September 29th, 2021
Goblin core, hyperpop, 2000s era throwbacks, lo-fi aesthetic, and an absolute blend of Genre: It’ the gecs aesthetic. Gecs forever and all. 100 Gecs are the musical collaboration between Laura Les and Dylan Brady – their music is abrasive, strange, and undeniably fun, despite the barrier of “what the fuck is this”. Their 2019 debut album 1000 Gecs is 23 minutes of auditory chaos; some of the strangest sounds to come into popular music are present on this project. But despite how “obscure” the musical content may sound – thematically 1000 gecs does an incredible job of defining some the current existential crisis’s that millennials are facing as a generation.
Before I address, what I think 100 gecs are trying to answer in their questions let me first address the lyrics in which they, the artists, ask questions:
Goddamn, what the fuck? (745 Sticky)
You think you’re so fucking cool? Huh? You think you’re so fucking tough? (Money Machine)
What were you trying to say? (800 db cloud)
Just shut the fuck up, where’s the weed at? (800db Cloud)
Why am I never Getting Lucky? (Stupid House)
Oh my god, what the fuck? (Hand Crushed)
“I need love, can you get to me now?” (Gec 2 Ü)
The generalized “What the fuck?”’s that are asked twice do a good job of summarizing the gecs sense of existentialism – what the fuck is going on a) in the world b) in my relationships and c) within myself. The rest of the album then addresses some of the problems that Dylan and Laura recognize in their world, which tend to center around connecting with others: “What were you trying to say?” translates to the lack of communication brought on by digital disconnect,” shut the fuck up, where’s the weed at?” roughly translates to using substances as distraction form having issues connecting with others, “Why am I never getting lucky?” translates to the larger theme of economic instability – the conflict of being, or rather feeling, both rich and poor at the same time, and of course “I need love can you get to me now?”, the central theme of needing to feel connected and the challenges of how one can receive this love when things are so scattered.
The major theme of the album is the existential question of connection – how does one connect to others in the digital world and though distance? What obstacles are in the way that prevent people from making authentic connection? Gecs also address the challenges of authentic self-hood that are brought forward through living in a post capitalist world. How does the work-self replaces the authentic self?The themes of distraction and excess also find their way into the album, how can one find connection when one is constantly distracted and trying to distract oneself?
Connection
1000 Gecs can be viewed through the narrative lens of two people simply trying to connect with one another – but the world they live in prevents several obstacles for authentic connection; the narrative of this relationship is presented non-linearly throughout the album but presents the highs and lows of finding connection. The first instance of this occurs during Money Machine:
Tell me what’s the deal, I’ve been tryin’ go to bed
I’ve been up for days I’ve been tryna get ahead
Said it all before and I’ll say it once again
I’m better off alone
(Quick comment on Money Machine – I think that the opening “monologue” of Money Machine is somewhat inconsistent with the themes on the rest of the album; excluding maybe the concept of “ghosting”)
While this is very much the low of the relationship but that it is followed up in 800 db which is the song I believe is the core of the relationship within the album – it paints the picture of two people connecting over distance and the challenges that this brings through distance:
He said, “I love you,” on the plane
I said, “I love you too”
He said, “Everything is different now, everything has changed
Always on a plane always something new”
I said, “Nothing’s new, nothing’s changed, I still need you”
The opening lyrics illustrate the couple on a major transition in their lives, but also how, despite transition there is still the need for love, the need for connection. This is then rebuddled with the lyric (which I think is the central thematic lyric on the album):
“I never say what I need, when I need you Never say what I need, when I need you”
Here Gecs are saying that there is the obstacle of asking for love and support; the obstacle generated via the paradigm of the world in which we exist.
This all interplays with the relationship between control and freedom that are typified in intimate relationships – in this relationship there is the duality between intimacy and wanting the other person to fulfill their own goals. xXXi_wud-nvrstøp_ÜXXx is simply a dance banger, but it hones on in another Gecs theme which is the idea of freedom in the modern world.
I would never stop you
I would never stop you
‘Cause you know I’m crazy Crazy for you, baby
Ringtone furthers the challenges of love in a digital age – so often we connect through our phones as a way to reinforce romantic connection. The whole song is about how one member of the relationship customized their partner’s ringtone (My Boy’s Got his own ringtone it’s the only one I know) as a way the cut through the other digital excess on the phone (“45 group texts, 50 group DMs”) and this small act of technological rebellion allows for some type of connection separate from the rest of the phone. But then the narrative inverses when the relationship goes sour and the ringtone ends up being something that the singer begins to despise.
Then gecgecgec and Gec 2 Ü act as closers to this central theme of connection, or rather the imbalance that might be present in challenging relationships, the support that we require:
You can call on me Anytime And I’m runnin’ home to you Please remember Baby, I’m not stronger than You
Gec 2 Ü, the closer, is almost a direct response to all the themes addressed earlier and is a direct response to the statement in 800 db cloud’s “I never say what I need when I need you” when Laura sings:
Sitting all alone, and you call me on the phone
And you say, “I need love, can you get to me now?”
