(6) Madhuvan - 09/26/2025 vs. (11) Dustin Hoffman - 06/03/2025

I was there man

Both good jams but Dustin deserves the win. The main little tune they’re playing for most of the Dustin jam and building off of is addicting, has been maybe the most stuck in my head thing from the whole year. This madhuvan is good but not one I would go back to listen to very often. No part of the jam feels very special or noteworthy to me.

Vote goes to the Dustin jam, really like the tone, pace, and little cool down jam after the peak. Some cool drumming variety throughout.

I do think if this JOTY bracket wasn't so saturated with dank nasty heady Madhus I feel like this one might get more love!

Right after I got through the first bit of the jam I was thinking, well, it's good but it's about the same as the other two we've heard so far, and then they dove into that beaaaaauuuutiful back section of the jam. Really top notch stuff. Very cool and unique Madhu jam/finish.

Worth checking out for sure, but I'm taking the totality of the Dustin jam over the awesomeness of the 2nd half Madhu jam.

people really want this dustin (or any really) to be better than it is, easy mad for me and i dont often say that lol

Agree with JVG especially about the GR 1/2 Step

I love Madhuvan, but we have two great ones already in the JOTYs. This one is only fine, while the Dustin Hoffman has moments of greatness in it, which made me stop and listen harder. It deserves to go one more round. I voted for DH.

I voted for Madhuvan, but reluctantly. Neither of these jams belong anywhere near a JotY discussion. The Dustin is...nice. I can do without the entire mid-section (mins 5-13) tension build jam in the Madhuvan. Cool little turn into a triumphant crescendo, but it's not enough to save this one. Is it possible to have both jams lose and to put the GR Half-Step in this spot?

Surprised at how close this one is. There are some Dustins this year that I love, this one never did a lot for me though. This Madhuvan isn't S-tier or anything, but it is very good.

Really wanted to give this to Dustin, and I think it'd deserve if they settled and expanded upon that nice groove at the very end. But alas, this good (enough) Madhuvan will take it.

Peter doing his best '99 Trey impersonation during Madhuvan is a good bit

This Madhuvan and this Dustin Hoffman both have stronger counterparts in the competition, but I really do like them both. The Madhuvan gets my vote for here... simply for the chaos and the dissonance, and for pushing another 10 minutes past the point where I thought they were reeling it in. Not to worry Dustin... I will be voting your sibling from San Francisco through Round One (and possibly Round Two as well).

I had them ranked 31 and 53 respectively, which puts them a little bit lower on my list than where they were seeded. Both worthy of a listen, even if they don't make it out of the next round.

Checked my ears and listened again - yeah this Madhuvan is good, but not great…and not just the two February Madhuvan’s, the 6/19 one runs circles around this one too

The Alpharetta madhuvan does dissonance better and with more intention than the Grand Rapids or MKE versions for me, and comes with a dynamic bliss peak as well…my joty

DUSTY HOFF ALL DAY

Close matchup. I could live in this Dusty Groove…really nice sound mix too.

This Madh though, through the first main jam section is every bit as good and interesting as MKE/GR. What a year for Madhuvan.

I'm going Madhuvan here (my no. 22 overall), but I've got nothing against this sublime Hoffman (my no. 39 overall). This Hoffman is a great example of the band's patience and willingness to experiment during the early summer of 2025 (think SF Hoffman and Big Modern, Boise Rosewood, Bend Thatch, and PHX Drip). It's not rushed. While it has two distinct parts, they blend together seamlessly. The band doesn't force anything. I wish they took such an approach more often.

Still, this Madhuvan gets the nod for me, perhaps because of how surprisingly quiet it gets before the big finish. The first time I heard this track, I thought it was going to end prematurely after the first chaos peak (which is sick in and of itself). But then the band turned the volume all the way down. And from that stillness - a glorious rebirth! A Harry Hood jam if ever there was one. Bravo.

The notion being spread that this Madhuvan is standard and boring in comparison to other Madhuvans this year is insane. This Madhuvan is arguably the best Madhuvan since February and one of their most unique versions this year. The dissonant section to begin the jam is some of their strongest and direct dissonance this year. After a strong peak they immediately throw you into an ethereal and beautiful jam with marvelous interplay between Rick, Trevor, and Peter. Two Guitar Goose shines through this section with Peter adding beautiful tones in the background. The band then makes a soaring push to a tear jerking peak to wrap up this beautiful exploration of a jam. If you feel that this Madhuvan is standard you need to check your ears. Nice groove in Hoffman but this Madhuvan has distinctly better improv and to vote against it because it is “standard and boring” is a travesty.

