Music duo 100 Gecs recently released their highly anticipated album “10,000 Gecs.” This album follows the duo’s first album “1000 Gecs,” which received widespread attention and praise for its unique and absurd sound.

Some credit 100 Gecs with popularizing hyperpop, an eclectic genre that combines EDM and pop elements. Many artists, including mainstream artists, experimented with this genre over the past few years.

On “10,000 Gecs” Laura Les and Dylan Brady stray from their signature hyperpop sound and embrace a variety of different genres and styles, showing critics that they are more than a fad band, but instead seasoned artists with much to prove.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear a prevalent rock influence in many of the tracks. The album begins with “Dumbest Girl Alive,” a song with roaring guitars and pounding drums combined with electronic sound effects and auto tune, but not pitched vocals. This rock influence can be seen throughout the rest of the album on tracks like “Hollywood Baby,” a track that embraces the sound of a teenage pop rock anthem, similar to “Teenage Dirtbag” from Wheatus with an electronic twist.

On “Billy Knows Jamie,” 100 Gecs fully commits to a nu metal track with distorted guitars and angry, direct lyrics. The song concludes with their traditional electronic and distorted breakdown of screams, blown-out bass and sound effects. As someone who grew up listening to mostly rock and its subgenres, and now listens to mostly hip hop and EDM, it is interesting and enjoyable to hear 100 Gecs combine these two realms of music in their songs.

Although 100 Gecs is experimenting with new sounds, they maintained their absurdity on “10,000 Gecs.” I am drawn to artists who implement a shock factor through unconventional production methods and wacky, comedic concepts in their music. 100 Gecs is known for this and excels at it.

On “One Million Dollars,” all the vocals are voiced by text-to-speech robots. The phrase “One Million Dollars” is repeated over and over again on a noisy EDM beat with electric guitars. Although this song is silly and the lyrics do not have much substance, the production is phenomenal, and the use of the text-to- speech vocals makes the song addicting. It is one of my favorites on the album.

“Frog On The Floor,” a track characterized by a cheerful beat, lyrics and repeated frog ribbits, is another rather odd track. It almost sounds cinematic in nature, as it could be a theme song for a cartoon about a frog. It is a cute song with a cute concept.

Although I love the absurdity of these two tracks, “Doritos & Fritos” feels as though it is silly just for the sake of being silly. I love the structure and beat of the song. The eclectic beat during the verses and the pop pre-chorus complement each other in a pleasing way. However, the lyrics are overly stupid to the point it makes the song unlistenable.

Taking creative risks is still always worth it though and is something that could be seen frequently throughout this album. It would have been easy for them to further embrace the genre that led to their fame, but they continued to try unique, experimental concepts and genres.

One track that is particularly interesting conceptually is “The Most Wanted Person In The United States,” which puts a comedic and ironic twist to being a murderer and criminal. The muted vocals over a beat that features the “Sleng Teng” riddim creates an eerie vibe, but the boing sound effects make the song light and silly.

“I Got My Tooth Removed” immediately follows this track and provides an entirely different vibe. It starts with a slow, emo-sounding sentiment about someone who was mean, then suddenly transforms into the cartoony sounding chorus in which Dylan Brady repeats “I got my tooth removed.” The duo’s use of a silly concept to describe something more serious, like the cessation of a relationship, is cool to hear.

Overall, I think this album proves that Laura Les and Dylan Brady of 100 Gecs do not take themselves too seriously, but their art is still deserving of appreciation. The duo embraces absurdity, while continuing to produce a worthwhile and high-quality product. The elevated and refined yet extravagant nature of “10,000 Gecs” surprised me, and I cannot wait to see what they do next.