The Top 20 of 2020 Year-End Poll — RESULTS!

Posted in Features on January 4th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

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The world is a different place than it was a year ago on Jan. 4. One can say the same of any year, but it’s a question of scale. My interest isn’t in philosophizing or preaching to you — much; ha — but there’s a good chance your life is substantively different than it was a year ago. For good or bad. Please know that if you can see these words, or if you can’t, I wish you well.

With the ever-appreciated help of the Ever-Indulgent & Long-Serving Official Obelisk Tech Coordinator Go Ahead And Print That Shit On A Business Card, Slevin, the 2020 poll went up I think after Thanksgiving and came down, lazily, on Jan. 2. In the past I’ve been pretty strict on that. This time, less so. In the end, there were an astonishing and humbling 544 lists submitted, with over 2,100 separate album listings. Some of that is different spellings — ‘s/t’ as opposed to ‘self-titled’ or variations like that — but it’s still an astonishing amount of music, as you can see for yourself after the jump in everybody’s list.

As ever, two polls posted. Raw votes and points. For reference, here are the same rules that I’ve been cut and pasting for however long: You submit your list of up to 20 favorites. Anything from the start of 2020 to the finish is eligible. There are two lists, one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

That’s how the magic happens. Here’s the magic:

Top 20 of 2020 — Weighted Results

Lowrider Refractions

1. Lowrider, Refractions (865 points)
2. Elder, Omens (594)
3. Elephant Tree, Habits (560)
4. All Them Witches, Nothing as the Ideal (557)
5. King Buffalo, Dead Star (492)
6. Psychlona, Venus Skytrip (381)
7. Slift, Ummon (365)
8. REZN, Chaotic Divine (305)
9. EMBR, 1823 (208)
10. Stonus, Aphasia (195)
11. Dopelord, Sign of the Devil (179)
12. Pallbearer, Forgotten Days (178)
13. Kind, Mental Nudge (165)
14. Acid Mammoth, Under Acid Hoof (164)
15. Brant Bjork, Brant Bjork (151)
15. Causa Sui, Szabodelico (151)
16. Forming the Void, Reverie (149)
17. Slomosa, Slomosa (138)
18. Oranssi Pazuzu, Mestarin Kynsi (133)
19. The Atomic Bitchwax, Scorpio (131)
20. Ritual King, Ritual King (126)

Honorable Mention:
Big Scenic Nowhere, Vision Beyond Horizon (125)
Spirit Adrift, Enlightened in Eternity (118)
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou, May Our Chambers Be Full (113)
Sigiriya, Maiden – Mother – Crone (110)
Motorpsycho, The All is One (107)
Yawning Man, Live at Giant Rock (105)
Hum, Inlet (104)
Geezer, Groovy (100)
Lord Buffalo, Tohu Wa Bohu (100)

Notes: People know their stuff. There seemed to really be consensus around a few releases — the top picks here — and then everything else kind of filled in from there. I agreed with the top pick and had some other things in different spots, and I had King Buffalo as an EP (which it wasn’t, but I took the out), but there was little to argue with. Cool to see Slift do so well. That album got a lot of love throughout the year and seemed to really resonate with people. Ditto Psychlona. And I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one who thought Slomosa were onto something cool as well. Good list.

Top 20 of 2020 — Raw Votes

Lowrider Refractions

1. Lowrider, Refractions (203 votes)
2. Elder, Omens (151)
3. Elephant Tree, Habits (147)
4. All Them Witches, Nothing as the Ideal (134)
5. King Buffalo,
Dead Star (107)
6. Psychlona, Venus Skytrip (104)
7. Slift, Ummon (97)
8. REZN, Chaotic Divine (84)
9. Dopelord, Sign of the Devil (58)
10. Pallbearer, Forgotten Days (56)
11. Kind, Mental Nudge (54)
12. Acid Mammoth, Under Acid Hoof (50)
12. EMBR, 1823 (50)
13. Brant Bjork, Brant Bjork (49)
14. Forming the Void, Reverie (46)
15. Causa Sui, Szabodelico (45)
16. Stonus, Aphasia (43)
17. The Atomic Bitchwax, Scorpio (41)
17. Ritual King, Ritual King (41)
18. Kryptograf, Kryptograf (38)
18. Spirit Adrift, Enlightened in Eternity (38)
19. Big Scenic Nowhere, Vision Beyond Horizon (37)
19. Slomosa, Slomosa (37)
20. Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou, May Our Chambers Be Full (36)

Honorable Mention:
Oranssi Pazuzu, Mestarin Kynsi (35)
Black Rainbows, Cosmic Ritual Supertrip (31)
Geezer, Groovy (31)
Lord Buffalo, Tohu Wa Bohu (31)
Sigiriya, Maiden – Mother – Crone (31)
Yawning Man, Live at Giant Rock (30)
Motorpsycho, The All is One (29)
Hum, Inlet (26)

Notes: This one’s pretty clean and in line with the points. Same deal. Lots of big feelings about Lowrider, Elder, Elephant Tree, All Them Witches. Note the difference in votes between numbers eight and nine. Hell, note the difference between one and two. As much as you’re ever going to have clear agreement on anything, that might be it. All along, this was really a race for that number two spot. Lowrider were ahead by the time the poll had been up for a day, and though they pulled away as December wore on, none of the others were really a threat at any point, though it was a late surge for Elder that put them over Elephant Tree. No doubt that last-minute get-out-the-vote campaign (didn’t happen) paid dividends. In any case, aside from having to chase down typos for The Atomic Bitchwax and Causa Sui, this was relatively easy to put together, so I’m sure I’ve got it all wrong. Ha.

Just about time to send you off to peruse everybody’s list. And there are plenty of them. Before you dive in, I want to reiterate my deep appreciation for everybody who took part in the year-end poll for 2020. It was a massive year for albums — had to be since there weren’t shows — and I feel like these lists captured well the variety of what’s out there and the sheer quality of it. Thank you for being a part of that, and for reading as always.

And one last thanks to Slevin for his help in coordinating this on the back end as well. Dude is invaluable, amazing, and a good friend.

Lists follow the jump, and here’s the jump:

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The Top 20 of 2020 Year-End Poll is Now Open!

Posted in Features on November 27th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

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My favorite post of the year, every year. I’ll spare you (for now) the wax philosophy on what a year it’s been in general terms, but I genuinely believe we’re existing in a golden age of heavy music that, years from now, subsequent generations of fans will look back on the diversity of sounds and talent and geography and ideas and will wonder at the time that was, much as younger fans do now of the ’90s, and older fans of the ’70s.

You know the drill for the poll. There are 20 slots below. Fill out as many as you want — 20 should be easy to fill, but if you only feel strongly about five records, that’s fine — and hit enter. Your email is asked for to prove you’re human and will not be stored or added to any list or sold or whatever.

Same rules as always: Anything from Jan. 2020 to whatever’s coming out between now and Dec. 31 is eligible. Two lists are tabulated; one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

Results are compiled and painstakingly checked to account for typographical anomalies, then beamed into a spreadsheet to go up Jan. 1, along with everybody’s individual list in one massive explosion of love for music that, if it doesn’t fill your bucket, you may not have a bucket to begin with.

Let’s do it:

The year-end poll would never be possible with the diligence in technical coordination of Slevin, whom I miss dearly in these days of social distancing. I hope my thanks travels virtually since I can’t buy him bread and beer to show my love.

Thanks for your participation. Please share the link if you can.

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