What the fuck? I’ve spent the last week pondering how best to review 10,000 gecs, the second LP from renowned hyper pop pioneers 100 gecs. Coming in at 10 times the gec from their previous project, 1000 gecs, collaborators Laura Les and Dylan Brady have finally returned after an almost four-year hiatus.
When it comes to listener taste, 100 gecs can be a divisive choice. This is especially clear with 10,000 gecs, an album seemingly designed to be, in a way, disappointing.
For those already familiar with the way of the gec, the opening three songs will feel like a natural evolution for the duo. There’s “Dumbest Girl Alive,” with its busted-up basslines paired with emo, punk-inspired guitars and a classically angsty vocal line. “Hollywood Baby” is another clear elevation of 100 gecs’ original formula—a true ear-worm guitar riff combined with whiny lyrics that harken back to something like The All-American Rejects.
But just as you think you’re getting a grip, the mysterious, shapeshifting sound of 100 gecs wriggles from your grasp in the form of “Frog on the Floor.” A childish, semi-ska-inspired chord progression, a borderline un-produced vocal chorus, and gratuitous use of ribbiting samples all come together to punish us for our arrogance—the hubris to assume we could ever comprehend the unknowable forces guiding 100 gecs’ aesthetic choices.
It’s difficult to talk about 10,000 gecs without breaking down every song, as very little connects them except for the massive weird streak running through the entire project. Aesthetics range from Primus-inspired basslines (“Doritos & Fritos”), Papa Roach-esque rap-rock (“Billy Knows Jamie”), if M.I.A. did the soundtrack for a cartoon about the Old West (“The Most Wanted Person in the United States”), and of course, what will become the defining track of yet another 100 gecs original genre: hyperska (“I Got My Tooth Removed”).
However, something happens at the end of 10,000 gecs with “mememe.” While there’s a hint of that ska inspiration on this track, it’s largely what we’d expect from a new-and-improved 100 gecs, acting as the necessary reconciliation of the 100 gecs we expected and whatever it is we just received. Not content to ride the hyperpop wave of their own creation, 100 gecs has once again struck out into the unknown, the unpopular, and the unusual. And for those who love the duo for their individuality and downright rejection of all we consider normal, this may be their most important release to date.
