Beat Motel Zine – Details, episodes & analysis

This is it. The big one. Episode 161. A milestone nobody asked for and even fewer likely wanted. It's the "Ego-death indulgent Spectacular Special," which is basically a fancy way of saying Andrew and Dr. Sam have finally disappeared up their own backsides to look at the wreckage of the last 160 episodes.

Expect a lot of self-congratulatory stats, clips of the pair sounding like absolute melts, and the usual technical failures that have become the show's unintended trademark. We've got deep dives into why Queen is discussed more than played, the actual number of times we've mentioned bodily functions (spoiler: it's lower than you'd think, which is disappointing), and a look back at the time Mike Watt told us he hated Zoom. It's a retrospective of chaos, bad decisions, and the occasional riff.

Sam's Riff of the Week

• The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis – Deface The Currency

Andrew's Riff of the Week

• LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER – Eins, Zwei, Drei

The Ego-Death Deep Dive: A History of Bad Decisions

• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Intro: We started with a lie. In Episode 1, Andrew promised a 20-minute show, but it ran to 55 minutes. Sam's original review: "Andrew, this was supposed to be 20 minutes".
• Cee Lo Green – FUCK YOU: Setting the tone early. Episode 1 ended with Andrew attempting professionalism while Sam signed off with a heartfelt "Fuck you all".
• Metallica – Fuel: It took us 63 episodes to finally deliver on the Metallica special we promised in week one.
• The Replacements – Here Comes a Regular: We predicted we'd be "irregular". We then accidentally published for 96 consecutive weeks without missing a single one.
• The Minutemen – Corona: Revisiting our favourite intro, the moment Mike Watt joined the Zoom call and immediately shouted, "Fuck those people".
• The Stone Roses – Tell Me: Statistically our most played artist with 14 appearances over the journey.
• Queen – Stone Cold Crazy: Our most discussed band (mentioned 26 times) that we almost never actually play.

The Hall of Fame: Dumb Bits & Chaos

• The Christian Vulvas: A band name suggestion that almost killed us with laughter.
• Thighs Wide Open: Walking into the technological dystopia with our "eyes fucking wide open," or something like that.
• 10 Pence Pieces: The failed monetization strategy involving skin insertion.
• Testicle Weather Vanes: A foolproof way to predict a tornado or an earthquake based on swinging.
• Ruddiger Broomhilder's Unripe Plums: The AI-assisted tale of a stomach-ache staging a revolution.

Love vs. Death vs. Poo

• PIL – This Is Not A Love Song: The stats are in. We prefer death (29 songs) over love (19 songs).
• Phil Collins 3 – Pooey Stick: Despite the scatological humor, "poo" has only appeared 11 times in the transcripts.

The Numbers That Tell the Story Stat Number Total episodes 167 (including trailer) Total hours of content 136.1 Total tracks identified 1,044 Unique artists 706 Artists played only once 560 (79%) Sam's track picks 354 Guest picks 166 Longest publishing streak 96 weeks Average episode length 65 minutes Love songs / Death songs 19 / 29 Horse references 13 Toilet / Poo references 12 / 11 Unused backlog ideas 74 Original zine issues 10

Watch more Beat Motel chaos here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWvEIcKhJxA&list=PLwnzX0gT6IrcZqrF2Xslb19NiBRgd9rj9

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

• Kenny Loggins - Footloose

Andrew's Riff

• Fucked Up - Crusades

Tom's track choices

1. Stranglers - Toiler On The Sea

2. Roni Size - Share the Fall (Grooverider's Jeep Mix)

3. Discharge - Ain't No Feeble Bastard

4. Chic - Good Times

5. LFO - LFO

Andrew's track choices

1. Fu Manchu - Grendel Snowman

2. Blur - Popscene

3. Venetian Snares - Öngyilkos Vasárnap

4. Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep

5. NOFX - The Decline

Welcome to a truly unhinged episode, where Andrew's cold-ridden brain meets Sam's particular brand of chaos. This week, we're diving into Musicians in Odd Places—which, let's be honest, is mostly an excuse for us to get wildly off-topic and fact-check things on the fly (and usually get them wrong). Andrew even managed to misspell the theme title on his notes.

