These Mash-Ups of Taylor Swift And Aphex Twin Are Kind Of Genius

Here's something you probably didn't guess you would have the opportunity to listen to today, or ever. Cartoonist David Rees has crafted an exquisite eight-track album from the combined instrumentals of Aphex Twin and vocals of Taylor Swift, and the results are seriously, unexpectedly a bit magical. In particular, the way Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" vocal floats over the chaos of Richard D. James' "4" evokes all the right tension in all the right places, and "Mean" is somehow both soft as snow and totally cutting when it's crushed into "Flim." Rees has written an insightful Tumblr post that reveals his thought process behind the project, explaining: "Taylor Swift made her name by writing big-hearted confessional songs for tween girls. But a lot of Aphex Twin's music (especially on the Richard D. James album, from which most of these tracks are culled) is also super romantic - saccharine, even. Sometimes I wonder if his impossibly complex, inhuman drum patterns are just serving as a layer of sonic indie-cred...or, on a more personal level, it's like he's protecting his bleeding heart behind a crazy tangle of barbed-wire snare rolls. AND WHO AMONG US HASN'T DONE THAT?" Aw. Read the whole thing here, and stream or download the album below.