100 gecs - 10,000 gecs
Hyperpop – March 17, 2023 – 10 songs, 27 mins
LUNDI
Music is undoubtably an ever evolving art form. While the mainstream masses are often all too guilty of following the flavour of the moment, there’s always some underground musicians working away at developing the next innovative sound. Enter 100 gecs and their boundary breaking sophomore album 10,000 gecs.
Quite simply this is the most fun I’ve ever had with an album. It is a hilarious, chaotic ball of energy that pokes fun at the music industry by exaggerating and mixing elements to rarely before experienced limits. The musical blend is unlike anything else. Defined as Hyperpop, the gecs duo infuse heavily auto tuned vocals with nu-metal guitars, hip hop rhythms and dubstep beats. It’s a wild ride to say the least and while that mix may seem ridiculous, just wait until you discover the song thematics.
10,000 gecs starts out to a somewhat reasonable lyrical degree focusing on a rise to fame and understanding who you are as a human, but quickly morphs into aforementioned ridiculousness. From there we get songs about a frog, eating Doritos and Fritos, being a criminal, and having a tooth removed, yet somehow despite the off the wall concepts they’re all excellent tracks. gecs treat music like improv comedy, trading ideas back and forth until they find the right mix of musical excellence and laughter. It’s an oddball strategy but no doubt works. While much too early in the game to say they’ve perfected it, they are pioneering the relatively new genre.
The ridiculous mindset can admittedly work against gecs as well but their decision to make their albums less than a half hour is so very smart. On repeat listens the album can become a slog as there’s a breaking point where crazy fun becomes just crazy. There’s no beauty here to lean on when it gets rough but still the large majority of musical consumers take in artists in small doses and 100 gecs are no doubt self aware of their potential downfall. It’s a fine line the duo walk and they pull it off admirably.
Full of hilarity, chaotic, and unlike any other. 100 gecs are musically fresh and damn near indescribable. 10,000 gecs will not be an album for everyone but it’s absolutely worth the 25 minute runtime to see if the chaos sparks a love in you.
Overall Rating: 8.2/10
Favourite Song: The Most Wanted Person in the United States
ROZ
Of all of the albums that we have done here at Too Sweet Reviews (101 albums to be exact), no album has tapped as deep into my core as the one we have picked for this week. I truly mean it when I say that this week’s review has allowed a much younger version of myself to resurface after many, many years; the version that wore ripped baggy jeans and carried a chain wallet. This week we review the very silly, very strange and above all, very unique 10,000 gecs by the band 100 gecs.
Hold on. Did the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 soundtrack have a baby with Skrillex? Do I need to dust off my old copy of Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water? That last question may have taken it a little far, my apologies - it’s just that this album happens to make me feel very, very silly. This is to be expected after listening to a track listing with song names such as Doritos & Fritos, Frog On The Floor and I Got My Tooth Removed. You can expect similar silliness (if not drastically more) throughout the lyrical content as well, which is so nonsensical that it becomes simply hilarious.
The best part of 10,000 gecs is the fact that you are hearing an assortment of sounds that may very well have never crossed paths before in the history of music recording. Tone and timbre changes are numerous and ideas are brought to life as quick as they are easily discarded for something completely different. The constant pivoting and transitioning takes an already short album and amps it up to almost breakneck speeds. Genres such as nu-metal and ska punk are twisted and contorted using electronic production proficiency to create something entirely new. It is a sight to behold.
Hyperpop is a newer genre in the music scene and this is the first time TSR has reviewed it. A hybrid version of pop, electronic, hip hop, emo and 2000s rock, it has all of the tools to make any millennial listener nostalgic while also being modern sounding enough to fit into today's musical landscape. Production techniques such as distortion and clipping are used to an almost abusive degree (the closing act of Billy Knows Jamie in particular). Creative decisions that would be seen as sacrilege in some technical circles find their place here in the context of the bands overall sound. 10,000 gecs takes the idea of staying within a certain creative lane and flips it on its head - is this the pinnacle of new age non-conformism in music? This reviewer says yes.
I cannot overstate how much fun this album was for me and simply how many times it made me smile throughout the day. 10,000 gecs? Give me 100,000 gecs. Hell, give me a million gecs. I really cannot get enough gecs in my life. Is it perfect? Definitely not, but therein lies its charm. 10,000 gecs is a hilarious joyride that will either make you laugh and sing along or leave you in a state of utter shock and terror. The best part is this: both of those feelings are valid.
Overall Rating: 8.0/10
Favourite Song: 757
REID
Too Sweet Reviews turn the page on our 100th review and land on 100 gecs. The bleached blonde American duo of Dylan Brady and Laura Les are up with their second studio album, 10,000 gecs. Which begs the question - what exactly is a gec and why are there so many? It’s rare to scour the internet for an answer and come up empty-handed but that’s the case here. It’s not that the bandmates are tight lipped about the origins. They just give a different story each time. The intrigue builds. Let’s dig in.
Three years before TSR began, I can tell you with absolute certainty I would’ve scoffed and skipped 10,000 gecs less than a minute into song one. The excellent guitar riff resembling Papa Roach’s Last Resort is overshadowed by excessive autotune and idiotic lyrics on Dumbest Girl Alive. Fortunately, stepping outside your comfort zone and seeing things in a different light often bears fruit.
Will Pritchard of The Independent defined hyperpop better than I ever could in his December 2020 article:
‘Hyperpop is a self-referential, humorous and excessive brand of pop music that is apparently everywhere at the moment and proliferating lightning-fast in the era of TikTok. It’s a sound enthralled with taut, squeally synth melodies and Auto-Tuned earworm hooks, but also surrealism, nostalgia for the apparently bygone internet age of the Noughties, and distortion, lots of it. Songs tend to be short and snappy – many of them styled in lowercase – but manage to pack in a bewildering array of stylistic elements, everything from bubblegum pop and Eurohouse, to hip-hop, trance, J- and K-pop, emo and even nu-metal.
Boy, did he hit the nail on the head.
I can honestly say I hadn’t heard of the term until this week. Because of TSR, I hung around for the remaining nine songs and was treated to a band with remarkable musical depth and creativity. The autotune may never be for me but it’s their schtick and it fits amongst the chaos. And it’s far from the full picture as you also get lyrics sung cheekily, low-key rapped and even death growled. Musically you get a mix of metal, pop, punk, ska, dubstep and others, as the duo seemingly recreate themselves with each song. There really is a little bit of everything in there.
The many artforms of music is one of its greatest attributes. Our most recent review detailed the trials and tribulations of a broken-hearted young woman in the music industry. Before that we were all sad together with boygenius hitting the hard topics. This week I’m walking around work humming songs about potheads, chips and regrettable visits to the dentist. Life is full of emotions and music can be whatever outlet you need.
We may never know what a gec is but one thing is for sure, the 100 gecs duo is a lightning rod of fun injected in an industry with more than enough room for it. Give it a shot.
Overall Rating: 7.3/10
Favourite Song: I Got My Tooth Removed