We kick off by debating the horrors of modern parenting and screen time, reminiscing about the simple joy of having the TV just... turn off. From there, it's a short, unsettling skip to a discussion about Conkers, which, inevitably, turns into a mention of "Bollock Conkers". You're welcome.

The main theme gets a slightly more musical start with Sam's Riff of the Week—a deep, pumping slice of dub that Andrew associates with summer. This somehow leads Andrew to mix up Jeff Lynne and Jeff Wayne (an ongoing national embarrassment).

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff
- Jacob Miller - Keep on Knocking
#### Andrew's Riff
- Buggery Act - Rusted Pliers

### Dr Sam's track choices
1. Mike Patton - Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles Theme
2. Johnny Cash - Don't Take Your Ones to Town
3. D.O.A. - That's Why I Am An Atheist
4. Tiny Tim - Living in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight

### Andrew's track choices
1. The Wombles - Remember You're A Womble
2. War of the worlds - The Spirit of Man
3. Labi Siffre - I Got The...
4. Public Image Ltd - Rise

On the Menu of Oddness:

* Mike Patton's Paycheck: Faith No More's Mike Patton pops up where he has no business being: singing the theme for a video game version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He said he did it so his nieces could enjoy something he was involved in.
* Wombles Rock: Andrew's choice of session musicians in unusual places is Chris Spedding lending his guitar skills to The Wombles.
* Johnny Cash vs. His Ones: Sam digs up the horrifyingly earnest Sesame Street parody of "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," where Johnny Cash sings about the little cowboy Billy Joe trying to take his number ones (as in toys and cookies) to school instead of sharing.
* The Jeff Wayne Fiasco: Andrew confesses a lifelong belief that Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds was an ELO side project, before Sam sets the record straight that the producer/composer is actually a TV theme tune guy. Also, a surprisingly passionate and improvised vocal performance from Phil Lynott is on the album.
* Joey Shithead for Council: The legendary frontman of hardcore band DOA is now a local politician, serving as a city council councillor in Burnaby, British Columbia.
* Chas and Dave: Funk Brothers: The unlikely Cockney duo were session musicians (the 'fuckbrothers', apparently) for Labi Siffre's fantastic tune "I Got The...".
* The Tiny Tim / SpongeBob Connection: The ukulele-wielding oddball is apparently part of a kid's playlist because his song "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" was on an early SpongeBob episode. This leads to the discovery of his truly offensive Christmas single, "Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS This Year".
* PIL's All-Star Band: A surprising lineup for Public Image Ltd's "Rise" featured Tony Williams (Miles Davis's drummer) and Steve Vai (guitar) on the album version.

A lot of questionable facts and even more questionable chat. Get stuck in, you awful people.

A few episodes ago we troubled your lugoles with some mildly profane chatter about which gigs we wish we could go back in time to attend for a second time. But what about legendary performances that you wish you could have been at regardless of decade, country, fiscal embarrassment or rank odour.

In this episode Andrew is joined by Jay Trenchart defy time, distance and some logic and reason as they delve through YouTube looking for the very bestest live clips in the world, ever.

### Riffs of the week

#### Jay's Riff

- Parquet Courts - Stoned And Starving (2:20)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Fat Dog - All The Same (1:25)

### Jay's track choices

1 - Koufar at Club Rectum (16:00)

https://youtu.be/T1_VkbeyDFE?si=3jHlf6b2hbLeovER&t=960

2 - Adam & The Ants - Physical (You're So) (Live in Manchester)

https://youtu.be/VusbSlufwmM?si=lKnvVredh1ZIH9r-&t=100

3 - Fucked Up Live on a Bridge at 2am (0:35)

https://youtu.be/TUVLm1V0pPs?si=Vi-yrjGF9m6ipBKz&t=35

4 - Bad Brains Live At CBGB's, New York City, NY 1982

https://youtu.be/WmfxWQkqLTg?si=ITLQjp__CXTmKXhg&t=1295

### Andrew's track choices

1 - Pentangle - Captured Live 1972 (9:39)

