All Over Albany

My Exit: Mike Hotter

WEXT's My Exit is back. Every Monday night local listeners get to come into the station and program an hour of music. 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 this week's My Exit DJ...

Who?
Mike Hotter, Albany resident.
Day job: Dept. of State
I've been in various Albany bands since moving here in 2000 - currently in the band Swamp Baby.

Musical Taste:
Some formative albums in the house as a kid: Jesus Christ Superstar, Willie Nelson's Stardust, Billy Joel's Glass Houses, my Dad's classical records, the Easy Rider and Popeye soundtracks.

Took up guitar around the age of 11 and delved heavily into the usual hard rock stuff -- was encouraged by older musicians to dig further into blues and jazz. All my friends in the Bronx liked hip hop, so I developed a love for that. The classic rock cover band I was in during my freshman year at Bronx Science was mistakenly booked at a hardcore punk show in a basement in Riverdale -- that really opened my head up to all sorts of sonic possibilities. It's always been all over the map.

A few songs from Mike's show:

Kurt Vile - "In My Time" and "Freeway"
I was a bit leery of playing two of his songs, since it comes off as being a little obsessed. I wanted to play a newer song and an older, more lo-fi one. But I do appreciate what he's doing - you can tell he's studied a lot of old music, but puts his own wry spin on it. Good stuff.

The Velvet Underground - "Cool It Down"
My wife Megan says this was the song that made her want to be in a rock band someday (she played classical violin as a child and teenager). Back in 2001, at the old, Rocky Nigro-era Palais Royale, I asked her to join my old band, knotworking - we've been together more than 9 years now.

The Band - "All La Glory"
Alela Diane - "Oh! My Mama"
Beautiful songs anyone can appreciate, but I chose them because I think they encapsulate quite a lot about what it means to be a parent. Can't hear them without thinking about our little bird, Emily Wing.

Cymande - "Bra"
Loved it for that break that De La Soul used on their first album. A very feel good tune.

Jason Martin - "Patient Zero" (for the sensitive tail)
Jason was one of the area's great musical iconoclasts, before he moved to NYC to further his education - I hope he writes more songs, and I hope he moves back.

You can hear Mike'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.