All Over Albany

My Exit: Raurri Jennings

It's Monday, which means WEXT is running another My Exit show -- where the listeners get to pick their own playlists.

Here's a look at what's coming up tonight:

Who?
My name is Raurri Jennings. I grew up in Rochester and Canton, New York. I've lived in Albany for almost four years where I am a library assistant at Albany Law School and Sage College of Albany. I also write music reviews for Metroland.

How would you described your taste in music?
I dig funk, soul, R&B, and hip hop: Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings. My favorite album of last year was Black Up by Shabazz Palaces. I also dig experimental pop and folk music, like Animal Collective, TV on the Radio, and St. Vincent. There is nothing wrong with Van Halen w/ David Lee Roth.

5 Songs from Raurri's My Exit:

Curtis Mayfield -- "Move On Up"
This song is like my Rocky music. The horn riff, Mayfield's inspirational lyrics, and the break beat of this tune charge the batteries in my flashlight.

Sharon Van Etten -- "All I Can"
Sharon Van Etten reminds me of mourning doves. When she sings, "I want my scars to help and heal," she reveals how in touch she is with her pain and how she is able to channel it. She kills me.

Funkadelic -- "Can You Get to That?"
Sleigh Bells sampled this song for their song, "Rill Rill," but can't come close to the original. The vocal arrangement of the chorus, when the baritone comes in makes me want to unplug myself from all electronic devices and bomb hills on my skateboard.

Father John Misty -- "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings"
This is J. Tillman's, former drummer of Fleet Foxes, new solo project. Up until this song I never really liked his solo material. It was all too bleak, but with this new album he seems to have found sense of humor. Ex: "We should let this dead guy sleep."

St. Vincent -- "Northern Lights"
Strange Mercy also made my Metroland Top Ten Albums of 2011 list, mostly because of this song. The second guitar solo on "Northern Lights," is absolutely bananas. It's like throwing a radio in the bathtub and being struck by ball lightning at the same time.

You can hear Raurri'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.