Had this as my only Hoffman & best of the year. This Mad is sick, but it just fell off my list in the final ranking process mostly because I felt the gnarly versions in February were more deserving. Upset city here we come!

Maybe Vegas is feeling lucky 🎲 Let’s go DH for the upset!

Imagine how lame it'd be if the final 4 was all Madhuvan jams? Neither of these jams are particularly special IMO. The Hoffman has a good groove and comparing this Madhuvan to the others in the bracket, I don't think it deserves to advance

This madhuvan is good (they always are, it's a top 3 goose song imo) but not as good as others in the competition and it's a tad bit overrepresented. I liked the initial dissonance -> peak jam -> blissy cooldown, that was fun. But ultimately Dustin will get my vote her, just by a bit. In the initial jam (which i think is a part of the song?) Rick's tones sounded veryyyyyy Trey-ish. Also there were stretches of the jam that sounded very Phishy, which I loved. Good jam!

I ranked the DH #51 and I ranked the Madhuvan #20. I do really like this DH but I prefer the Madhuvan a bit more. This Madhuvan felt like a warm up for the amazing Wysteria we get a few nights later. In a fall tour abdsent of good jamming this Madhuvan stands out as a solid Jam. Mad gets the vote.

Honestly, I just want to see a rare upset for once. Rain Man for the upset, let's have some fun.

Not sure I understand this one being close. Maybe people are just tiring of Madhs?

This one has a gorgeous and unique mid-section that I revisit often. Not sure it goes much further but absolutely should win here.

This was the third Hoff in my list, and it barely made it on. Doesn’t deserve to be in the same sentence as this Madh. (Performative irony at its finest.)

Not sure what folks are seeing in Vegas Dusty. She doesn't really do anything. I would put at the 3rd best version of the year, maybe even 4th (behind the MSG version because the jamming actually kind of worked with the horns).

This Madhuvan doesn't compete with the two monstrous February versions... but it's still elite, a cacophonous delight, and should steamroll its way through this round.

This might be the first Hoffman jammed out. I like the DH on 6/7 too. So that week they must have been feeling it with DH. Both versions grooving. Love the upset.

I went Madhuvan here but it was not an easy decision. This should have been 8v9 IMO. In a year of incredible Madhuvans, this is probably the only one where I prefer the build in the front half to the bliss in the back half. But that build hits harder than anything this Hoff brings IMO. If this Madhuvan were going against the SF Hoff, it would lose. But here I'm going Madhuvan. It won't last long though.

This Dustin Hoffman smokes. This was a good year for Madhuvan but I think Dustin takes this one.

This will be close. I attended the Madhuvan and listening it back it grows on me each time so it gets my vote

Do we have our first very close matchup here?

This Madhuvan is nice but suffers from comparison bias against the hundred other amazing Madhuvans this year. It's my 5th favorite of the year. The Hoffman is groovy and I think in general people want to will epic Dustin Hoffman jams into existence more than what's happened so far. Upset alert!

Dustin got me here. And there’s plenty of other Madhuvan in the bracket already.

Second everything Ads says below. Best Madhuvan in this region and I will not hear otherwise

Go Hoffman! I’m not saying that it does anything crazy, but man it is an infectious groove that forces you to move, and I keep finding myself putting it on.

Just because something is dissonant and unique, doesn’t make it good. I’m all for Goose getting out there and exploring, the risk is the beauty of it all. Sometimes it doesn’t land and that’s fine. So many better Madhs from the year, this one was not in my bracket

This Dustin is one of the grooviest jams of 2025 - shouldn’t even be a contest against a pretty standard 2025 dark Madhuvan that has like 3 or 4 better than it. Dustin all day here!

It’s Madhuvan for me here I think. The tension and release is sublime!

This Madhuvan is grossly underseeded and should be in the running for JOTY. It has everything you want in a jam! First it’s a total unique sound unlike anything anyone’s heard before! Second its two guitar Goose (best kind of Goose) at its finest. Watch the video - this may be some of Peters best work playing notes at the end of his fretboard like no one else and Rick is up to the tall task of harmonizing with that crazy sound. Third there is evil Goose off the jump as well as blissful Goose toward the end. Fourth Trevor and Cotter are thumping and whaling away so all four are involved which is a must for any great jam. Worst part are the yahoo fans cheering during a lovely soft quiet section. But otherwise this jam has it all!!!

Come for the dark, dissonant Madhuvan jam... stay for the beautiful bliss section that comes out of nowhere for the last 5 minutes of the jam before exploding back into Mad proper. Don't sleep on this one in the year of Madhuvans

So much good Madhuvan, and so many good Dustins.. love ya Dustin but this Alpharetta Madhuvan is everything I want and more and gets my vote in this matchup