PotsyTater
Lol I Heard The New Lights Album Isnt On Spotify So Tundra Cant Add It To His Playlist
User

Soundoffs 24
Album Ratings 576
Objectivity 78%

Last Active 10-22-22 4:28 pm
Joined 07-16-10

Review Comments 10,101

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08.04.23 BARBIE ACTORS RANKED BY HOW MUCH ESSENC06.25.23 Words Johnny Thinks He Invented ♦
06.24.23 DIGS, JUNE 23 '2306.23.23 Sput Dreams
06.22.23 DIGS, JUNE 21 '2306.18.23 POTS DANCE COMP RESULTS
06.04.23 POTS DANCE COMP FINALS05.27.23 Unfathomably Based Users
05.12.23 POTS REC COMP 2: MAKE ME DANCE (VAGUE)05.06.23 Neo-Soul, Nu-Jazz, Downtempo, Inst. Hip ♦
04.28.23 EARNESTLY 5'ING EVERYTHING ♦04.17.23 POTS COMP RESULTS (POP)
04.15.23 POTS COMP ROUND 2 (POP) ♦04.06.23 REC COMPETITION REAL PRIZES!!!!!!!! APR ♦
04.04.23 FIXED Vol. 1: Fifteen Oceans ♦03.03.23 2023 Dig Log
09.30.22 Overlooked Hip-Hop Part 2: A Playlist ♦09.12.22 Overlooked Hip-Hop Part 1: A Playlist
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REC COMPETITION REAL PRIZES!!!!!!!! APRIL EDITION

Feelin' FOMO over all these rec comps lately so I propose my own with REAL PRIZES for whoever recs me the best album. The rules are simple, I choose what kind of recs I want, the first however many people I feel like to rec albums I havent heard get added to the list, and at the end of the month I draw a random prize out of a hat for the person who rec'd me the best album! This time around I would like POP album recs. See the comments for a list of the prizes (from now on referred to as SUPRIZES) that are in the prize pool this month. UPDATE: If your rec is so shit I can't even sit through it you are automatically disqualified so that I don't have to subject myself to it any further and also so that I don't end up 1'ing the fuck out of a darling record of yours that never stood a chance.
1Micachu and the Shapes
Jewellery

THIS MONTH I WANT POP RECS. ONE PER PERSON. FIRST 30 THAT I HAVEN'T HEARD GET ADDED. PRIZE POOL IN COMMENTS.

Ars

This is a pretty easy 3.5 but I’m flexing them decimal places for this list so im gonna go even higher. SUCH an Ars rec. I recall liking the one Micachu + Shapes album I heard and I also enjoyed their Mount Kimbie feat. Can be goofy but never overboard. Always comes back to a groove you can really dig into before long. Love their voice. This band would be so fun live, you can tell. [3.7]
2Nicole Dollanganger
Married in Mount Airy

Storm

My opinion on Dollanaganaganger hasn’t changed with this. While I can appreciate the artistry, it’s just not what I look for in pop. Too slow and cry-cry. I think she’s very talented at what she does and really has her aesthetic choices dialed in but yeah. Does not make my clit throb. [2.5]
3White Moth Black Butterfly
Atone

Zac124

Ok so here's my thing with this album... instrumentally, this feels like it can shift between modern progressive rock (HATE) and some kind of progressive downtempo/trip-hop (LOVE) depending on which vocalist is singing at any given moment. I enjoy the female singer and hate the male singer. There are many passages throughout the album with the female singer that I think are stunning, and the song-writing and instrumentation is really good. But it loses me when it goes too piano-ballady or too generic prog-rock core. So it feels like there is a half of this project that I really appreciate and a half that I can't stand. Either way, it was an interesting listen and something I never would have normally picked up so bonus points for that. [2.7]
4Janet Jackson
Rhythm Nation 1814

