They Might Be Giants - Lincoln
I heard this one in junior high, I can't remember how old I was exactly. It was right at the time in my life when I wanted to like music of my own. I loved The Beatles and The Kinks and The Rolling Stones and all this music in the house, but I wanted my own music. I started making weirdo friends and hearing weirdo music. They Might Be Giants was a band that I immediately identified with because these guys were obviously total nerds. It was right when Green Day was coming out and I heard the Violent Femmes and They Might Be Giants around the same time and I was like: 'These people are like me, they're like weird dorky nerds.' Not only that, but I just liked how different their music sounded. I like their use of weird sounds and instruments, I'd never heard anything like it. I still love that record.

When I moved into college and started writing music I would never even think of shying away from a Casio keyboard or a sound that might sound 'primitive' or goofy because it can be completely recontextualised, and I think they had a really good ability to look past where a sound came from and do anything with it. I thought their lyrics were really beautiful. I also had a giant crush on a girl who liked them, so that helped a lot. They were a band that meant a lot to me and that record still does.