Album review: 100 gecs – 10,000 gecs

Missouri hyperpop duo Dylan Brady and Laura Les exist at the fast-moving cutting edge of modern music. Blending EDM and pop-punk, hip-hop and heavy metal, dubstep and ska, theirs is the sort of mercurial sound that could feel red-hot one moment and painfully outdated the next. So when the second record under their 100 gecs banner, announced in July 2021 for an early 2022 release, took almost two years to materialise, some were concerned that they could’ve been left behind.

To the contrary, 10,000 gecs builds on 2019 debut 1,000 gecs with not only 10-times the number of, er, ‘gecs’, but also enough anarchic momentum to keep them well ahead of the curve.

It’s all on display on inspired opener Dumbest girl alive, as we veer from razorblade riffs to autotuned vocals to R&B beats to acoustic Spanish guitars. 757 is a synth-laden, two-minute sugar rush. By the time we get to the (relatively) conventional electro-punk of Hollywood Baby, our heads are already spinning hard enough for its woozy charm to sweep us off our feet. Naturally, that’s followed by the absurdist indie-folk of Frog on the floor, Doritos & Fritos’ glitchy dance-rock and the openly Korn and Limp Bizkit-inflected aggro nu-metal of Billy knows jamie.

Variety is the spice of life, of course, and 100 gecs’ real genius is making that ostensibly schizoid tracklist work for a greater good. Taken in isolation, for instance, the cod-balladry and floorboard-smacking ska of I got my tooth removed is fun, but not truly stand-out. Jammed between the understated rap of The Most Wanted Person in the United States and the ecstatic, arms-aloft euphoria of mememe, though, it becomes an inspired fragment of the masterful bigger picture.

Tantalisingly, this record also feels like the next building-block in a potentially genre-defining body of work. As much as we can’t wait for 100,000 gecs, however, there’s a mountain of fun to be had before we get there.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Fall Out Boy, Skrillex, Machine Gun Kelly

10,000 gecs is out on March 17 via Dog Show/Atlantic

Read this: 100 gecs: “We started out doing the goofiest shit… and we’re still just two friends having fun”