Drifter

Damn bro you didn’t need to do the rest of the comp like that… usually I’d just slap a 5 on this and be on my merry way but for the sake of the comp I need to be a bit more discerning. The only gripes I have with this are that I don’t like a couple of the slow songs, I HATE Black Cat, and having the album end with a run of slow songs kind of kills the momentum for me. But my god does this slap. [4.3]
5Kerli
Shadow Works

Pizzamachine

Track 2 was fantastic. I wish the whole album was on that level, but it was still cool. Seeing bits of her costuming on Spotify makes me keen to peep some music videos and learn more about her. Lovely voice. Fell apart a bit at the half way mark for me when the dubstep influences started kicking in, but the Estonian track near the end was worth sitting in for. Even if it was a bit unbalanced, this was unique and interesting enough that I’m happy to have listened to it, and I will be keeping my eye on her in the future. Also she should make an entire album in Estonian. [2.9]
6Candy Claws
Ceres And Calypso In The Deep Time

Colton

This was a nice little slice of Neo-Psych. Not so much a criticism of the album itself but just a matter of preference regarding the genre in general, but find the production aesthetic of most neo-psych and many adjacent DREAM genres to be hard to listen to for extended periods. Of course it perfectly fits the style and is an essential component, but after about 30 minutes the muddiness really starts to grate on my brain and things start to feel quite homogenous. So my enjoyment dipped for the second half ( tho was piqued again by Mystic Thing). [3.3]
7Fishmans
Kuuchuu Camp

Hype

So every Fishmans alb has one track that I end up listening to about 700 times. It’s gonna be track 5 from this, I already know it. I’d have to relisten to the other two Fishmans albums and this one a few more times to decide where this one ranks. My knee jerk reaction is I maybe prefer the next two over this a bit but the band is really consistent. Sometimes a bit repetitive (which isn’t a problem when they are locked into a timeless groove), but always really pleasant, vibey stuff. [3.6]
8Noj
Wish I Was Here

Sloth

Is this warped tours answer to Clarence Clarity? Is the second track supposed to sound like someone is fiddling with a broken aux cord trying to make it work? There’s a part where it happens on the track after that so I think it actually might be a (terribly misguided) aesthetic choice. This isn’t irredeemable by any means, it’s just marred by some really questionable sound design choices that are really hard to look beyond. [2.2]
9Twilight Force
Heroes Of Mighty Magic

Tosmokmuzyki

Man, this was just such an ill-advised rec. My least favourite sub-genre of one of my bottom three umbrella genres. I gave it a rip but I only made it through one and a half songs. Which is further than I thought I'd make it tbf. I fucking hate this shit lmao. [disqualified + obligatory 1/5 for being a bitch about it]
10Tuca
Drácula I Love You

Porcupinetheater

Good fucking lord, dude, what the fuck are the vocals on track 1? One of the most insufferable vocal performances I've ever heard in my life. Her vocals are less terrible on... some of the other material here but theres at least one part in every song where I just want to fucking yeet her ass into the fucking sun. Who the fuck sings like that? The instrumentalists are extremely competent. Why did no one in the studio say anything? Who are these fucking yes-men? There are some really beautiful moments on this, and when she's not being a fuckin goofy goober she actually contributes to that, so I can't say I wish it was instrumental as much as I just wish she would stop singing like she's having a fucking stroke. I don't know how to rate this objectively. it has all the ingredients to be something I'd love, but it's like they accidentally put in a tablespoon of dumbfuck into the good-music cookies instead of just a teaspoon. [2.3]
11Jamiroquai
Travelling Without Moving

Kompy

Full disclosure - I'm not huge on classic funk sounds. Or at least I'm very picky about it. I do wish this album had a little more of the "acid-jazz" promised by Jamiroquai's wiki, as those kinds of influences definitely pander to my tastes more than the relatively straight-laced disco-tinged funk I got here at first. That being said, the longer this went on the more I got into it. The second half had me sold. 'Alright' and 'High Times' really did it for me. 'Drifting Along' was a nice change of pace into Reggae territory. I didn't expect them to start RIPPING DIDGE after that but I enjoyed that too. I think I'll be able to appreciate the first ~half more a second time around now that I have an idea of what the album is building towards. I listened to the remastered version since it was the only one on spotify, and what REALLY got me going was the remixes. Moreso than most of the actual album itself. If I took those into equation I would rate higher [3.5]
12Seaming to
Dust Gatherers

