The genesis of New York’s Hit was a 12-string electric that guitarist and singer Craig Heed got during a period of being really into the Byrds. The aim was to draw inspiration from the jangle pop pioneers, as well as, say, “Magic” by Pilot, or “Sooner or Later” by the Grass Roots, or even “Bawitdaba” by Kid Rock– anything could go in the pot if it sounded like a hit.
But after attending an early 2020 Deerhoof show in Brooklyn with the soon-to-become members of Hit – drummer Cameron LeCrone, bassist Charles Mueller, and guitarist Justin Mayfield – Heed’s interest in dissonance and experimentation was rekindled. Going back to old favorites like Brainiac and Animal Collective, new Hit songs became increasingly weird and abrasive, while still retaining the pop smarts of their forebears. This evolution is best encapsulated on “Nu Jangle,” released as a single this past February, which pairs Marrian arpeggios with glitchy noise and voice modulation. There’s even an a cappella section of “Beach Boys-y choirboy pop.” (Rosy Overdrive)
Today, Hit is announcing their debut full-length Bestseller, out October 25th on One Weird Trick. The record features “Nu Jangle” and ten other cuts, culled from a cache of 21 that the band recorded in Mueller’s newly built studio, Tiny Panther Recording, over the course of three years. The songs ranged from Hit's early formalism to present day “avant-garde proclivities,” (Look At My Records!) and besides tackling the sheer volume of material, the toughest task was fashioning a coherent album out of it. The ones that made the grade skewed noisier, but Heed’s Danelectro still chimes throughout.
There’s no brighter showcase than first single “The Spot,” which buttresses a discordant bridge of clanging guitar stabs with effervescent psych pop choruses. Its music video shows Heed drawing, painting and splotching the track’s kaleidoscopic sonic gestures in real time. Premiering the video, the Alternative described the track as, “a whirlwind of bouncy riffs and hook after hook after hook.”
Elsewhere, opener “Arite” snowballs from a wall of squalling drones and bitcrushed “mouth percussion” into a cacophony of soaring vocals and fuzzed out sonics; “Great Conjunction” is a sub-two-minute blast of skronky post-punk, dreamy textures and doo-wop harmonies; and closer “Goldilocks” dresses the album’s sweetest melody in a swirl of backtracked soundscapes. Bestseller is 11 carefully crafted songs that form a cohesive whole, but it’s also a document of Hit in transition– three years of sonic exploration distilled in 38 minutes, with sights set on uncharted territory ahead.
