Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Guardian's 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die


The Guardian has a massive feature on 1000 albums to hear before you die. It's an A-Z list that strays away from obvious selections that are xeroxed on other music lists. One letter than immediately stands out is J, from J Dilla to Junior Boys. The letter J has an impressive roster that includes Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, Janis Joplin, Joy Division, and even Daniel Johnston just to name a few. The letter Q has the least number of selections and its not hard to understand why. Ever try playing Scrabble? Qbert's "Wave Twisters" from 1998 could have been included in the list. An album composed entirely of DJ's scratching records that was later translated into a full-length animation of the same name. The Guardian realized that their list would spark conservation, and even did a follow-up feature that picked out what readers felt should have made the cut. Overall, their list spans a vast amount of artists and genres and would take a life-time to hear.

The Guardian's list of 1000 albums...

1 comment:

seeds of dholl said...

yay, i was hoping to find a blogspot abt the list...


More than one year on, i can confirm that list has introduced me to soooooooo muuuuuuuch great music i might never have heard:

Can - Tago Mago
Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia

(and by extension the whole Krautrock scene...includes great stuff from Neu! among others)


And the list introduced me to Einstürzende Neubauten - now I have nearly all their albums.

And through a search for their 1997 album Tabula Rasa I stumbled upon Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa...beautiful music!


Thanks to that list, my grooving and tripping has increased in vibe (Can, Harmonia). My unhinged darkness has found an aural home (Neubauten) and there is still a place for the soulful spiritual (Pärt).


Thanks Guardian's 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die! Fancy me living in Berlin and discovering Berlin music through a UK online newspaper...ha!