KIRBY'S INSPIRATIONS IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

1. The Beach Boys

My favorite band of all time. The songs, the lore, straddling the border between Spirituality and Silliness- the perfect band. RIP to the Wilson brothers.

2. Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon

This is my favorite video game and favorite soundtrack. My favorite song from the soundtrack changes a lot but most days it's 'Sogen Town'.

3. Maplestory OST (pre-big bang)

The music in this game is very nostalgic to me, I especially love 'Fantasia', 'Omega Sector: Finding Forest', and 'Aqua Dungeon: Deep Sea' (try singing 'Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You' along with this one at that one part lol). My mousepad is a map of Victoria Island and I have good memories of slaughtering ribbon pigs to silly songs.

4. The Beatles

Should be obvious. I love their early power-pop songs the most.

5. Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnston's lyrics and recording quality specifically.

6. Nick Drake

Made me want to 'get good' at acoustic guitar.

7. Jeff Buckley

His guitar-playing stood out to me and made me want to learn chords outside the cowboy style.

8. Bossa Nova

Dorival Caymmi, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Novos Bainos, Gal Costa, Jorge Ben are my favorites. Shout out to the weird harmonies from MPB4 and Os Tincoas.

9. Elliott Smith

His songs are beautiful (and full of major 2 chords).

10. Tie between Minutemen and The Ramones first 3 albums

The length of their songs made me want to write short songs that are rewarding with each new listen.

Other bands worth mentioning:

Luminous Orange- this band has 2 phenomenal albums in the pop/shoegaze genre, 'Songs of Innocence' and 'Drop You Vivid Colors'. Check out the songs 'Violet', 'I Saw No More' and 'Give a Hint'. They need to put their song 'Riverboat' online though cause it's their best one.

MBV- I like their 1st album and s/t album a lot, 'loveless' is alright but I wouldn't say I was inspired by it as much as their EPs or other albums.

Sweet Trip- Lotsa good songs with strong melodies.

The Replacements- Lotsa strong songs with good melodies.

Bradford Cox- Atlas Sound and Deerhunter are very cool, I love their music and I found out about Stereolab from them. I think Moses Archuleta was one of the best drummers of that era.

Robin Pecknold- I really appreciate his melodies and think his songs are consistently engaging.

Mew- Last mention for inspirations but not least because this is a special band. Mew's albums up until 'No More Stories' are incredible and their debut album 'A Triumph for Man' is very underrated. I miss Bo.

Only included musical inspirations here- if you are interested in my non-music inspirations feel free to check out my Writings page or just reach out and ask!

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