Last Updated on March 9, 2026
In this episode of Beat Motel, Andrew is joined by Tom Klute, a man who has spent 25 years running the Commercial Suicide label and presumably even longer trying to figure out how to stop CDRs from rotting into useless plastic coasters.
The pair embark on a quest to identify the ‘Great Basslines of Our Time’, a journey that takes them from the bowel-ripping valve amps of the 70s to the distorted sub-bass of 90s jungle. Along the way, they discuss why buying a headless bass is a cry for help, the terror of music trackers, and the peculiar joy of being a ‘cool dad’ who gives his son massive 70s speakers only to realise his lounge ceiling is now a vibrating drum skin.
Expect tangents on why the Smokey and the Bandit remake in Suffolk failed, the mystery of delaminating discs, and why the Sugarhill Gang might be absolute fibbers. It’s an hour of gear talk, punk history, and bass-heavy nostalgia that’ll make your trousers wobble.
Riffs of the week Tom’s Riff
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Kenny Loggins – Footloose
Andrew’s Riff
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Fucked Up – Crusades
Tom’s track choices
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Stranglers – Toiler On The Sea
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Roni Size – Share the Fall (Grooverider’s Jeep Mix)
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Discharge – Ain’t No Feeble Bastard
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Chic – Good Times
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LFO – LFO
Andrew’s track choices
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Fu Manchu – Grendel Snowman
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Blur – Popscene
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Venetian Snares – Öngyilkos Vasárnap
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Gravediggaz – 6 Feet Deep
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NOFX – The Decline
