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.