GutterPutter

A spectre is haunting music – the spectre of hyperpop. 2019 sees the genre come into fruition when a duo named 100 gecs, hailing from Missouri, have released their debut album titled 1000 gecs. It’s thematically alien yet lyrically relatable, sonically weird yet structurally conventional, and it’s experimentally abrasive yet contextually accessible (if that makes sense). While half the internet despises the utter chaos and, at its most eccentric, shitpost-inspiring songwriting, 100 gecs does win over many who would joke about how they can’t resist the otherwise ‘bad’ music. This includes myself as I find 100 gecs to be one of the best albums of the decade unironically for how frantically fun the whole project feels. Thus, hyperpop emerges as one of the most erratic genres to look out for for better or for worse.

Thus, almost four years after the debut, a new sophomore effort has been released called 10,000 gecs. While the two brains, Dylan Brady and Laura Les, stick with their breakthrough style rather than diverge into different genres like their contemporaries, they do spice their tracks up with an overt leaning towards alternative rock. This includes a parodic take on children’s music in ‘Frog on the Floor’, clear power pop hits as felt on ‘Hollywood Baby’, or even metal given the direction of ‘Billy Knows Jamie’. While some of the ideas there went for the bullseye, there are some tracks that do lean too much toward a dud given how far and frequent the duo would push in their artistry to see if their songs still have appealability.

Of course, there are tracks that have their own character which makes them likeable within the album. It’s that fact which helps them to stand out in a way that is reminiscent of 100 gecs’ hyperpop mastery without compromising on the experimentation that they seek to dive deep on. Take ‘757’ where the trap element of the duo is put through a zany influence of glitch hop and emo rap, leading to an infectious deep cut that highlights the technicalities as well as it does their memetic tendencies. ‘Doritos and Fritos’ contains a choppy, danceable guitar riff with the high-tempo chants of ska, making the left-turn a welcome attempt that’s dissonantly catchy. A few tracks later would find a mellow cut in ‘The Most Wanted Person in the United States’ which is a satirical twist on hip hop’s fascination with crime culture and vendetta. With a beat that’s made of slapstick cartoon effects which is ordered to a pleasing sense of sequence, it’s another track that will catch you off guard before you love every second of it.

You then have the complete novelty hit in ‘I Got My Tooth Removed’ which, in a burlesque manner, depicts the idea of a dental appointment as being unforgivable. The combination of synced singing, Laura Les’s auto-tuned singing, and the most blatant swing between a power ballad and ska punk, the song is way too fun to not enjoy. Combined with the suave bassline that changes between simply memorable and a groovy post-punk revival outline, the song is a gem that is well worth your time.

That being said, there are tracks that I’m not too fond of as the band’s hyperpop shenanigans can overturn the alt-rock efforts. ‘One Million Dollars’ combines the varying structure of heavy metal, industrial, and dance-punk with the sample of several people saying the song title. It’s not as memorable or as enjoyable a listen as ‘gecgecgec’ from the previous album in execution. Instead, the hyperpop style that usually works well makes the track feel too overproduced and excessive. On the other side, ‘Dumbest Girl Alive’ starts off well with a THX sample, but the full-on nu metal performance clashes too much with the bombastic digicore sound. 

While 1000 gecs’ comedic directions allow the tracks to feel less alienating and more rewarding as you accustom yourself to the surprises of each track, 10,000 gecs focuses on the technical side to a fault. You might feel a slight bout of nostalgia as you reach the final track ‘mememe’ which is a refined version of 100 gecs’ typical output with its deliberately clear autotune and visceral pop punk/bitpop crossover. Yet, much of the album feels good, but not great as per say. Only ‘757’ and ‘I Got My Tooth Removed’ stood out as the best of what the duo sought to aim their musical development towards. As for the rest, they vary from being too abrasive even for hyperpop’s standards to being passably good. Fans of the band may like or even fall in love with the record, but I’m more fond of the wackier, post-electronica side of the band with their constant ska.