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Baker's Dozen

Getting Hypnotised: John Robb Finds The Funk In Unusual Places
Julian Marszalek , July 12th, 2017 08:35

How did it take us nearly a decade to ask Brother John Robb for his Baker's Dozen choices? The Membranes frontman sits down with Julian Marszalek to discuss 13 favourite records where over the years he's dug out the most funk

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Swans – 'Screenshot'
This is a really fantastic groove isn't it? And where Michael Gira is coming from isn't where people think. A lot of the time he's coming out of black music and funk, and this track is a funk groove. He's such a great bass player anyway but that rhythm section – oh! It's a really heavy, repetitive, eight-minute groove and it's a fantastic piece of work.

It's a real understanding of the power of the groove. Going back to early Swans, there was a real groove to that but on the one level it was really heavy and really industrial, but on the other it's so groovy. It's down to the thrust and again, it goes back to the fuck. Those early songs were very sexual.