Written Before Listen
God….at the end of the year, Electronic producer Arca decided to drop 4 albums in continuation of her Kick series, which means I have to review 5 albums. Here is the second one. Arca is a producer I know little about. I know she dis work with people like Kanye and Bjork and she is a pioneer in the Latin Electronic scene. With that out of the way, this is low-key my first time listening to Arca in-depth, so without further ado, let’s get into this.
Comparison to Kick I
To start, this is way more all over the place. It’s Also slightly more accessible as there are more Latin-influenced tracks on this album. There are also fewer features and the only feature is Sia (who doesn’t do good). Other than that, the second KicK album follows in a similar direction.
Production
Arca delivers more bounce and rhythm on these beats the track run from “Prada” to “luna llena” shows that Arca loves the music that brought her up. Unfortunately, after those tracks, she stops the Latin influence entirely so the project winds up sounding a little incomplete.
Genre-Bending
Arca might be a Venezuelan producer, but she doesn’t always make Hispanic music. The opening track and the track “Arana” are sound collages that sound way more extreme and manipulated. The songs “Lethargy” and “Femme” are closer to Hip Hop than Latin music and they sound more drawn out than the straightforward tracks in the beginning. Later in the album, we get tracks like “Munecas” and “Born Yesterday” where both tracks are glitchy instances of art pop, that points to her influences.
Influences
Speaking of influences, Arca shows them a little bit stronger than she did with the first KiCk. First off, She continues with the Bjork and Death Grips influence but this time around, she brings more hyper pop influence and some art rock influence. Not like the Peter Gabriel/Pink Floyd but more like the Radiohead/Yves Tumor Art Rock. Overall, hopefully, everyone can agree that Arca became an even more definable musician with this album.
Cons
Well… it’s all over the place, if I were to be 100% honest with you, This is not as good or complete as the original KiCk. What I will say is that KiCk ii is a continuation of the Latin influence that Arca brought last time, but the songs that venture off of it aren’t that strong.
Verdict
This is still another solid outcome for the Arca project, but I would say that It stays consistent and ventures into more of the experimental and Latin side of Arcas sound, but takes away the art pop and hip hop influence. Good overall sound from Arca.