All Over Albany

My Exit: Kevin Marshall

Every Monday night our friends at WEXT do this thing called My Exit -- local listeners get to come into the station and program an hour of music. So we thought it'd be fun to find out a little bit about these people and why they picked the songs on their play list.

Here's tonight's person:

Who?

It's the Local Treasure himself and your favorite Times Union blogger, Kevin Marshall. Former stage actor, former radio personality, current blogger for the Times Union and co-host of MANville.

How would you describe your musical taste?

I don't like the idea of asking people to describe their own tastes. More often they'll tell you what they want others to see their taste as, but what they actually listen to and like doesn't always stay true to it. For example, I want to say that my taste is all over the place and I like a little bit of everything, but that's wholly dishonest and anyone that says that is either lying or (more likely) ignorant of the fact that what they're listening to follows a pretty consistent thread.

The only thing I can say for certain is that you could take everything I like, put it all in a Data Flow diagram, and it would all trace back to The Beatles and The Who. Just playing those two for an hour would be kind of lame, so what you'll hear instead is, with a handful of exceptions, more along the lines of what I'm loving and listening to right now. That doesn't necessarily mean it's all modern; for example, it wasn't until about six months ago that I discovered I love Neil Young. It does, though, mean that you're going to hear what I hear every day.

Now you will know what it's like to be Kevin Marshall. You're welcome!

And unlike most people reading this, I can't and won't pretend to like Animal Collective. Sorry.

5 Songs from Kevin's My Exit show:

Titus Andronicus - "No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future"

My favorite album of 2010. This is the first band in a long, long time that I've fallen head over heels in love with. If you haven't picked up "The Monitor" yet, freaking do it. Now.

The National - "Anyone's Ghost"

My second favorite album that was released this year. Gorgeously dour and melodic.

Calexico - "Man Made Lake"

I literally listened to the album this track is on - "Carried to Rust" - from start to finish every single day for about six months. And I still haven't tired of hearing it. Calexico is one of the few bands whose music really does transport you to another place. And I don't mean a place as a state of mind, but literally captures the mood and imagery of Arizona through its music.

Neil Young - "Harvest Moon"

From Young's last truly great album, which also happens to be one of my favorites. My friends Mark and Naomi had the first dance at their wedding to this song, and I nearly yelled out "f*** yeah!" Then I got angry, because I realized that this means if I ever get married I can't have this song as my first dance because I'll look like a total copycat poser. Curse you, Mark and Naomi!

Iron Maiden - "Children of the Damned"

Up the Irons! I share a story involving my brother (who just became a father and is part of the ambient post-hardcore outfit "So Hideous, My Love...") and his Megadeth and Iron Maiden albums. You'll have to tune in to hear it.

You can hear Kevin's My Exit show tonight at 8 on 97.7 or at exit977.org.

Here's how to schedule your own My Exit show on WEXT.