Each participating editor or contributor draws up a list of titles connected to the theme, representative of their own perspective. To encourage variety overall, we allow only one or two albums per band. The lists are collected, and the first twenty albums mentioned are assigned a score: twenty points to the one ranked first, nineteen to the next, and so on. If an album is mentioned by more than one participant, the points received from each are added together. Ranking the titles from the one with the most points down, we get the final chart.
What you're reading, then, is a representation of the points of convergence and the diversity of views among Ondarock's contributors. It isn't a list put together behind closed doors, and there are no corrections or backroom deals. The only agreed element is the set of rules above.
It's a game, and we hope the outcome intrigues readers as much as it does the participants. For those who feel like digging deeper, the individual contributors' personal charts can be goldmines of discoveries. Happy exploring!
At the top of the podium we inevitably find the album that for many defines trip-hop: Portishead's debut, streaked with jazz and wrapped in noir atmosphere, sounding like a journey into the heart of the night. Next come Massive Attack with their third album, the most pulsing and mysterious of the three, and the one most devoted to the industrial drift of the previous decade. Third place is entirely French, with Air's retrofuturist masterpiece, a safari on the moon astride silvery synthesizers and timeless pop suggestions.