Janky Smooth Top 10 ALBUMS of 2020 Rated By Contributors

2020: the year that drove a stake in the heart of the music industry.

One has to ask themselves how something so essential can be taken away from us so easily. For as long as I’ve lived, I’ve thought life without music was not worth living. Evidently, this was not true and came from a place of privilege. We’ve all had a little bit of privilege taken from us this year. Some more than others, but everyone got checked. If 2020 can teach us anything, it’s that life is worth something even in the most monstrous circumstances: being without music, without your job, your money, even your health.

What is essential about music is that it helps us define ourselves as individuals. In a crisis, often times we forget who we are just trying to survive. For me, band shirts are my way of signaling my identity to the world, and if Covid or economic collapse takes everything from me, chances are I’ll still have the shirt on my back to let everyone know I listen to Slayer. Whether you’re a musician, promoter, journalist or just a fan, do not let cultural subversion or personal degradation steal your identity. We will all come together soon, whether they want us to or not. There is much rebuilding to be done, of our lives and of our subcultures.

Publisher, Danny Baraz

1. X – Alphabetland
2. Freddie Gibbs – Alfredo
3. Run The Jewels – RTJ4
4. Idles – Ultramono
5. Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
6. Thundercat – It Is What It Is
7. Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters
8. Ghostemane – Anti-Icon
9. Caribou – Suddenly
10. Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress

Editor, Robert Shepyer

1. Horse The Band – Your Fault EP
2. Fiona Apple – Fetch The Boltcutters
3. Protest the Hero – Palimpsest
4. Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
5. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
6. Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron
7. Bob Mould  – Blue Hearts
8. Paradise Lost – Obsidian
9. Gorillaz – Song Machine Season 1: Strange Timez Deluxe
10. Ghostemane – Anti-Icon

Author, Audrey Kemp

Photographer, Anthony Mehlhaff

1. Melted Bodies – Enjoy Yourself
2.  Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress
3. Mr. Bungle – The Wrath of The Raging Easter Bunny
4. Drain – California Cursed
5. ACxDC – Satan Is King
6. Scalp – Domestic Extremity
7. Vader – Solitude In Madness
8. Napalm Death – THROES OF JOY IN THE JAWS OF DEFEATISM
9. Sodom – Genesis XIX
10. Couch Slut – Take A Chance On Rock ‘n’ Roll

Photographer, Dillon Vaughn

1. George Clanton and Nick Hexum – S/T
2. Boris x Z.O.A. – Refrain
3. Planet 1999 – Devotion
4. Mountain Tamer – Psychosis Ritual
5. Phalanx – Golden Horde
6. The Warhorse – It’s Been Fun, It’s Been Real, It’s Been Funereal
7. Cindy Lee – What’s Tonight to Eternity
8. Tobacco – Hot Wet and Sassy
9. Omar S – You Want
10. Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle – May Our Chambers be Full

Photographer, Veronika Reinart

1. Power Alone – Rather Be Alone
2. Drain – California Cursed
3. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
4. This Will Destroy You – Vespertine
5. Caspian – On Circles
6. Bright Eyes – Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
7. Taylor Swift – folklore
8. Christian Lee Hudson – Beginners
9. Tuning – Defining the Purpose
10. Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud

Photographer, Albert Licano

1. The Spits – IV
2. Voivod – Lost Machine Live
3. Napalm Death – Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
4. Warbringer – Weapons of Tomorrow
5. Nick Cave – Idiot Prayer
6. Greg Dulli – Random Desire
7. Code Orange – Underneath
8. Dropdead – s/t
9. Bob Mould – Blue Hearts
10. Lebenden Toten – Synaptic Noise Dissociation  

Author, Jonathan Reyes

1. 1. Kontravoid – Live From The Void
   2. Riki – Riki
   3. HEALTH – DISCO4 :: PART I
   4. Freddie Gibbs – Alfredo
   5. Yves Tumor – Heaven To A Tortured Mind
   6. Molchat Doma – Monument
   7. Rico Nasty – Nightmare Vacation
   8. Freddie Dredd – Suffer
   9. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
   10. Public Memory – Ripped Apparition

Photographer, Taylor Wong

1. Hello Forever – Whatever it is
2. Run the Jewels – RTJ4
3. Bullets And Octane – Riot Riot Rock N Roll 
4. Horse the Band – Your Fault
5. Touché Amore – Lament
6. Bright Eyes – Down in the weeds, where the world once was
7. Ho99o9 – Blurr (mixtape)
8. The Lawerence Arms – skeleton Coast
9. Refused – The Malignant Fire
10. X- Alphabetland

Author, Dave Unbuckled

1. Shock Therapy – 2 by Land, 2 by Sea
2. Black Lips – Sing in a world That’s Falling Apart
3. Hinds – The Prettiest Curse
4. Bright Eyes – Down in the Weeds
5. Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
6. Da Baby – Blame it on Baby (deluxe) 
7. Mac Miller – Circles
8. Thundercat – It Is What It Is
9. Kurt Vile – Speed, Sound, Lonely Kv 
10. Bomb Pops – Death in Venice Beach

Author, Paige Vreede

1. The Strokes – The New Abnormal
2. AC/DC – Power Up 
3. Tame Impala – The Slow Rush 
4. Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately
5. Touché Amorè – Lament 
6. Seahaven – Halo of Hurt 
7. Run the Jewels – RTJ4
8. Veronica Bianqui – Veronica Bianqui
9. Gulch – Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress 
10. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – K.G.