KICK ii

by 
AlbumNov 30 / 202112 songs, 34m 2s
Latin Electronic Post-Industrial
Popular Highly Rated

Part of a four-album drop released virtually simultaneously in late 2021, *KICK ii* showcases Arca at her fiercest. Each album in the series has its own distinct flavor, and *KICK ii* focuses largely on reggaetón. Picking up the thread from *KiCk i* cuts like “Mequetrefe” and “KLK,” early-album highlights “Prada,” “Rakata,” and “Tiro” swing and snap with taut elastic energy, brittle dembow drums bobbing in empty space. Coproduced with Venezuelan-born DJ Cardopusher (Boys Noize also contributed to “Tiro”), the three songs are smeared with glassy trance synths that play up Arca’s own chopped-and-twisted vocal processing. Not everything is so upfront, though: “Luna Llena” and “Lethargy” dip into softer, more shadowy hues, while Arca’s experimental instincts come to the fore on “Araña,” “Femme,” and “Muñecas,” where synths and manipulated vocals seem to dissolve into oily, iridescent pools. Ultimately, she saves her biggest surprise for near the end: “Born Yesterday” pairs soaring vocals from Sia with a glitchy electronic ballad that shifts into a four-on-the-floor stormer before crumbling to dust once again, rolling up triumph and tragedy into one blazing fireball of an anthem.

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7.4 / 10

Read Philip Sherburne’s review of the album.

D+

The simultaneous release of Alejandra Ghersi’s four new albums—that’s 47 songs, two and a half hours of music—blends the peaks with the valleys

7 / 10

8 / 10

Arca unleashes her daring mutant universe in the completed KICK anthology

The Venezuelan producer explores her upbringing and spiritual worldview with this boundary-busting new collection

With four new works, the Venezuelan producer delivers a pentalogy that can mesmerise and terrify

At the time of KiCk i's release, Alejandra Ghersi promised more Arca music was on the way soon.

The transgressive icon wraps up her Kick quintet in typically enigmatic style with some highly collaborative and enormously creative new sounds

8 / 10

As a nonbinary trans woman raised in Caracas, Venezuela — at the height of social unrest — and suburban Connecticut, Arca (aka Alejandra Ghe...

7.5 / 10

Musical multi-hyphenate Arca understands more than any artist in the public eye that flux is a natural part of the human condition. It’s illuminated in her music, performance, visuals, and whatever medium she uses to illustrate facets of her self-expression. The world Arca has created through her art defies any sort of binary, be it of gender, genre, or form itself. In-between states are explored endlessly, and liberation is found in entropy and chaos.

8 / 10

The five-part Arca opus KICK: there's a *lot* going on here – and most of it is very good. This relentless producer refuses to be boxed in

Four new albums of extravagantly warped electronics offer listeners a lot to take in – and her most pop-focused music to date

90 %

Alejandra Ghersi – Arca – is one of the most influential musicians on the planet in the last decade. Even aside from working with huge names like Björk and Kanye West, her ultra-detailed, high drama, electronic abstractions have set the pace for a legion of artists from very underground to ultra-pop.

7 / 10