https://youtu.be/C3DFCXaqLrg?si=INKVGX-L-nAS5Z3V&t=579

2 - Rival Consoles Boiler Room x MUTEK MX Live Set (21:39)

https://youtu.be/v4gSk5GibB8?si=toWi8wQjC6JKUEeP&t=1299

3 - Crime In Stereo - Agent RR pt 1 (1:47)

https://youtu.be/RQoezd8xorI?si=85LkIeRq8Q8GClzX&t=107

4 - Coast Contra - Never Freesyle (3:05)

https://youtu.be/IdNxeepSpuk?si=rQsW51kO7UicIue5&t=185

Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com

Was 2023 a good year for pop'n'rock'n'hop? Was it a bad year? How do you quantify that sort of thing, anyway? It's all up to the ear of the beholder.

Andrew and Sam have probably been over exposed to harsh noises at this point, and can't understand what is conventional beauty in terms of music. Andrew wants to music out of angle grinders, and Sam talks about the nuances between punk-origin and metal-origin grindcore. Hence their choices of favourite music that came out of in 2023 is very person and not looking to impress. This, then, is a definitive list of music that we enjoyed and don't really care what others think or came top of other lists. We hope you're impressed.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- Seavus Finns - Aeons of Spiritual Starvation (opening)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Liam Gallagher & John Squire - Just Another Rainbow (1:15)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown "Garbage Pale Kids" (0.15)

2. Squid Pisser - Both (0.16)

3. Gard Nilssen's Supersonic Orchestra - The Space Dance Experiment (3.04)

4. Kruelty - Reincarnation (2.33)

### Andrew's track choices

1. Agriculture - Look Pt3 (4:25)

2. Yard Act - The Trenchcoat Museum (2:10)

3. WOLFHEART - Iku-Turso (1:55)

4. Daniel Avery - New Faith (1:50)

Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com

What's a drum fill? Well, it's that bit the gorilla plays in the chocolate advert, yeah? Which is something discussed in this episode of Beat Motel, which also heralding the return of co-host Dr Sam from his travels abroad and obligations of parenthood.

So, in other words: we fill up space by talking about fills while getting rid of the fill-ins. It has also made me realise what a good name Phil is for a drummer (looking at you Phil Random of the Random Heroes).

We run the gamut, as usual, from pop to psychedelic to punk rock and the heaviest of metal fills, discussing what roles and styles of fills mean for the context they find themselves in. Neglected are some of the genius' of the style – particularly, Dave Ghrol, but he's got enough on his plate.

So, to sum up: we're talking about drum fills, and Sam is back. It's nice to talk.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- Pharrell Williams, Trey Parker - Hug Me (0.13)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Chelsea Wolfe - Dusk (2:50)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. Smashing Pumpkins - Jelly Belly (1.45)

2. Michael Jackson - Baby Be Mine (opening)

3. NoFX - Franco Un-American (1.20)

4. Darkest Hour - The Sadist Nation (3.00)

### Andrew's track choices

1. The Beatles - Mean Mr Mustard (start, sort of)

2. The Clash - Train in vain

3. Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis bold as Love (2:46)

4. Phil Collins - In the air tonight

Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com

https://youtu.be/r1x1o9UZn8M?si=P6WJoeb_lEUcgLCL

Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with? Have you ever fallen in love with someone you should have fallen in love with?

In this episode of The Beat Motel Music Podcast Andrew Culture is joined by Luke Littleboy of the 'One sensational shot' podcast. Luke was also the singer for The Waxing Captors.

This episode explores songs that talk about relationships in an honest way. Not sappy, sickly-sweet love songs. We're talking about the songs that dig up the dirt but also shine a light on the glory, and terror of love and relationships.

### Riffs of the week

#### Luke's Riff

- Violent Femmes - Add it Up (1:20)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Blue Lake - Bloom (opening)

### Luke's track choices

1. The Au Pairs - It's obvious (0:58)

2. Tom Waits - Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis (0:33)

3. Descendents - Marriage (0:36)

4. The Beautiful South - Let love speak up itself (0:58)

### Andrew's track choices

1. The Replacements - Answering Machine (2:00)

2. Buzzcocks - What Do I Get? (0:30)

3. John Grant - Vietnam (4:10)

4. The Dopamines - Ire (1:10)

Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com

Have you ever been to a gig that really made a massive impression on you? We know the answer is probably 'yes'. It's a dumb question, but what would you expect from us?

