ARCA
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ARCA
Xen album cover mutant album cover kick i album cover kick ii album cover kick iii album cover kick iii album cover kick iiiii album cover

Xen (????? Edition)


Xen is the debut studio album by Venezuelan electronic musician Arca, released on 4 November 2014 through Mute Records. The album was recorded over a largely improvised six-month period in 2014.

The title of the album is a reference to Ghersi's "feminine spirit" as portrayed in the album artwork and videos. According to the artist, the designer Jesse Kanda asked "if I had a girl's name when I was a kid, I told him that I have this image in my head when I listen to a song of mine that I really love or that I feel happy with. I move really slowly in a very effeminate way [and] close my eyes and I see this naked being who exists in front of an audience. Everyone is simultaneously attracted to it and repulsed".

Upon reflection she felt that "Those were all projections of my psyche; of how I viewed my own sexuality and how I engaged with people through the lens of sensuality. Xen is an 'it'. I lean towards calling Xen 'her' in response to the fact that society historically leans towards men having more power. Me calling Xen 'her' is an equalisation of that." This is reflected in the video for the song "Thievery". Ghersi noted that the song-titles have little meaning except for "Failed" which was written about her then-boyfriend Daniel Sannwald.

Mutant


Mutant is the second studio album by Venezuelan electronic music producer Arca. It was released on 20 November 2015 via Mute.

Mutant received widespread acclaim from contemporary music critics. 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 21 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".

Mark Richardson of Pitchfork gave the album a very positive review, stating, "Compared to Xen, Mutant feels less composed and less indebted to classical music. With many tracks on the former album you could squint a little bit and imagine them being performed by a daring new music ensemble, à la Aphex Twin with Alarm Will Sound. But Mutant leans toward soundscape, avoiding proper songs." Richardson concludes, "On Mutant, Ghersi turns a fixation on porousness and instability into a kind of spiritual pursuit."

Writing for Exclaim!, Daryl Keating said Mutant "is an album that is eventually rewarding, but only to those who are determined to follow its scattered pathway to the satisfying, aggregate end."

KiCk i


Kick I (stylized as KiCk i; pronounced "kick one") is the fourth studio album by Venezuelan electronic record producer Arca. Recorded between Barcelona and London, the album was released on 26 June 2020 through XL Recordings. Kick I was presented with four singles: "Nonbinary", "Time", "Mequetrefe", and "KLK" featuring Rosalía. It also includes collaborations with Björk, Shygirl, and Sophie. The album was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, as well as for Best Alternative Music Album at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

Shortly after releasing her 62-minute long mix "@@@@@", on March 8, 2020 Arca revealed to Garage Magazine that she would be releasing her next album in the summer of 2020 and that it would feature Icelandic singer Björk and Spanish new flamenco alternative artist Rosalía. She had already previewed some of the songs in 2019 through live videos on her Instagram profile. Arca explained that "there was a clear intention [on the album] to allow every self to express itself. Not to decide how much air time each self would get, but to allow for modulation between them in a spontaneous way."

The album, consisting of 12 tracks, leaked on the internet on March 21, 2020 prior to any release date announcement. On May 20, 2020, Arca announced through social media the release date of the album as well as its tracklist and cover art, which was shot by Catalan artist Carlota Guerrero, Carlos Sáez and herself. The album was made available to preorder since that day on streaming platforms since it will only be released digitally internationally while there will be a CD and LP edition for the United Kingdom on July 17.

KICK ii


Kick II (stylized as KICK ii) is the fifth studio album by Venezuelan record producer and singer Arca. The album was scheduled to be released on 3 December 2021, but released early on 30 November 2021, through XL Recordings as a continuation to her 2020 record Kick I, and is the second entry in Kick quintet. Kick II was supported by three singles: "Born Yesterday", featuring vocals by Australian musician Sia, as well as "Prada" and "Rakata", released as a double single. Its cover art was photographed by Frederik Heyman. The album received positive reviews and was nominated for the Libera Award for Best Latin Album.

Upon the release of Kick I, news surfaced that Arca would be releasing two more Kick albums to make a trilogy. The artist took to Pitchfork to say: "There will be four volumes. The third one is a little bit more introverted than Kick I, a little bit more like my self-titled album, I guess. The fourth one is piano only, no vocals. Right now, the least defined one, strangely, is the third one. It's all gestating right now [...] Each Kick exists in a kind of quantum state until the day that I send it to mastering. I try to not commit until I have to. But I have a vision for it. The second one is heavy on backbeats, vocal manipulation, mania, and craziness."

Kick II is primarily an electronic, experimental, avant-garde, reggaeton, pop and cumbia album. Album opener "Doña" features "eerie looping vocal mantras and squelching samples" and is "intentionally loose and disorienting, so when that familiar dembow rhythm locks in on the following track, the hypnotic pull is felt instantly". "Prada" and "Luna Llena" features "dreamy atmospheres float[ing] behind the driving rhythms" and garnered comparisons to Arca's 2017 self-titled album. The later track turns its "blurry, fuzzy synths, compressed reggaeton bump, and Ghersi’s slow-pouring contralto resemble pining distilled into sound, and the titular image of a full moon feels similarly romantic".[19] "Araña" is a deconstructed club track that "wiggles and crashes like a toy robot going haywire" and "invites listeners to tune into something resembling the soundtrack to a video game gone wrong". "Muñecas" is a "a haunting collage featuring contributions from Mica Levi". "Born Yesterday" is a pop power ballad whose "eerie otherworldly musings are subdued by a hypnotic dancefloor beat on the cusp of dissolution".

