All Over Albany

My Exit: Andrew Kreshik

Monday is My Exit day on WEXT -- the day on which one listener gets to share their playlist.

Tonight -- a trip to the musical buffet with DJ Andrew Kreshik.

Who?

I'm Andrew Kreshik and this is my first foray through the looking glass. During the day I'm in and around the city of Troy working as a member of the city's planning department. Outside of that realm, I'm just an everyman trying to balance the precious little free time we have between home and family, sports (especially lacrosse), and the arts.

How would you describe your taste in music?

Rooted but capricious. I'm a musical omnivore -- who can eat only one thing at a buffet? I pray at the altars of the major gods, but also light candles for the lesser deities.

A few songs from Andrew's My Exit:

"Hasn't Hit Me Yet" - Blue Rodeo
In 1993, I went to see the band From Good Homes open for Blue Rodeo in a DC bar. I had heard a little from BR's album Casino years prior, but they weren't a regular on US radio, nor did they tour much out of Canada. They opened with this song in promotion of their new album Five Days In May and I was mystically transported to a very happy place.

"Jet Lag" - 20/20
My soft spot for power pop shines through here. Their song "Yellow Pills" is often included on New Wave compilations, but listening only to that single cut from their self-titled album is depriving the listener of a smorgasbord of synth and harmony found throughout the rest of the disc.

"I Want You Bad" - NRBQ
My wife jokingly(?) asked me what song I was going to play for her. This is it. Musically, the Q needs more airplay and general recognition. They are not a cult favorite as some label them or solely musician's musicians. They were, and still are, the embodiment of virtuosic flexibility.

"One Good Year" - Slaid Cleaves
There are so many great young artists in and around Austin, Texas, I could fill a show using an infinitesimal fraction of them. Slaid's my rep for this one. I chose this song for its embodiment of longing as a person goes through the annual cycle -- hoping for "just one good year" to set right all the past wrongs, shortcomings or failures. My modern replacement for "Auld Lang Syne."

"No Time To Cry" - Iris Dement
As years pass, self-reflection of what we were and what we are now can become too much for us to easily process. We play the hand dealt us, harden our skin, and move on lest we get bogged down in an emotional morass. Within a voice dripping with raw emotion, Iris Dement reveals to us the anguish and longing existing so matter-of-factly in our everyday lives.

You can hear Tim's Andrew's My Exit show Monday night at 11pm on 97.7, Saturday at 8 am, or at exit977.org.

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