Klute

Prolific producer Tom Withers has issued the bulk of his output as Klute, shaping some of drum'n'bass’s most emotionally charged and boundary-pushing recordings. His productions merge intricate yet floor-focused rhythms with layered atmospheric synth work that shifts between expansive ambient washes and heavier, harder-edged palettes. After debuting on Certificate 18 with the 1998 album Casual Bodies, Withers established the Commercial Suicide imprint in 2001; every full-length since has appeared on that label, while additional singles have surfaced on Metalheadz, 31 Records, and Samurai Music. Beginning with the 2003 double album Lie Cheat & Steal/You Should Be Ashamed—the first of four such expansive sets—his long-players broadened to incorporate techno, downtempo, and breakbeat material, an approach that persisted through the 2019 release Whatever It Takes. Beyond solo productions, Klute has supplied remixes for Natacha Atlas, Lamb, Mogwai, and John Tejada.

Born in Ipswich, England, Withers started creating music during his teenage years. Under the name Tommy Stupid he fronted the hardcore band the Stupids, which he formed in 1984. The group delivered a humorous, occasionally absurd strain of thrash-punk across multiple albums and EPs on Children of the Revolution and Vinyl Solution, and taped four sessions for John Peel’s BBC program—one of them credited to Frankfurter. The Stupids disbanded in 1989; afterward Withers played drums briefly in the band That’s It!

With the rise of U.K. rave culture, Withers turned his attention to techno and house, beginning to craft electronic music in the early 1990s. He put out several little-known breakbeat hardcore and jungle 12"s as Supertouch and Dr. Know, plus occasional joint efforts such as Scorpio alongside Hi-Ryze. Signing to Certificate 18 as Klute in 1995, he issued atmospheric jungle singles including “F. P. O. P.” He also used the alias Override for several smoother outings, among them the 1997 Ntone release The Scam on Ninja Tune’s sublabel. With Howard Dodd he recorded downtempo and breakbeat material as Tongue, the pair completing three EPs, one of which—1998’s In Cheek—appeared on Domino.

Casual Bodies reached stores in 1998, followed by an expanded U.S. edition on Sm:)e Communications. After Fear of People emerged in 2000, Withers departed Certificate 18 to concentrate on Commercial Suicide, releasing the 2001 singles “Tranceformat” and “Galaxian” while also appearing on Metalheadz and 31 Records. In 2002 he teamed with John Tejada—primarily associated with techno and house—on “No Trust” for Violence Recordings and placed the vocal track “Part of Me” on Hospital Records. The 2003 double album Lie Cheat & Steal/You Should Be Ashamed split its focus between drum'n'bass on one disc and techno, tech-house, and breaks on the other. That same year he mixed the CD Cocoshebeen, and in 2004 he compiled Breakbeat Science: Exercise 003.

Advance copies of the fourth album No One’s Listening Anymore circulated in 2004; John Peel aired its opening cut “Time 4 Change,” which became the final track broadcast by the DJ prior to his death in October. Issued as a double CD in 2005, the American pressing on Breakbeat Science reversed the disc sequence. Further singles continued to appear on Commercial Suicide and elsewhere, including Shogun Audio and Soul:r, with collaborations alongside Dom & Roland and Calibre. The 2007 album The Emperor’s New Clothes received a substantially revised edition on Breakbeat Science. Several 2008 singles included “Divinity” on Samurai Music, yet the Stupids’ reunion that year led Withers to prioritize live performances and catalog reissues with the band. Their first album in two decades, The Kids Don’t Like It, surfaced on Boss Tuneage in 2009.

Returning to Klute, Withers released Music for Prophet in 2010, drawing from influences that spanned dub and Bollywood. The Draft followed in 2013, Savage Circle appeared as an EP on Metalheadz in 2015, and Read Between the Lines arrived in 2017 featuring guest vocals from Naomi Pryor, Stamina MC, and Robert Manos. The EP Take a Breath came out in early 2019, succeeded later that year by the characteristically eclectic full-length Whatever It Takes. A standalone digital single, “Sick of It All,” was issued via Function.