10,000 gecs

10,000 gecs
Two people stand with the front of their black shirts pulled over their heads. The exposed midriff on the left has two black stars, and the chest on the right has two musical notes.
Studio album by
100 gecs
ReleasedMarch 17, 2023 (2023-03-17)
Recorded2021
Genre
Length26:53
Label
Producer
100 gecs chronology
Snake Eyes
(2022) 		10,000 gecs
(2023)
Singles from 10,000 gecs
  1. "MeMeMe"
    Released: November 19, 2021
  2. "Doritos & Fritos"
    Released: April 12, 2022
  3. "Hollywood Baby"
    Released: February 16, 2023
  4. "Dumbest Girl Alive"
    Released: March 17, 2023
  5. "The Most Wanted Person in the United States"
    Released: May 11, 2023
  6. "Billy Knows Jamie"
    Released: October 31, 2023

10,000 gecs is the second studio album by American hyperpop duo 100 gecs, as well as their first release on a major label - Atlantic Records. It was released on March 17, 2023, through Dog Show and Atlantic after several delays and a 2021 promotional tour.[4] The album is a follow-up to their debut album 1000 gecs (2019) and the remix album 1000 gecs and the Tree of Clues (2020). It was supported by the pre-release of three singles: "MeMeMe", "Doritos & Fritos", and "Hollywood Baby".

Background

On July 13, 2021, 100 gecs announced the 10,000 gecs Tour. The 34-date tour ran from October 8 to December 9, 2021.[5] On this tour, the duo performed the then-unreleased songs "MeMeMe", "Hollywood Baby", "757", "Billy Knows Jamie", "One Million Dollars", "Hey Big Man", "Fallen 4 Ü", and "What's That Smell?".[6]

On September 6, 2021, they officially announced the album and revealed its cover art.[7][8] Then, on October 7, they announced that it would release in early 2022.[9] On November 19, they officially released "MeMeMe" as the album's first single, with an accompanying music video on the same day.[10] The album would ultimately miss the initial "early 2022" release window; however its second single, "Doritos & Fritos", was released on April 12, 2022.[11] An accompanying music video for the song was released the following month on May 16. The duo also played another new song, "I Got My Tooth Removed", at some of their concerts during that year.[6]

On December 2, 2022, the duo released an EP titled Snake Eyes, which included the previously performed "Hey Big Man" as well as two other songs. The same day, the duo officially announced that after much delay, 10,000 gecs would release on March 17, 2023, and launched pre-orders for the album.[12] On February 16, 2023, they released the album's third single "Hollywood Baby", along with the album's track listing.[13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[14]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]
DIY[16]
The Guardian[1]
NME[17]
Pitchfork8.2/10[18]
PopMatters7/10[19]
Slant[20]
The Sydney Morning Herald[21]

10,000 gecs received acclaim from critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 15 critical reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[14]

Writing for PopMatters, John Amen noted, "The duo reaffirm their status as hyperpop ambassadors while implementing a notable mainstream savvy, including memorable beats, hook-ish melodies, and vocals that epitomize an au courant slacker vibe."[19] Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Fred Thomas suggested that it, "expands the duo's cultural collaging to include cannibalizations of Limp Bizkit-style nu-metal, pop-punk, '90s alt-funk, ska, and anything else that captures the gecs' fleeting attention." Upon concluding the article, Thomas also claimed that, "Somehow 100 gecs take things even more over the top on 10,000 Gecs than they did on their already mind-boggling debut. The very nature of the group's hyperbolic and perpetually exploding design means they're still inherently polarizing, love-it-or-hate-it kind of music. For those who love it, 10,000 Gecs offers more – so much more, always more – to love."[15]

Reviewing 10,000 Gecs for The Sydney Morning Herald, Robert Moran wrote that the duo had not been tamed by signing to a major label or feeling the pressure to follow up the "free-form fluke" of their debut.[21] Deeming it to be perhaps "the weirdest major label release" since Ween's Pure Guava (1992), Moran wrote that "10,000 Gecs is hilariously extreme, a nutty and unbridled celebration of pop culture detritus befitting the synaptic overload of our perennially online era. More than that, it’s proof once again that there’s no one like 100 Gecs."[21]

In June 2023, Alternative Press published an unranked list of the top 25 albums of the year to date and included this release, calling it "10 times more ludicrous than its precursor" with "the raging moshpit of nü metal, cyberpop, emo-rap, ska, and punk that somehow wrestled mainstream critics onto their side of the joke".[22]

Usage in Fox News

In March 2023, a few days after the album released, some people noticed that the cable news station Fox News was playing the track "The Most Wanted Person in the United States" during an outro segment. In May 2023, Fox News anchor Greg Gutfeld stated that 100 gecs were "the best new band out there", as well as mentioning various other music groups such as Death Grips.[23] Many fans noticed the irony between Fox News' frequent anti-LGBT messaging, and Les being a transgender woman herself.

