Arca: KicK iii [XL RECORDINGS]

Why you'll love it

This LP comes with a glossy eight-page insert of photos and credits. KicK iii is the third chapter of Arca's five-part Kick series, led by the singles "Incendio" and "Electra Rex."

This edition

• Eight-page insert
• Pressed in Germany
• Stereo mix

About the album

Most artists would settle for one album in a week. Arca put out four, Kick II, KicK iii, Kick IIII and Kick IIIII, finishing a five-part series that began with Kick I in 2020. KicK iii was due on December 3, 2021, and arrived two days early through XL Recordings, which tells you something about the restless energy inside it.

The Venezuelan producer and singer had first planned a trilogy, then told Pitchfork the project had grown to five volumes, each staying in what she called a "quantum state" until it went for mastering. By the time KicK iii landed she was describing it as a portal. The music is a collision of reggaeton, glitch, deconstructed club and bass music: "Incendio" is a whirl of rapid-fire Spanish and pummelling beats, "Electra Rex" grinds and twists, "Señorita" and "Rubberneck" lurch between menace and play, and "Joya" ends on something stranger and softer.

Arca had just remixed Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande's "Rain on Me" for Dawn of Chromatica, and said it would be her last time deconstructing her older songs. Judging by this record, she meant it, and the furniture in our listening corner is still recovering.

Also at Kops: more Arca on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On XL Recordings (cat# XL1222LPE), a reissue of the 2021 album.