Borracho

The vibe of this is pretty 'soundtrack'. It's very pretty but a lot of it is very cursory and makes me feel like I should be watching a play or a short film. Found it hard to focus on. My attention drifted in and out a lot. Part of this is that I'm a very rhythm oriented listener. I'm very fickle about ambient or any kind of percussion-less music. But I see the artistry of this and think that in a different setting I would appreciate it a lot more. There are a lot of interesting sounds going on and its very dynamic and dramatic. It just needs a visual companion to sustain my active engagement. (Look Away is the highlight btw). [3.1]
13The Gentle People
Soundtracks For Living

Ryus

Do you split the prize for this with Rabidfish? Half a dick pic each? I love this. It's not perfect, but for the most part it panders to my tastes the most of anything on this list. Good mix of goofy, vibez, and aesthetix. The album art is just *chef's kiss*. It's a normal Pots insta-5 but for the sake of the contest and some ups and downs in the track qualities I'm docking a few decimals. Still, I'm pretty confident that this will end up in the top three of the competition, if not taking the whole thing home. No I did not dock points for not being on spotify though I did consider it. [4.6]
14Madonna
Confessions on a Dancefloor

Kevbogz

I went into this one pretty optimistic because I've always loved Hung Up (Sampling the one good part of Gimme Gimme has always been an s-tier production choice) but I wasn't familiar with the rest. Unfortunately, nothing else is on that level. The production is serviceable throughout (minus a couple electric guitar inclusions that naturally made me want to yeet myself off the balcony) but Madonna's lyrics on this one are really distracting. They're just really really terrible. I'm not usually a lyric-focal person, so they have to be particularly awful to keep me distracted from the music. As long as they aren't cringey, I'm usually focusing on other things. But alas, a lot of the lyrics on this one are, in fact, cringey af. [3.1]
15Marc Almond
Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters

Jasi

Let me preface my critique of this album by saying that this will probably be one of the most subjective blurbs of the entire contest. None of my gripes really have much to do with the quality of the songwriting and music itself, but rather just the visceral impact it had on me. If I listened to this in my early 20's I'm near certain I would have enjoyed it and would have probably stamped it with a certain unfortunately ill-advised status of approval that I was known to award albums of this ilk around that time. Now, I cannot stand this. It sounds like Jack the Pumpkin King making Carnival music, which on paper sounds awesome, but in practice this kind of music makes me feel physically ill at this point in my life. The memories that this kind of music evoke for me are just too painful to bear. It put me in a foul mood and made me feel awful. Again, this is such a subjective, experienced-based takeaway, and it's not really fair for me to imprint these associations on
16Marc Almond
Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters

on an album that is probably actually pretty good. I just don't like thinking about the period of my life that this reminds me of. So I will refrain from actually rating this one, but for the sake of the competition I have to give it a [1.9]
17Marina
The Family Jewels

Sint

Oh man Sint, you're going to hate me. First of all, the production on this album makes me feel like I'm listening to music on an airplane. I fucking hate airplanes. Marina sounds like Willow Smith. This has BOOMER x GEN X cusp MOM vibes. This is Willow Smith for 50 year old women. I don't really like anything about this. [2.0]
18Brandy
Full Moon

Snake.

