Battles

Recording information: Foxy Studios, Los Angeles, CA.; Oceanic Recording, Bethesda, MD.
Beautiful Bodies' 2015 debut, Battles, is a fun listen, especially if you're a fan of the bands that clearly influenced these Kansas City natives, like Paramore and Fall Out Boy. Centered around frontwoman Alicia Solombrino, the band make traditional, three-chord emo-pop. Produced by John Feldmann, (Panic! At the Disco, the Used, 5 Seconds of Summer), the disc is an extremely sonically dense production, full of multi-tracked vocals dipped in myriad echo EFX, highly processed electric guitars, bubbly EDM synths, programmed drums, actual live drums, and even handclaps. With that much going on, it's hard not to get swept up in the group's energy on cuts like "Capture and Release," "September 1973," and "Goodnight, And Goodluck." These songs are brightly colored and certainly share the urgency of FOB and Paramore. ~ Matt Collar