Arca: KiCk i [XL]

Why you'll love it

This XL Recordings LP comes in a gatefold jacket with a 16-page booklet of photos, lyrics and credits. KiCk i was nominated for the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album and opened Arca's five-part Kick series.

This edition

• Gatefold jacket
• 16-page booklet
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Arca made her name producing for other people, Björk and Kanye West among them, and building her own albums out of shattered, alien sound. KiCk i was the moment she let the hooks in. Out on XL in June 2020, it was the first chapter of the Kick series and her first record built this firmly around songs and choruses.

It moves between reggaeton, club music, pop and the experimental textures she's known for, with Arca singing in English and Spanish. "Nonbinary" opens with a statement of identity over glitching beats, "Time" is a shimmering, sincere pop song, and "Mequetrefe" bounces on a playful, squelching groove. Björk joins her on "Afterwards," Rosalía on the reggaeton heater "KLK," and SOPHIE on the giddy, rubbery "La Chíqui." "Machote" borrows from an old-school reggaeton track, and "No Queda Nada" closes with a ghostly hush.

She followed it with four more Kick albums, issued on consecutive days at the end of 2021. This first chapter remains the friendliest way into one of electronic music's most restless artists. A good test of your speakers, and possibly your neighbours.

Also at Kops: more Arca on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On XL Recordings (cat# XL997LPE3), the 2020 album.