This is easily one of the best early 2000's contemporary R&B records I've heard. An era of R&B that I'm pretty picky about. It runs out of steam a little bit at the end with some slow songs I don't care about and a mediocre closer but aside from that it is straight up banger after banger. I REALLY fucks with this. [4.3]
19Slave
Slave

Widowslaugh

I guess I am coming around a bit more on classic funk. I enjoyed this. It was a lot of fun. Don’t really have much else to say about it. [3.8]
20Ozean
Ozean

Deez after much prodding

For reasons similar to my Candy Claws blurb, I’m glad this was a nice, succinct little EP. If it was an LP I feel like eventually it would have blurred together for me. A pleasant listen. [3]
21Kero Kero Bonito
Bonito Generation

Avagantamos

I remember some of these songs from when I saw them play live. Trampoline is very memorable especially lol. This is just pure stupid fun, front to back. I don’t know how anyone could dislike this band. [3.6]
22Coeur de Pirate
Blonde

MoM

This is too mom friendly (irony) and happy-go-lucky for me. It’s got some surf vibes sometimes. Don’t really love that either. Not for me. [2]
23An Pierle and White Velvet
An Pierle and White Velvet

Trifolium

More mom-core. I like this a little bit better than the last album but still not for me. If we took the mom-core recs and put them in their own competition this one would be winning so far. [2.2]
24Pale Sketcher
Golden Skin

Sharenge

This is the biggest stretch so far in terms of fitting the “pop” bill. I like the title track the most. A lot of these tracks are a little overlong to justify such a lack of progression…. I felt I was getting bored at around the 3/4 mark on many. There’s a kind of reappropriated “witch house” texture to the production here, something that really brings me back fondly to a specific time and place in my life. But all in all I don’t think I’ll be returning to this. [3.0]
25Baleia
Quebra Azul

dedex

The opening instrumental moments here had me worried this was going to be another mom-core album but this shaped up nicely. The vocals are really great. So much variety in instrumentation too. Just an all around well crafted album. Very easy listening. I enjoyed it. [3.8]
26Nara Leao
Dez Anos Depois

AsleepInTheBack

This is 100% base-pilled and mommy-coded. My ONLY gripe is the content doesn’t necessitate the length due to the (unavoidable) varietal limitations. [4.6]
27Sleigh Bells
Treats

Someone

Guitars go SKRONCH. This is like an amalgamation of everything cool that was happening in music in the late 00’s. Can relate. Although Treats sounds like the late 00’s hipster version of Unholy by Sam Smith which sounds terrible when I say it but it’s not lmao. [3.7]
28Bukka White
The Complete Sessions 1930-1940

ffs

This is some old blues alright. [3.3]
29Prefab Sprout
Jordan: The Comeback

Mort.

This is the dad counterpart to gen x mom-core. But the thing about the dad counterpart to gen x mom-core is that it is way better than gen x mom-core. These guys LOVE saying names. They also have a whole song about my cat. Not hugest fan of buddies vocals as far as sophisti-pop goes but it’s fine. Good stuff. [3.8]
30Ryuichi Sakamoto
B-2 Unit

Frippertronics

~sounds~ (how is this pop?). This strikes me as ahead of its time, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make for some goofy compositions. Not my favourite angle to approach electronic music from, even if the programming is technically impressive. [3.3]
31Pet Shop Boys
Introspective

JohnnyoftheWell

This is fucking stupid good. Makes me want to listen to Actually again because I don’t remember anything about it. And then it makes me want listen to the rest of their discog lol. [4.6]
32Akira Yamaoka
Silent Hill 2

Gyro

I don’t really like listening to soundtracks for media I am unfamiliar with. Context is generally so crucial to the enjoyment of the ‘genre’. This soundtrack, however, makes me feel like I’m familiar with the game without having even played it. The criticism still applies to the guitar tracks, which from an outsider perspective seem random (and unenjoyable) but how can I be sure of that without playing first? I really do now more than ever want to play it tho…. To summarize, if I could chop away the shitty guitar bits this would be a perfect horror soundtrack to a game I’ve never experienced. [4.2]
33Dion
Runaround Sue

PitchforkArms

Why don’t YOU tell me what I like about this? [disqualified - I’m not sitting through a second more of this lmao]
34Eefje de Visser
Bitterzoet

