The Beautiful Girls Club - Atrocious!

The Beautiful Girls Club

Atrocious!
self-released; 2016

3.5 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Cole "Kid Universe" Whitehead (bass/guitar/vocals), Peter Dubois (piano/keyboard/vocals), Peter "Papa Universe" Whitehead (drums) and Thom Keith (saxophone) are The Beautiful Girls Club. They released a six-song album Atrocious! They attempt styles like jazz, funk and even rap making for a scattered album showcasing some enjoyable songs but an incohesive experience. 

The production is lo-fi and as varied as the songs. This is an example of an album that needs to be properly mastered, The songs are at different levels making you reach for the volume knob. It almost feels intentional as one song is loud then the next soft and then the next is loud again.

They open with “Galaxies” which is a funky, smooth success. It’s a catchy song if a tad too predictable. The album felt like songs you might hear from a local band at a bar on a Friday night. Fun, loose but not exactly the most emotionally resonant song in the world.

“Jericho” for some reason is a good 4 - 5 dbs softer than the previous track. The song has the addition of a saxophone and feels closely related to the first song. Up next is “Fevered Dreams Ft. Sam Robbins” which is the highlight. The song has a jazzy, lounge vibe and good vocal performance, There are also some moments where the song kind of rocks out. “V” has more of a Ben Folds Five vibe and was another highlight. A good vocal melody along with piano.

“Cocoa Butter Kisses (A Cover Of Chance, The Rapper)” is the song I could have done without. The rapping just isn't working here. They end with another success entitled “It Came From The Swamp!” which has an fantastic ‘70s funk groove. 

The band has some talent but could certainly do some tweaking. There are a couple of times where the band gets off time and I also heard some sour notes. Besides that the production will have to get better if they hope to compete with artists within the mainstream or underground. Both issues are easily achievable for the band. Atrocious! is a good sounding demo but I think their best work lies ahead. 

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