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kiCK iiiii Image
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 33 Ratings

  • Summary: One of the four releases on the same day for Arca's KICK anthology features a guest appearance from Ryuichi Sakamoto.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 13
  2. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. ‘iiiii’ floats up into the clouds – often pairing sparse plunks of piano with haunting choral vocals and snippets of ethereal sound design. Of all ‘Kick’s instalments, this one is the most meandering, focused on conjuring up an atmosphere, and living within it.
  2. Jan 4, 2022
    80
    Taken together, the albums are overwhelming in their stylistic diversity; one minute, she’s serving up clattering electro on the likes of iii’s ‘Skullqueen’ or ‘Ripples’, and the next, we’re hearing her break classic ideas of what ambience should mean to fit her own mould on the Oliver Coates-featuring ‘Esuna’.
  3. 80
    The last installment of the KICK cycle is much more tame, less experimental, less intricate than the three others. It’s almost hollow in comparison to its counterparts, paradoxically harder to make sense of than the more frantic entries released at the same time. Arca adds a new dimension to the mix with kiCK iiiii’s insistence on centering silence within the music.
  4. Dec 3, 2021
    80
    It's a bittersweet and ultimately satisfying end to a hugely ambitious project that always remains true to the emotions driving it -- but Arca fans would expect nothing less.
  5. Dec 8, 2021
    80
    These songs are whittled down, a rare moment where the overwhelming density of Arca's music falls away, raw and stripped of any protective coating. ... There's a newfound and striking intimacy—the last gasps of the KiCK series before the explosive climax "Crown," where kiCK iiiii's softness is ripped apart by cathartic blasts of noise. It's one final, triumphant punch that leaves everything on the table.
  6. Dec 7, 2021
    78
    Against the preceding volumes’ most attention-grabbing moments, they may risk getting lost in the shuffle, but perhaps that is part of their charm, too: The whole fifth volume feels like an Easter egg in a video game—a sparkly basket of jewels collected from the crevices of Arca’s more imposingly monumental works.
  7. The Wire
    Dec 22, 2021
    60
    Having all this material together is bittersweet – rather than four distinct sets, couldn’t these styles have been brought together in a more innovative way? Arca’s work is invariably surrounded by much chatter about disrupting musical forms, but four albums divided into four distinct moods feels like an unusually conservative vehicle for her ideas. [Jan 2022, p.59]

See all 13 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Aug 3, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. best album lmao bozo+L+Ratio+didn't ask+i don't care+ you're gay+cringe+skill issue+cancelled+you're bald+poorbozo+L+Ratio+didn't ask+i don't care+ you're gay+cringe+skill issue+cancelled+you're bald+poor Expand
  2. Dec 8, 2021
    10
    Ducha a good ending for the Kick era, SO Beautiful and lovely, feels like the calm of Arca
  3. Dec 7, 2021
    10
    The best ending possible for the kick project. I did not understood much about the project before reading the vogue Mexico’s article about herThe best ending possible for the kick project. I did not understood much about the project before reading the vogue Mexico’s article about her new album and it seems so much clearer now. I like the way ARCA is playing with sounds and music to make us feel something that we never could experience in any other music gender. That actually what makes me fall in love with her work. Expand
  4. Jul 3, 2022
    10
    the soundscapes of this album are beyond the limits of this universe and beyond the limits of the human mind. the things i feel when i listenthe soundscapes of this album are beyond the limits of this universe and beyond the limits of the human mind. the things i feel when i listen to songs like fireprayer or estrogen are eternal. an absolute masterpiece of avant-garde ambient contemporary classical music. Expand
  5. Dec 5, 2021
    9
    Cathartic, minimalist, concise, touching, beautiful, visceral when necessary and ethereal.
  6. Dec 7, 2021
    7
    bittersweet and ultimately satisfying end to a hugely ambitious project that always remains true to the emotions driving it -- but Arca fansbittersweet and ultimately satisfying end to a hugely ambitious project that always remains true to the emotions driving it -- but Arca fans would expect nothing less Expand
  7. Jun 21, 2022
    5
    That's not how roman numerals work, silly!
    But in all seriousness this is probably the worst in the kick series.