Asking for love despite distance, striving for connection, the role of the phone in our connections, are all present in this one line. But this is all compounded in the verse:
“Yeah, everything is pilin’ up But that’s cool, that’s cool ‘Cause at least I got you, I got you, I got you”
This line really cuts through the core of the gec ideology; that despite all the complexities in this world and all the obstacle that one may face connection with others, especially the people you love, makes everything okay.
Work and Money
Another major theme addressed in the lyrics of 1000 gecs is the idea of money; from the search for money, not being able to get money, and being flooded with money, 100 gecs address the challenges of living in a capitalistic system and how that affects the self and one’s motivations within the system.
This theme is addressed explicitly in the opening lyrics of the album in 745 Sticky:
I make my money on my own, yeah Wakin’ up five in the morning, yeah Throwin’ money in the oven, yeah
Fuck sleep and his cousin I’ve been on a roll, yeah I spend my money like it’s stolen, yeah Shit, I’m already broke and it’s only 7:45 in the morning, yeah
Here Laura discusses the life cycle of the economic being: going to work, making money, spending money (perhaps recklessly) and then not having any money in the end. This seems to be a constant theme in the gecs world view money appearing and disappearing all throughout – the whole time working in order to earn the money, despite the affect that has on the body (e.g. “Fuck sleep and his cousin”; the cousin, I think, being death). Dylan then divulges the emotional effects of existing in this system:
Goddamn, what the fuck? Feel like I’m not good enough Get off of me, I swear I’ll do it all Do it all, do it all I can swear I can do it all Do it all, do it all I can swear I can do it all
This goes back into the theme of existential freedom that is present in the gecs universe – “doing it all” is the goal, however this proves to be disastrous to one’s emotions, a distortion of the self. This idea of self in its relation to economic realities is thus the catchiest hook on the album:
I feel so clean like a money machine
What is a money machine besides a catchy hook? I’m definitely overthinking this but if we are discussing the subject of the self in a capitalistic system – then Laura could be thinking of her Self (her body and personal agency) as only a means to make and spend money. Her “being” is only in relation to money. Laura’s lyrics are of self-alienation; being clean like a money machine is being a functioning part of a greater system, but a machine without feeling or the ability to do anything else.
Finally, Stupid Horse, a hyper-ska banger emphasizes the “luck” of living in such a system – painting a picture that to be successful in the modern workplace is comparative to betting on the correct horse in a horse race:
Bet my money on a stupid horse, I lost that So I ran out to the track to get my cash back
Stupid horse, I just fell out of the Porsche Lost the money in my bank account, oh no Stupid horse, I just fell out of the Porsche
Why am I never getting lucky?
I never have any money
I never win any money
“Why am I never getting luck” seems to be the existential question at the root of the gecs world view; luck is the only way to get ahead in this theoretical race.
Excesses and Distraction
The final themes I will address here are excess and distraction. Musically 1000 gecs is an album of wayyyyyy too much packed into a dense 23 minutes. There are just moments of overwhelming and chaotic sounds. However the music is also quite distractible, little musical thoughts manically pop in and out that only last a couple of seconds – the instrumentals of I Need Help Immediately and gecgecgec are almost like scanning a radio. This is additionally true for the breakdown in 745 Sticky, where dubstep sounds are paired with dogs barking and screams, amongst other sounds. I believe this reflects the state of the external world; there is just so much constantly going on and popping up that it is impossible to stay focused on one idea for too long.
Lyrically, gecs analyze excess and distraction quite a bit as well. Besides the excess of “money” as discussed in the previous section, there is also this idea in 745 sticky that “one can do it all”. With the freedom to do anything; the idea of existential excess is the next step.
800 db cloud further entertains the idea of distracting oneself form one’s problems through various means. Directly after the lyrics “I never say what I need when I need you”, a moment of pure honesty Laura discusses her various addictions, and distractions:
I’m addicted to monster, money and weed, yeah
I’m blown’ clouds so loud, you can’t fuckin’ see, yeah
I’m addicted to everything that I see, yeah I’m addicted to making money off me, yeah
Implying that these parts of her life could be a method to distract her from the challenges of connection. This then breaks down in a moment of desperation with:
Just shut the fuck up, where’s the weed at? Just shut the fuck up, where’s the weed? Just please fuck me up, where’s the weed at?
Through all the distraction and chaos of the world, it makes sense that Laura and Dylan tap into this idea musically and lyrically that it is hard to focus on meaning and emotion. However, I think they suggest that redemption can be found in the simple act of finding connection, the ability to ask those around you “I need love, can you gec to me”
Conclusion
Overall I think that 1000 gecs taps into the millennial mindset at the end of the decade better than any other musical project; this short album embodies the emotional zeitgeist of a generation and challenges the listener through a series of questions: how do we connect with other people in a digital world? How can we retain creative and personal agency in a capitalist system that is inherently alienating? In an environment built around distraction and excess, how do we find meaning? Hey little piss baby you think you’re so fucking tough? Huh?
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