Pangea

The odd blip and bloop cannot save this from the dull vocals and libido crippling saccharine vibez. It’s very nice though, just not a MOOD for me. [2.9]
35Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood
Nancy and Lee

protokute

Like I was sayin in the comments, the Greenwich song is the definition of mom-core and I don’t like that or the other full on country-pop songs, but there is a classic cinematic vibe to the rest of the stuff that really gets me going. [3.7]
36Feli Colina
El Valle Encantado

Anat

I kept waiting for this to thwomp, but thwomp it did not. [3.0]
37Gaelle
Transient

Pheromone

Contemorary R&B with classic Trip-Hop influences? Jesus fuck. Now this is how you do a “slow” R&B song. Masterclass, this. Absolutely mommy-coded. [4.6]
38Lannds
Music For The Future

deathofasalesman

Kinda shocked this is a 2023 release. It reminds me of how lit indie pop/rock was in the early 2010’s. Really good stuff, love it. [3.9]
39New Order
Technique

IsisScript

I was actually really excited for this but it really didn’t hit the same way Low-Life or Power Corruption and Lies did. The songs that landed didn’t land all that hard, and the songs that didn’t land really didn’t land at all. [3.2]
40Sam Gellaitry
VF VOL II

Conmaniac

It took me a couple songs to get used to Sam’s singing. It’s hard to tell if I didn’t like the first two songs because they were actually the worst two songs on the album or if it’s because I was hung up on deciding whether or not I could stand the vocals. By song four I felt like maybe my enjoyment was just oscillating between his vocal compatibility with the production style at hand (the first two gave full pop and the vocals sounded pop, but the next two had some soul to them and that completely recontextualized the vocals and I liked them here). I’m not entirely sure that’s the case either tho, because even when he went back to more straight up pop tracks after that, I didn’t mind the vocals anymore at all. Second listen will be interesting to see if I enjoy those first two tracks. Anyways, this was a blast, really enjoyed it. [4.0]
41New Buffalo
The Last Beautiful Day

Bobert

There are background elements throughout this album that I really enjoy, but when the foundation which the unique ideas are built upon is indie pop for sixteen year old suburban white girls there is only so much I can grin and bear. This album felt like it was half pandered directly to me and half pandered to the anti-me. There was a lot to enjoy but it was undoubtedly sullied by the things that I did not enjoy. [3.2]
42Mew
Frengers

Shemson

I am not the correct audience for this. [1.9]
43The Ronettes
...Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica

Z00sh

Ok? Thanks so much. [2.9]
44Yellow Magic Orchestra
Solid State Survivor

Calmrose

Ups and downs. Quirky as expected. I hate The Beatles so that cover was not a welcome detour. Like some tracks better than others. Don't really have much to say about this, it's what I was expecting. [3.5]
45Nilufer Yanya
Painless

Botb

This is exactly the album I was hoping she’d be capable of after hearing her debut. This is fucking GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. [4.1]
46Anri
Timely!!

Parallels

Ok ok alroight ok! This isn’t really normally my thing but this one has a novel charm. I was vibin’. [3.2]
47Prince
Sign o' the Times

Reefajones

I did enjoy some of this, but it was more miss than hit, and for a double album that means it was A LOT of miss. Prince just isn’t for me. [2.9]
48Bear Hands
You'll Pay For This

Unclereich

Honestly this is really cute. The keyboardists sound choices make this remind me of a more straightforward version of a lot of the stuff I was into into the early 2010’s. I had sounds across various songs remind me of Bear in Heaven, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Yeasayer, Wise Blood, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Suuns. So this really brought me back to a certain era. Thanks for the memories! [3.2]
49Kinoko Teikoku
Long Goodbye

Rosaparks

This was nice. Production wasn't too muddled like I find with a lot of dream/gaze stuff. Flower Girl was fantastic. Had a nice time, thanks. [3.2]
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