Have you ever been a gig that didn't make much of an impression on you at the time, but now that you 'get' the band in question do you wish you could travel back in time to that gig and experience it again? Now that's a far more interesting question.

Dr Sam is off on tour at the moment so for this Episode Andrew Culture is joined by special guest Martin Whiskin.

https://www.martinwhiskin.co.uk/

### Riffs of the week

#### Martin Whiskin's Riff

- The Imagined Village - Tam Lyn (Retold) (6:49)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Parannoul (파란노을) – Polaris (1:45)

### Martin Whiskin's track choices

1. Guns N Roses - It's so easy (0:29)

2. Guns N Roses - Estranged (0:10)

3. The Levellers - Riverflow (from start)

4. Godcone - Theme from Godcone (from start)

### Andrew's track choices

1. Pelican - March into the sea (6:10)

2. Fuck Buttons - Brainfreeze (0:25)

3. Queens of the stone age - Song for the dead (2:50)

4. Burst - (we watched the silver rain) (8:47)

Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com

This episode is named after the feeling of post-orgasm similar to death. The moment of bare consciousness finds you after your peak. The history of pop music is resplendent with musical-about faces.

From Kraftwork giving up fingering their flutes to Finnish death metal pioneers Xsyma turning into a (more popular) indie band, plenty have given up their initial tinkering to find a more mature (and sometimes popular) sound. Yet, few have done changed their _immediately after_ their creative peak or in the face of success. 

And this is exactly what Andrew and Sam explore this week. Or sort of. So, hold onto your umbrellas as they splash about in stylistic changes that upset the earbuds. Sometimes, this led to the end of their immediate career; at other times, it cemented them as genius.

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- Danny Brown - Jenny's Terrific Vacation (0.10)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Ghost of a thousand - Left for dead (0:10)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. Space - There's No You (0.45)

2. Smashing Pumpkins - Pug (opening)

3. Slipknot - People = Shit (opening)

4. Vic Goddard & the Subway Sect - Hey Now (I'm In Love) (opening)

### Andrew's track choices

1. Nirvana - Tourettes (0:50)

2. The Stone Roses - Begging you (2:30)

3. Suede - Asphalt world (6:20)

4. The Sex Pistols - Who Killed Bambi (1:55)

Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com

Roughly between 1967 and 2013 (these dates are arbitrary and unchecked, as is our diligence to fact-checking – Sam), the focus of many musicians (besides sex, drugs and rock'n'roll) was crafting the "perfect" album. This is something that should be endlessly playable, every track is a banger (fucking hell – Sam), but some bang (oh god – Sam) more than most. And, of course, there are some undeniable classics – Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run (you're not 'merican enough to like this, Sam – Sam), Limp Bizkit's Three Dollar Bills, Y'all (I like this album, actually - Sam), Cliff Richard's Kinda Latin (stop now, Sam – Sam), etc. – these choices are Bonafede classics. 

So, where will Sam and Andrew go with their choices? Will they provide easy listening surprises, or atonal noise assaults that means they probably need to stop and take a minute? What moral conundrums will they bring to bare in their exploration of the perfect album? Following Nitsche, if we are the creators of our own meaning, can any album be objectively perfect? 

Obviously, apart from Weezer's Pinkerton. No. 

### Riffs of the week

#### Dr Sam's Riff

- Git Some - The Test (1.55)

#### Andrew's Riff

- Caroline Polachek - Dang (from start)

### Dr Sam's track choices

1. The Clash - Something About England (0.45) from Sandanista

2. Daughters - The Hit (0.40) from Daughters

3. Newtown Grunts - Newtown Grunts vs. The Insidious Right Wing Conspiracy

4. White Suns - Clairvoyant (opening)

### Andrew's track choices

1. The Stone Roses - Don't Stop (1:40)

2. Torche - Trumph of Venus (from start)

3. Mansun - Wide Open Space (3:30)

4. The Velvet Underground - Jesus (0:44)

Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com