Andy Breckman: Beyond Poco

It's a running gag on Seven Second Delay that Andy Breckman's music tastes run no deeper than Poco and Jackson Browne. But like his faux misanthropy and staged insults (fact: he IM's an apology to each caller after every show), Andy's alleged musical Philistinism is a riff. His iPod shuffle reflects a more eclectic appetite than 90% of the station's sneering, insecure poseurs. Andy's tastes are so adventurous that he endures charges of parochialism on 7SD because he doesn't need to prove anything. The evidence is readily available online in the playlists of the long-running, if episodic program, Go To Hell! With Andy Breckman.

Over the years, Andy has hosted dozens of last-minute WFMU fill-ins, usually during off-hours, with little fanfare. As his archives indicate, the real Andy Breckman is a musical connoisseur, a sonic bon vivant, an audio omnivore. From psychedelia to show tunes, from snotty L.A. punk to hip-hop, from Ethiopique to breezy Tin Pan Alley, from Senegalese Mbalax to free jazz -- if it can be ripped, one-clicked at Amazon, or downloaded from a blog in Thailand, it will end up in Andy's earbuds, and eventually on WFMU's airwaves.

The tragedy of Andy's career as a DJ is that, due to an unfortunate confluence of archiving software glitches, server crashes, accidental file deletions, and vindictive hackers (including several rival DJs), audio exists for just one show (April 1, 2009). However, meticulously annotated set-lists handwritten by Andy on Post-It pads have helped WFMU document every segue from every program he's hosted since 1994. These playlists chronicle his genre-surfing musical Odysseys: there are thoughtful concept shows, clever song threads, and sets that reflect a surprising commitment to eco-awareness. Andy's tribute to the 1967 Summer of Love offers a vault of nuggets so obscure that not only do these relics not appear on any other WFMU staffer's playlist, they can't be Googled without circling back to Andy's archives.

Though the audio of these programs has been lost, there is a rabid following for Andy's singular brand of broadcasting. His shows are so deeply revered that obsessive fans have recreated many of his famous playlists as BitTorrent distributed files. It goes without saying that these music-only compilations aren’t the same without Andy's snarky commentary and mic breaks punctuated by droll rape analogies.

Comments

[Call Screener Jeff]

I'll always cherish the mix cd Andy burned for me when he found out that I like music, too!

[Ghengis Jung]

There's nothing wrong with Steely Dan.

[anne]

cherish is the word i use to descriiiiiiiiiibe....

[Joe]

Spectacular.

[Obsessive Collector]

I clearly remember running to get my cassette recorder when Andy's first show (in'94) was broadcast. I missed the first three minutes, but I'm pretty sure I have the rest and will be only too happy to post it to the archives. Who do I send it to?

[JJZ]

Why is Indian Bob so vindictive?

[nixon]

Go to hell.

[Abigail]

AHha! Mystery solve! I heard some of these shows when they originally boardcast and always wonder why they are not included in the WFMU archives page. So it was tough luck for Andy! He was a very good DJ better then some of the others who are on now. If listeners have tapes of Andy shows he can compile the audio for HELL.

[Elizabeth]

Thank you for brightening my Wednesday. Unfortunately, now it's Thursday. Andy needs his own regular music show teamed with Aunty Pat and Aunt Ellen.

[nixon]

Are there podcasts? Uh...in...hell?

[Aunty Pat and Aunty Ellen]

If Uncle Andy would like to do a show with us we would be very happy to oblige.

[Greg (G or g on comments pages)]

When I got in my car Weds. the 1st around 530pm (no radio since about 2pm), I was busy with bad traffic and couldn't mess with the radio for about ten minutes. I was annoyed, because I didn't remember clicking on the rarely used "rock experience station" preset. Then came the mic break. What a hoot.

I recall that, when I first noticed and started listening to FMU, one of my early programming theories was that no one ever played anything you could ever hear on any other station, because after all why bother duplicating what's already available.

Andy's April Fools let's call them "ipod genius" sets demonstrated the exact opposite procedure...

[bartelby]

I've heard that the square root of negative one is actually even more lonely.

[michael C]

Hey that really was "toe-tappin"!
Thanks, Uncle Andy.

[Dale]

I didn't listen to his entire set. Did he play "Rose of Cimarron?" I like "Rose of Cimarron."

[poesboes]

Mr. Breckman is fantastic. Give the man a regular slot!

[Parq]

What a loss. Those playlists suggest some really great shows. PS, I would *pay* to listen to a show featuring Andy collaborating with the Aunties.

[ShaunDWilson]

Wow Andy really is ahead of us all in musical knowledge. He was playing Arctic Monkeys songs that no one knows even now. And this was before even the Arctic Monkeys had heard of the Arctic Monkeys.

The Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor, Ken (But You'll Be Hotter in HELL)
http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/30891

[Justin]

Hi, I'm a square. Will someone please explain this to me? I looked at his Summer of Love playlist and am not convinced that a single one of those songs, or even a single one of those artists, actually exists. Help me out here?

[Official WFMU Explanation Department]

Dear Square: Relax. Thousands of people are not convinced about millions of things, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not true. A healthy skepticism comes in handy at times, and you should be glad that yours is so finely attuned. Which way did you come in?

[rotoTOM]

Squareguy: Many of these were one-offs on obscure regional labels like Columbya [sic], RCA Victyr [sic], Epyc [sic], Don Kyrshner [sic], Capytol [sic], Parlyphone [sic], Petyr [sic] Pan, and Syx Syx Syx [sic]. Quite a few were collected on a hastily-compiled, quickly OOP, and now-impossible to find 2-LP set entitled Snuggets: Pryme Artyfacts From Psixties Psychedelic Pscenes, released on the Mellow Mushroome [sic] label out of Austin. They only pressed 50 copies and Andy claims to own thirteen of the existing six. His brother Andi [sic] played in one of the bands.

[rintintin]

who knew Andy was such a hottie! I thought Ken was the one to watch. SILVER FOX!!