On The Decks

Music that's been moving me lately.

20 Golden Pieces of George Jones. I really can't believe I haven't been listening to George Jones all these years.

Volta by Bjork. Have you accepted Bjork as your personal friend and savior? There are a few artists whose new records I'll pick up sound unheard, Bjork being one. If at first you don't understand, just wait, and it will eventually become clear what she is trying to impart. And you will dwell in the land of sick beats and processed harmonium, attended by faeries and angels whose voices will alternately chill your heart and heat your home. Peace, child.

Foley Room by Amon Tobin. Tobin's music is like one of those 3D paintings where a sea of squiggles magically becomes a Tyrannosaurus. You don't listen to his music so much as relax and let it happen to you. Tobin's Supermodified, from 2000, is, in my opinion, one of the towering achievements of the electronica genre. I didn't enjoy his next few records as much, although they were still some of the most interesting music being made over the last few years. Getting away from sampling records, Tobin constructed Foley Room completely of manipulated field recordings, including, among many other things, motorcycles, assembly line robots, and a tiger. In less skilled hands, such an experiment in musique concrete could have been self-justifyingly obtuse, but Tobin wraps it all around expansive, Morricone-esque themes and fathoms-deep grooves. It's an astonishing achievement. Headphones were invented for such as this.