Year-end lists

Select year-end rankings of 10,000 gecs
Critic/Publication List Rank Ref.
Exclaim! Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2023
12
[24]
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2023
18
[25]
NME The best albums of 2023
14
[26]
Rolling Stone The 100 Best Albums of 2023
74
[27]
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2023
10
[28]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Dylan Brady and Laura Les

10,000 Gecs track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Dumbest Girl Alive"2:17
2."757"2:06
3."Hollywood Baby"3:07
4."Frog on the Floor"2:41
5."Doritos & Fritos"3:16
6."Billy Knows Jamie"2:43
7."One Million Dollars"2:00
8."The Most Wanted Person in the United States"2:35
9."I Got My Tooth Removed"3:17
10."MeMeMe"2:46
Total length:26:53

Notes

  • Physical copies of the album contain different versions of "757" and "Billy Knows Jamie" than on digital releases.
  • "The Most Wanted Person in the United States" was originally known as "Real Killer".[29]
  • "MeMeMe" is stylized in lowercase.

Personnel

100 gecs

  • Dylan Brady – production (all tracks), vocals (tracks 2–6, 8–10)
  • Laura Les – production (all tracks), vocals (1–6, 8–10), guitar (1, 3–7, 9, 10)

Additional musicians

Technical

Artwork

  • Chris Maggio – creative direction, photography
  • Tracy Ma – graphic design
  • Mira Joyce – logo
  • Elly Golterman – costume designer

Charts

Chart performance for 10,000 Gecs
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[30] 89
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[31] 17
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[32] 49
US Billboard 200[33] 59
US Top Album Sales (Billboard)[34] 7
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[35] 4
US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard)[36] 7
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[37] 8
US Top Rock & Alternative Albums (Billboard)[38] 10
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[39] 6
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[40] 5

References

  1. ^ a b c d Empire, Kitty (March 19, 2023). "100 Gecs: 10,000 Gecs review – derangedly catchy hyperpop". The Guardian. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  2. ^ Smyth, David (March 18, 2023). "100 gecs – 10,000 gecs album review: like music's worst genres crammed into a bazooka and fired at your face". Evening Standard. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  3. ^ Smyth, David (February 28, 2023). "100 gecs Shook the Underground. Can the Duo Explode … With Rock Music?". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  4. ^ "100 gecs Shook the Underground. Can the Duo Explode … With Rock Music?". The New York Times. February 28, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  5. ^ Blistein, Jon (July 13, 2021). "100 Gecs Announces 2021 North American Tour Dates – Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  6. ^ a b "100 Gecs share thrashing new single 'Hollywood Baby', reveal '10,000 Gecs' tracklist". NME. February 17, 2023.
  7. ^ @100gecs (September 6, 2021). "10000 gecs" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "This Is Your Brain on 100 gecs". Pitchfork. September 7, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  9. ^ @100gecs (October 7, 2021). "the album will be coming early 2022" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ Reanna Cruz (November 19, 2021). "100 gecs, 'mememe'". NPR. Retrieved March 16, 2023. lead single for 10000 gecs
  11. ^ Blistein, Jon (April 12, 2022). "100 Gecs Drop Second '10000 Gecs' Track 'Doritos and Fritos'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  12. ^ "100 gecs drop surprise EP 'Snake Eyes' and announce new album '10,000 gecs'". NME. December 2, 2022.
  13. ^ "100 Gecs Share New Song "Hollywood Baby": Listen". February 16, 2023.
  14. ^ a b "10,000 Gecs by 100 gecs". Metacritic. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Thomas, Fred (March 17, 2023). "100 gecs - 10,000 Gecs Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  16. ^ Watson, Elly (March 17, 2023). "100 GECS - 10,000 GECS". DIY. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  17. ^ Robinson, Ellie (March 15, 2023). "100 gecs – '10,000 gecs' review: an intoxicating hurricane of manic nostalgia". NME. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  18. ^ Shepherd, Julianne Escobedo (March 16, 2023). "100 gecs: 10,000 gecs Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Amen, John (March 21, 2023). "100 gecs 10000 gecs Review: 100 gecs Mines Cultural Maximalism in 10,000 gecs". PopMatters. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  20. ^ Attard, Paul (March 17, 2023). "100 gecs 10,000 gecs Review: In-Your-Face, Maximalist Pop to the Nth Degree". Slant. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  21. ^ a b c Nguyen, Giselle Au-Nhien; Ross, Annabel; Moran, Robert; Shand, John (March 3, 2023). "Finally, an album that makes the f-word sound good". Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  22. ^ "25 best albums of 2023 so far". Alternative Press. June 23, 2023. ISSN 1065-1667. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  23. ^ Dazed (May 15, 2023). "Fox News won't stop playing 100 gecs for some reason". Dazed. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  24. ^ Gregory, Allie (November 30, 2023). "Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2023". Exclaim!. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  25. ^ Gordon, Jeremy (December 5, 2023). "The 50 Best Albums of 2023". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  26. ^ "The best albums of 2023". NME. December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2023.
  27. ^ "The 100 Best Albums of 2023". Rolling Stone. November 30, 2023. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  28. ^ Gordon, Arielle (December 5, 2023). "The 50 Best Albums of 2023". Stereogum. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  29. ^ "This is Your Brain on 100 gecs". Pitchfork. September 7, 2021.
  30. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 27 March 2023". The ARIA Report. No. 1725. Australian Recording Industry Association. March 27, 2023. p. 6.
  31. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2023. 12. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
  32. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  33. ^ "100 Gecs Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  34. ^ "100 Gecs Chart History (Top Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  35. ^ "100 Gecs Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  36. ^ "100 Gecs Chart History (Top Current Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  37. ^ "100 Gecs Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  38. ^ "100 gecs Chart History (US Top Rock & Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  39. ^ "100 Gecs Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  40. ^ "100 Gecs Chart History (Vinyl Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 1, 2023.