2nd Grade | Hit to Hit

Dillon

What if The Minutemen but also The Beach Boys. I’m only sorta kidding (The MinuteBoys and The Beach Men are terrible names for a band though). 2nd Grade’s album Hit to Hit is anything but terrible. More pop than punk but with a fuzzy, futzy garage production to it. The magic bit is that it still feels pretty clean production-wise. Which is probably why Hit to Hit somehow manages to be all over the place sonically without feeling disjointed, and I think that’s why I can see myself going back to this one a few times. Andre had better taste at 15 then I did at 25, and I’m still struggling to catch-up as evidenced by this album.

Alex

A lovely modern take on the long album/short songs format. Hit to Hit stays true to its name delivering gentle melodic indie tunes one after another, each sweeter than the last. What’s more, almost all the members of 2nd Grade contribute vocals on this album providing a wide range of flavors. The whole record makes for a great listening experience, but I particularly loved the first half. A few of the later tracks delve into a sort of sadcore that I don’t particularly care for (“You’re So Cool” comes to mind)— but I digress, this record rules!

Mary

these cords really struck a cord in me.

Andre

It would be odd if I didn’t like the album I chose to review. This is some good bedroom pop/easy listening indie music with a touch of lofi punk. Nice for those days where you stay inside your bedroom and listen to music all day.

Sean

Rock on with these lo-fi bedroom pop dream babies. Take a look at what we got here. We have fuzz, harmonies, light strumming, ambiguous heartfelt lyrics, slightly harder strumming. All the goodies I like to see in a bag. And this album really is a mixed bag. Through the 25 tracks the band traverses several analogous genres. Still it stays true to itself, and that is what matters most of all. If sepia filters upset you stay away from this album.