10000 gecs by 100 gecs

When I first heard the 100 gecs 2019 album, 1000 gecs, it was from out of nowhere. I’d found it via an unlikely source (NYTimes’ “Best albums of 2019”), got instantly infatuated with it despite not really knowing how to listen to it, and promptly added it to my Top 31 (but near the bottom, down at #29). As the subsequent four years’ repeated listening has proven, I placed that album way too far down on the list. It was mind blowing, and unique enough that it felt like they could never match the genius and immediacy of the sound of that album. Enter 9,000 additional gecs, stage left.

10000 gecs the St. Louis duo’s fantastic and fantastically weird sophomore record, is another triumph. It’s silly and noisy and loud and catchy as hell. “It’s 10 times as good as the last one,” Laura Les told Pitchfork. Les along with her partner in crime, Dylan Brady, had a lot of pressure put on themselves after the success of their breakout, genre breaking debut. While I can’t confidently say this new album is 10x better than the debut, it does prove that 100 gecs are capable of extending themselves well beyond what I or anyone expected.

A close cousin of what the band Sleigh Bells showed us a decade earlier (#12 in 2010 and #31 in 2012), the much less polished and less consistently loud sound from 100 gecs makes them a bit less approachable. Hit play on the video above, for their song “Hollywood Baby” and you’ll see what I mean. Then view any of the other videos they’ve created from the album and you’ll understand the catchiness of it as well:

“The Most Wanted Person in the United States”
“Billy knows jamie”
“Dumbest girl alive”
“Doritos & Fritos”
“mememe”

I am once again sitting here drawing a blank as to where 100 gecs can go from this peak. But I thought this same thing back in 2019, so I’m finding it a little easier to throw my expectations out the door and simply hope for the best. Until then, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy 10000 and 1000 gecs in anticipation.

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1000 gecs by 100 gecs

This duo from St. Louis was probably the most difficult thing I listened to (and still enjoyed) in all of 2019. Every time I’d put it on at work or at home (not very often, admittedly), I’d sheepishly qualify it by saying “if anyone hates this, I’m happy to turn it off.” To my surprise, nobody ever did. A few of my coworkers (who are all younger than me, it should be said) liked it and questioned why I’d even thought to turn it off. Just goes to show: getting old is a bitch.

100 gecs consists of Dylan Brady and Laura Les, who met at a party way back in 2012. Currently, they both live in separate cities (LA and Chicago, respectively), and given they rarely breath the same air, they create music by sharing music files back and forth online. They released their first EP back in 2016, and 1000 gecs is their first full-length album.

“Full-length” is a bit of a misnomer, as the album is only 23:07 long. But what a powerful 23 minutes it is. Everything on this album is unnecessary and excessive, yet it somehow gels extremely well. This is the future of pop music, here and now. The song above, “Money Machine,” is one of their more tame songs, which should give you an indication about how radical the rest of the album is.

Grab those reins and hold on tight. Don’t give up early, and you’ll be surprised at your disappointment when the end comes in quickly.

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30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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#16 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — 100 gecs

#29 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — 100 Gecs