Snake Eyes

100 gecs

100 gecs just announced the release date for their highly anticipated new album, and along with that announcement came a little three track teaser to tide us over. For fans of the duo, some of this material may be familiar as they've been playing it at their live shows for the last little while. Regardless though, it's nice to hear some studio versions. Hey Big Man is a silly little rager that does an excellent job of translating the duo's live energy. The beats are comically overblown, the guitar riff is extra sloppy, and the lyrics are of the disingenuous, shit-post variety. It does get the blood pumping, but continuously cutting the beat to deliver a dumb bar is kind of tedious. Following this we have Torture Me, a song that has been floating around since 2020. Although, now we have this revamped version featuring contributions from Skrillex. It's cool. I think it is the catchiest song of the bunch. I really like the chirping synth effects that open the track, the dubstep-styled interruptions, and the crystallized synths that end the track.

Lastly, we have Runaway, which is perhaps the most tender tune the duo have put together, at least in the beginning. When the punches come in with those familiar guitars, I like it, but I can't help but feel like this was territory already explored on 800db cloud. I am quite impressed with the vocals on this one though. There are some wonderful harmonies that Laura Les layers towards the beginning. There's a particular bend that Dylan Brady performs that he intentionally doesn't let autotune strangle. And Laura Les attempts to break the tuning program with her passionate performance. It's so good that I'll let the ironic "I just think it's fucking gay" line slide.

Overall, Snake Eyes is a decent little teaser of an EP, but it certainly doesn't stack up to anything that was on their last record. I think I would be happy to find out that this is just a set of throw-aways, and the duo is saving the best material for 10,000 gecs. I haven't been super blown away by any of the new singles or new material that I caught them playing live, however, 100 gecs is certainly an unpredictable duo, and lots can change between now and March. I'm still holding out hope for a fantastic sophomore effort, and I'm desperately hoping the duo can prove that their debut wasn't some hokey fluke. We shall see.