1000 gecs

1000 gecs is the debut studio album by American hyperpop duo 100 gecs, released on May 31, 2019, through Dog Show Records. It was preceded by the release of lead single "Money Machine" two days earlier.

Featuring an experimental sound that combined several genres, 1000 gecs was well received by critics. It placed on several publications' lists of the best albums of 2019. Remixed and reworked versions of songs from 1000 gecs were later released as part of the follow-up remix album 1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues (2020).

Background and release

Dylan Brady and Laura Les first met in 2012. They started making music together in the winter of 2015, when Brady met Les in Chicago. There, they officially formed 100 gecs and worked on their eponymous EP, released the next year. For a time, they both continued to work on their solo releases while also producing for others. In January 2019, they were invited to collaborate on a shared performance at the second edition of the Minecraft Fire Festival, a virtual music festival where Minecraft users gather on a specific server to experience live DJ performances. Brady and Les created several new songs for this set, and the enjoyable experience prompted them to intermittently collaborate throughout the year, eventually accumulating enough material for what later became 1000 gecs. With Brady being in Los Angeles and Les in Chicago, they stated that around 80 percent of the album was done via email, with they sending Logic Pro X files between them. Due to this production method, they were called an extremely online act. According to Brady, they "didn't really talk about what [they] wanted to do"; they would just send files between them, with Brady and Les adding a new element every time. The work on vocals and production was split evenly between the two.

Brady and Les are against labeling the album with a genre as, according to Brady, 1000 gecs is similar to a compilation album: "We're both just fans of music, so that's just what we put on it". Both cited YouTube, Cannibal Corpse, John Zorn and "nightcore as a concept" as some of their strongest influences. In another interview, Brady mentioned that he enjoyed ska and dubstep and cited influences such as Duck Duck Goose, Soulja Boy, Devil Wears Prada, Chiodos, and Paramore. Les recorded her vocals in her closet. Her vocals are exclusively pitched-up, "nightcore style", due to her gender dysphoria, since she couldn't listen to her own voice.

The song "Money Machine" was released as a single from the album on May 29, 2019, with a visualizer for the song posted to YouTube. The song quickly became the duo's most successful and well known song to date, and on June 13, 2019, an official music video for the song was released. In June 2019, the band released official merchandise for the album on the Dog Show Records website. An official music video for the song "800dB Cloud" was released on July 25, 2019. Over a year later, an official music video for "Hand Crushed by a Mallet" was released on October 9, 2020. In August 2019, 100 Gecs released the album's instrumentals, stems, and a cappella vocals for free download.

Composition

1000 gecs is a genre-hopping album, generally described by Pitchfork as experimental pop and by Sputnik as bubblegum bass. According to Will Pritchard of The Independent, the album helped to consolidate the eclectic 2010s "hyperpop" style by taking the genre "to its most extreme, and extremely catchy, conclusions: stadium-sized trap beats processed and distorted to near-destruction, overwrought emo vocals and cascades of ravey arpeggios." Some genres used to describe certain songs or parts of the album include post-dubstep, indie pop, pop punk, trance, chiptune, happy hardcore, hip hop, synth-pop, ska, and Europop. The song "xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx" contains an interpolation of "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" by Soulja Boy. The cover art for the album features the 100 gecs Tree.

Critical reception

1000 Gecs received generally positive reviews from critics. Larry Fitzmaurice of Pitchfork gave the album a rating of 7.4 out of 10, calling it "one of the year's most fascinating, exhilarating experimental pop albums". Similarly, Fred Thomas at AllMusic described it as being "jittery, ridiculous, and perpetually short-circuiting" but also "a fine-tuned and controlled pop product."

In December 2019, New York Times music critics Jon Caramanica and Jon Pareles rated 1000 Gecs #1 and #10 respectively in their "Best Albums of 2019" article. 1000 gecs is considered the first mainstream hyperpop album, being responsible for the genre's popularity.

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

100 Gecs

• Dylan Brady
• Laura Les

Artwork

• Gabe Howell – photography
• Nic John – photography
• Mira Joyce – graphic design

Charts

References

External links

• 1000 gecs a cappellas, instrumentals, and stems