependence on percussion: "I had no bass â literally, I didn't own one â so the drums had to be big."
Pitchfork ranked Bird-Brains at number 44 on their list of the top 50 albums of 2009.