Wake Up, TID3S: 100 gecs - 1000 gecs ALBUM REVIEW

Genre: Bubblegum Bass

Release Date: 5/31/19

Label: Dog Show Records

“If I wasn’t me, I’d copy me too.”

Although I hate to admit it, I can’t keep tabs on every new album that drops in any given week. Between AP classes and maintaining this blog, I simply don’t have the time. Being the last person aboard the hype train for anything is never fun, but sometimes I just NEED to get my opinions out on a record - regardless of how long ago it was released. “Wake Up, TID3S” is a segment I’ll be doing regularly from now on - entirely dedicated to the albums that I’ve been sleeping on for far too long. Without further ado, welcome to the first installment: “1000 gecs” by 100 gecs.

100 gecs is a duo comprising of producers/vocalists Dylan Brady and Laura Les, who first met around 2012 in their hometown of St. Louis. In the years following, they individually became figureheads in the city’s underground electronica scene. Sometime during 2015, they came together and started toying with the idea of creating some sort of musical collaboration - thus, 100 gecs was born.

In July 2016, they released their debut self-titled EP. It wasn’t a smash success, but it did introduce the duo as a force to be reckoned with in their scene. After the release of the project, both members became significantly more successful in their solo careers - forcing them to put 100 gecs on hold for a number of years.

It wasn’t until this January that they reconnected, and of all places, on Minecraft.

The two played a collaborative DJ set at Fire Festival, an EDM gala hosted entirely digitally on a public Minecraft server. The set was so successful that they decided to bring back the 100 gecs side-project - this time, with a debut album. 1000 gecs dropped in late May and became a near-overnight sensation amongst internet music communities.

For good reason too, as this is easily one of the most eclectic, intensely confusing electronic albums I’ve heard in a long time.

The opening track “745 sticky” sets the tone perfectly, with absolutely nonsensical lyrics (“Throwin’ money in the oven, yeah, f**k sleep and his cousin, yeah”) and an instrumental that sounds like a pitch-shifted voice crack in the best way possible. In the last 30 seconds of the track, we get the project’s first true moment of musical irrationality - a full-blown dubstep breakdown, accented by sounds of car alarms and stock SFX screams echoing throughout each of your earbuds. There’s almost no warning before it drops, a trait that you’ll soon come to expect from 1000 gecs.

By this point in the album, you’ll already be fully aware of the… “unique” style of vocals the duo employ. I guess the closest comparison I can make is to the sped-up, high-pitched vocals found in YouTube nightcore edits - as the singing on this record is almost completely indistinguishable from the members’ real voices. Since there are a plethora of effects smothered onto every single lyric throughout the 23-minute runtime, I can’t really judge the duo’s singing abilities. However, I can say that I absolutely adore the sugary, fever-dream-esque vocal effects and how well they mesh with every single instrumental here.

The album’s lead single, “money machine”, has unironically become one of my favorite songs of the year. The metallic, barbaric bassline and the opening MIDI guitar line both perfectly complement the explosive chorus which insults YOU (yes, you) for having a small truck. No, that’s not a euphemism, it’s quite literally a song about trucks. “You talk a lot of big game for someone with such a small truck” is the one lyric from 2019 which will be immortalized in history books, along with every other iconic line in the track that I now know by heart. Immediately following is “800db cloud”, another blown-out, bass-boosted banger with even more quotables - take “I might go and throw my phone into the lake” for example. In the most inexplicable moment on the entire project, the song ends with what sounds like someone shoving a microphone down their throat to the tune of a hard metal riff. At this point, I expect nothing less from Dylan and Laura.

“I Need Help Immediately” and the first half of “gecgecgec” sound like if you poured a gallon of milk on a Casio keyboard and all the pre-set demo loops started playing at once. Passages of actual rhythm or melody will pop up for a few seconds, then almost instantly dissolve into the wall of noise each track creates. Neither are really meant to be listened to on their own, they’re more just a reminder to the listener that 100 gecs are currently in control of your headphones and they can do whatever they want with them. But far and away the most exhilarating cut here is “stupid horse”, a full-on ska homage that tells the story of a racehorse bet gone wrong. The idiotically infectious hook and the chunky guitar riffs make for one of the most memorable tracks of the year, and the fact that it’s an innovative and digitalized take on the forgotten ska sounds of the early 90s can only be a plus.

As suggested by the title, “xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx” sounds like the song that would have played if you opened Satan’s MySpace page in 2009. The airy, twinkly beat, uncomfortably tense vocals and the “XD rawr”-tier lyrics are most likely parody, but considering the album’s tendency to throw curveballs at every possible opportunity to - I’ve learned to stop assuming and just start accepting. Now that I think about it, “ringtone” is really the only song here that even attempts to follow a semi-traditional song structure. The lyrics are violently adorable, detailing the excitement of getting a phone call from your significant other. With synths mimicking the sound of a Nokia keypad, I feel like the track could very well be one of the first steps towards a new era of internet-age love songs - parody or not.

The vocals on “hand crushed by a mallet” are honest-to-god reminiscent of an early 2000s pop-punk song. The cadence in which Dylan croons “I was trying to find, a way to kill time” in the intro could easily be heard used on any number of forgotten emo records blaring over Hot Topic speakers circa-2007. The mesmerizing, trance-like production makes the track feel even more scene-inspired, and the chorus where the singers’ voices sound like they’re drowning in bass stabs is a fantastic touch. But all good things must come to an end, and the album unfortunately does on the savory closer “gec 2 Ü”. Although it’s not exactly anything the project hasn’t already thrown at you, the combination of bubbly synths, uber-endearing lyrics and a drum ‘n’ bass break during the first verse makes for a fitting end to the project.

1000 gecs is by far the hardest album I’ve ever had to review. Barely any song has a clear-cut musical structure, segments of harsh noise randomly fade in and out of nearly every track, and almost every vocal melody feels off-pitch in its own unique way.

But that’s why it’s one of my favorite albums of the year. I’m not gonna pretend like the group’s music is for everyone, because it’s certainly not. But when it all clicks, it’s horrifyingly magnificent - and I can’t get enough.