The Village Voice’s annual Pazz + Jop poll is the end-all-be-all of year-end record lists. The ultimate in nerdy music romps, the alt-weekly’s annual cover story elicits the input of hundreds upon hundreds of professional music writers (including your beloved Beard) in an attempt to definitively capture the year’s critical darlings. Each participant is given a certain number of points to doll out to their “favorite” albums, and the resulting tabulations represent a closer consensus than pretty much anything else out there.

Of course, in any competition (especially when fueled by legions of cred-adorned music maniacs), there’s more at work than meets the eye. After the jump, our resident whiskerly warrior, goes at it with Voice Music Editor Rob Harvilla — who we’re told was indispensably aided by Zach Baron, Rob Trucks, and Jesus Diaz — on the decision to crown TV on the Radio king, whether style trumps substance, and how some critics try to rig the results. … Read More