KicK iii


Kick III (stylized as KicK iii) is the sixth studio album by Venezuelan record producer and singer Arca. The album was scheduled to be released on 3 December 2021, but released early on 1 December 2021, through XL Recordings as a continuation to her 2020 record Kick I, and is the third entry in the Kick quintet. Kick II, Kick III, Kick IIII and Kick IIIII were released the same week. Kick III is supported by lead single "Incendio" and "Electra Rex". The album received positive reviews from critics.

Upon the release of Kick I, news surfaced that Arca would be releasing two more Kick albums to make a trilogy. The artist took to Pitchfork to say: "There will be four volumes. The third one is a little bit more introverted than Kick I, a little bit more like my self-titled album, I guess. The fourth one is piano only, no vocals. Right now, the least defined one, strangely, is the third one. It's all gestating right now [...] Each Kick exists in a kind of quantum state until the day that I send it to mastering. I try to not commit until I have to. But I have a vision for it. The second one is heavy on backbeats, vocal manipulation, mania, and craziness."

In the following year, Arca released her extended play Madre and took part in Dawn of Chromatica, a remix album by Lady Gaga, where she remixed the Ariana Grande collaboration "Rain on Me". While talking about the song on social media, Arca stated: "It's also the last time I playfully deconstruct my songs 'Time' and 'Mequetrefe', as we say goodbye to the Kick I era and move into the Kick II era and beyond". On September 27, the producer released the single "Incendio" to critical acclaim. Kick III was announced on November 9, alongside the single release of "Electra Rex". It was to be released the same day as Kick II. Arca's description of the album had updated significantly by this time, described as "a portal directly into the more manic, violently euphoric and aggressively psychedelic sound palettes in the series" and "the most incendiary entry in the Kick universe." With Kick IIII's announcement, Arca confirmed Kick III's sonic palette would focus "more on heavy club music".

The album was released early on 1 December 2021, one day after the release of Kick II. Its cover art was photographed by Frederik Heyman.

kick iiii


Kick IIII (stylized as kick iiii) is the seventh studio album by Venezuelan record producer and singer Arca. The album was scheduled to be released on 3 December 2021, but released early on 2 December 2021, through XL Recordings as a continuation to her 2021 record Kick III, and is the fourth entry in the Kick quintet. Kick IIII was supported by the accompanying lead single "Queer" featuring Planningtorock, and features cellist Oliver Coates, Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson, Planningtorock, as well as production from Cardopusher.

Upon the release of Kick I, news surfaced that Arca would be releasing three more Kick albums to make a quadrilogy. The artist took to Pitchfork to say: "There will be four volumes. The third one is a little bit more introverted than Kick I, a little bit more like my self-titled album, I guess. The fourth one is piano only, no vocals. Right now, the least defined one, strangely, is the third one. It's all gestating right now [...] Each Kick exists in a kind of quantum state until the day that I send it to mastering. I try to not commit until I have to. But I have a vision for it. The second one is heavy on backbeats, vocal manipulation, mania, and craziness."

In the following year, Arca released her extended play Madre and took part in Dawn of Chromatica, a remix album by Lady Gaga, where she remixed the Ariana Grande collaboration "Rain on Me". While talking about the song on social media, Arca stated: "It's also the last time I playfully deconstruct my songs 'Time' and 'Mequetrefe', as we say goodbye to the Kick I era and move into the Kick II era and beyond". Kick IIII was announced on November 18, alongside the release of the lead single "Queer" featuring vocals from English musician planningtorock. Arca described the album as "entry of sensual charge in the cycle; my own faith made into song, a posthuman celestial sparkle, psychosexual pulsewidth modulation, queering the void, abyss alchemically transmuted into a deconstruction of what is beautiful, it is a healing spell, recognition of the alien inside, a bursting apart of old skin, fresh new sinew rippling outward from a beating core, the first prenatal kick—proof that there is a sentience with a will beyond its creators’ control expressing itself from within the womb."

kiCK iiiii


Kick IIIII (stylized as kiCK iiiii) is the eighth studio album by Venezuelan record producer and singer Arca. The album was surprisingly released on 3 December 2021 as fifth and final entry in the Kick quintet. The album was released with no singles or prior announcement.

Upon the release of Kick I, news surfaced that Arca would be releasing two more Kick albums to make a trilogy. The artist took to Pitchfork to say: "There will be four volumes. The third one is a little bit more introverted than Kick I, a little bit more like my self-titled album, I guess. The fourth one is piano only, no vocals. Right now, the least defined one, strangely, is the third one. It's all gestating right now [...] Each Kick exists in a kind of quantum state until the day that I send it to mastering. I try to not commit until I have to. But I have a vision for it. The second one is heavy on backbeats, vocal manipulation, mania, and craziness."

Kick IIIII would end up being similar to Arca's previous description of the fourth entry, focusing entirely on quieter ambient pieces, focused mainly on piano, plucked strings and swirling pads. Famed Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto makes a guest vocal appearance on "Sanctuary".