Kick ii-iiiii - Arca: Review
Arca
With the many hours I spent digesting and reflecting on these records I have to say I've come away from them incredibly impressed. I can't think of another artist right now whose sound is simultaneously so recognizable but also so versatile. These records have drastically different sonic approaches yet they could be intertwined without ever really losing the feeling of being Arca projects. If anyone has been holding out for years on diving into the Arca musical universe you don't have any excuses anymore. One of these four projects will be to your liking and if you pay close attention you'll probably find something to love in all of them. Whether Arca is taking a well deserved break or there is still somehow creative drive left to be explored after all these albums is for her to know and for us to find out, but at the very least she should take a look back on this series as a spectacular accomplishment cementing her among the upper echelon of contemporary experimental musicians.
is a genre blending producer and vocalist who first made a name for herself with productions credits on albums like Kanye West's Yeezus, FKA Twigs LP1 and Bjork's Vulnicura. In the past few years she has risen to fame as a leading voice and frequent collaborator in the hyperpop movement, culminating in last years critically acclaimed KiCk i. Throughout the 2nd half of the year Arca dropped numerous singles from a trilogy of sequels and then released the projects one day after another in the week leading up to their originally scheduled release, followed by a surprise fifth entry into the series.
Review By Lav:
While Arca may not be one of the most high profile voices in music anyone who has been paying attention knows that she's contributed as much as anybody in the past decade. At first it was largely in the shadows as a virtuoso producer, in recent years she has had a major coming out party not only with her own music, but her own personality. Given that Arca is someone that's impossible to ignore creatively I decided it was worth it to dive into everything she delivered in these next four installments of the kick series, but as much as anything I'm just amazed that she was able to pull it off in the first place.
KICK ii
One of the first questions I had going into these albums was what exactly would be setting them apart from each other. While that became clear later on, it's easy to think at first that KICK ii doesn't have any extremely identifiable characteristics. It has jittery bangers like Prada and Rakata early on in the tracklist but they are mixed in with lush ballads like Luna Liena and the Sia featuring single Born Yesterday. The record does have some experimental and perhaps a little unexpected moments but they generally pale in comparison to what follows on some of the other projects, so I really see this record as being a bit of a taste test for some of the versatility Arca is capable of putting on display. That absolutely doesn't mean that you should skip this album because there really are some great songs here. But with some Latin flavored electronic bangers mixed in with true to form IDM songs and a number of indulgent ballads I don't see this one being many peoples favorite of the bunch. But in the inverse of that no matter what distinct era of Arca's career up to this point is your favorite, there is something here for you. 7/10
KicK iii
In comparison to ii, iii isn't shy about letting you know exactly what it's MO is right out the gate. These songs are hard-hitting, sexually charged and absolutely unrelenting bangers that rarely give you space to breathe. If you heard the singles Electra Rex and Incendio you mostly know what to expect from this one as Arca travels down her zany and intense rabbit hole of bangers further than ever before. If you liked the half rapped half spoken verses on her song Nonbinary then this will really click with you because she is doing a lot of that here and it absolutely oozes her personality. The opening track Bruja employs a fantastic verse of disjointed imagery that works as a perfectly encapsulating look into the confident, unfiltered and uncompromising side of Arca that we've gotten glimpses of before. I could see these songs translating really well with the SOPHIE and Jimmy Edgar crowds as the deconstructed club sound is extremely prevalent. But there is absolutely no guise of musical anonymity here, these tracks could have only ever been made by Arca. So many of these songs manage to be both a brash and difficult exploration of shrill and harsh sounds as well as a further dive into Arca's unstoppable vision for her own artistry. If it wasn't already clear I quite enjoy this record from the creative and intense production to the extreme attitude it is really easy for me to buy into pretty much everything Arca does here. When so much experimental music comes so abstracted from the artists at its core by the very nature of it, hearing Arca breathe her life into these otherwise glitchy and pummeling soundscapes is extremely intoxicating. 8.5/10
kick iiii
This record is definitely the emotional core of the series as it pairs songs where Arca bears her insecurities and perspective as a queer artist alongside a few guests, alongside mostly instrumental cuts with a more patient but still very loud demeanor. While there is more to chew on here and guest appearances by Planningtorock and Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson that are extremely memorable, I think this is the least engaging of all the projects from a musical standpoint. Much of the project reminds me conceptually of SOPHIE's Is It Cold In The Water? which features heart bearing vocal performances over jagged but beautiful electronic soundscapes. Unfortunately kick iii rarely makes anything this compelling despite its vocal ambitions. For every song I really like here there is one where the runtime blows by without ever really delivering a compelling soundscape or much interesting sonic texture to digest. Even though I think we learn a lot about Arca on this record it isn't one I see myself wanting to come back to nearly as much as the others here. 6/10
kICK iiiii
After a week of listening to Arca and a trio of new albums I honestly thought I had wrapped it up, surprise. The fifth edition of the series was a surprise drop which didn't have any singles leading up to it and actually came out on the expected release day, sort of. These factors made it impossible to have any expectations or anticipation for the project which I think is a good thing because I can see this being one that typical Arca fans may not respond to as strongly. This is the most reserved of all the albums by far, to the point where you can call some of the instrumentals ambient. Even some of the more involved or vocally present tracks don't come anywhere near the level of musical depth that we are accustomed to from Arca. This isn't a bad thing in my opinion as we get to hear her play with sound in new ways, highlighted early on by Chiquito the stark piano ballad accompanied by Arca harmonizing with her own pitched up vocals. This record isn't merely a minimal approach to Arca's normally electronic sound either there are a wide array of experiments from a spoken word feature to a drone song to something I would describe as almost sound modelling on the track Estrogen. It's a fascinating collection of songs that I haven't been able to get enough of since I first heard it and while I think the nature of the project will turn some fans away from it, coming from an appreciation of ambient, downtempo and minimal electronica I found it to be some of the most fascinating work Arca has ever done. 8/10
