Our new record is done. You can listen to preview tracks here or go to our website above. It was produced by our bass player Casey, and features guest performances from Preston Spurlock (Sewing Circle) and Sam Grossman (WoWz).
For some bands the impetus is politics, for others it’s sex or drugs, but Urban Barnyard draws its inspiration from a different muse. There’s a good-natured goofiness to the antifolky outfit’s new one, Scream Like Human Beings!, but the coed frontpersons wring a disarming amount of poignancy out of zoo stories such as “Seeing Eye Dogs” and “Macaque Attack.” - Time Out New York
Urban Barnyard only sings songs about animals in the city. Considering this restriction, their oeuvre betrays a remarkable breadth! Their sound ranges from the anthemic to the sentimental. If their stylistic variety doesn't satisfy you, then watch in wonder as they trade instruments on virtually every song, regardless of which instruments they actually know how to play.
It all started when Phoebe Kreutz, Dibson Hoffweiler, and Dashan Coram wrote "Horsies in the City," about horsies in the city. The band was born, and adopted fellow anti-folkers Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Casey Holford to add rhythms to Urban Barnyard's otherwise-twee demeanor. Soon enough, the band stopped sounding like a big joke, and started sounding pretty freaking awesome, so Dashan fired himself in protest.
Since then, the Urban Barnyard quartet has surprised everyone by becoming New York Anti-Folk's tightest indie-rock ensemble since...okay, so NYAF has never boasted any particularly tight indie-rock bands. But between scene-alumns The Moldy Peaches and Regina Spektor, Urban Barnyard's shockingly fascinating songs about the metropolitan crises of the modern non-human animal stand out as epic accomplishments of sensitivity and weirdo-ism. Fans of wit, rock, and a playful spirit - Urban Barnyard is here to milk your soul. (written by Dan Fishback)
The band's new album, Scream Like Human Beings!, produced by bassist Holford, contains sparkly reimaginings of several old favorites such as “Surfin' Sewer Rat” and “Macaque Attack,” while also delving into new territory with the rockist bombast of “Cock Fight” and the delicate harmonies of “Hot Dog.”
"Various antifolk scenesters singing twee junkyard pop songs about animals living in New York City (like that tiger they found in that guy's apartment in Harlem). It's almost unbearably adorable-- almost. Maybe the zoo could hire them to play ..." -Village Voice
Reviews for the That's The Idea EP!
"Songs about monkeys are marvelous, and songs about monkeys that fall sonically somewhere between R.E.M. and the Violent Femmes are even better than marvelous." -Delusions of Adequacy
"I had no doubt that I’d like Urban Barnyard... But I had no idea that I’d freakin’ want to marry the band! ... Fun, uplifting indie pop-rock tunes that you just want to share with your neighbor, strangers, and the world all at once. If tomorrow is a good day, I’m going to go on a drive with the windows rolled down blaring “That’s the Idea”. You should too." -Smother.net
"The lyrical approach is generally to humanize the animals in question, or maybe to animalize the humans... Though Urban Barnyard's focus is solely animal songs, they find a way to make their five selections musically eclectic. From the surf-abilly of "Surfin' Sewer Rat" to the rootsiness of "Duck a l'Orange" to the power-pop of "Baby Pigeon," the group never fails to surprise ... In a nutshell, five songs is not enough; Urban Barnyard needs to enter Magnetic Fields territory and deliver their 69 Duck Songs, or something like that." -Urban Folk
I just finally downloaded "Scream Like Human Beings!" It's an excellent, eclectic record throughout! Really amazing. My current favorites are "Macaque Attack!," "Seeing Eye-Dogs," "Johnny's Kitchen" and "Dead Blonde Squirrelfriend." (You gotta love a band who sings about "junkie squirrels!") Anyway, it's a record I can't stop listening to. Good job, guys!
Hey, saw you guys in the Mercury Lounge last month, as was so impressed I bought the album from the venue (something i actually NEVER do) and one of Jeff's comics of course :D
I just wanted to ask you, at the gig, you played a 'new song' that isn't on the album and i really enjoyed it - only I had a fair bit to drink afterwards and now can't remember what it was called or how it went... Do you know the one I'm babbling about? Could you put it up on here?
yo thugs.. the record is ill. thanks for having us at the release!! if u're around on friday. this is our last show before we leave for europe.. you should come out. it's at this new space in bushwick called vanishing point (www. myspace. com/vanishingpointstudio) (240 meserole st. brooklyn). cheap booze and dj's spinning after the bandz.
'Hot Dog' is pure genius. Those swirling, wandering guitars, the sad and touching lyrics, the impeccable arrangement, the sugar-coated hooks... This band has it going. Unstoppable.
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