XL RECORDINGS’ avant-pop futurist Arca has premiered a new track, “Mequetrefe,” ahead of forthcoming album Kick i, which XL is releasing next Friday, June 26th (with a vinyl press available from July 17th).
Draped in stuttering, post-Squarepusher percussive stutter, AFXy cut-up and Arca’s disembodied vocal chanting, treated and filtered into a distant century, it’s out there as hell while still remaining attached to pop melodicism, shattered in fractal beauty.
Arca says: “‘Mequetrefe’ invokes the tenderness behind expressing who you are without shame, and the confidence and bravery it requires.”
Mequetrefe is a word that Arca heard growing up in Venezuela. It is generally used in a derogatory way towards men, and loosely translates from the Portuguese as ‘whelp’ or ‘runt’; but she reclaims and inverts it to portray a new archetype of masculinity.
KiCk i looks set to push Arca ever forward into pop experimenta, and features guest spots from Spanish R&B chanteuse Rosalia; London’s fellow electronic outrider Shygirl, and queen of the scene Björk.
To pre-order Arca’s KiCk i visit: https://arca.ffm.to/kicki and you can win the heels she wore in the video for “Anoche”.
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