Hes only 24 but hip-hop producer Alejandro Ghersi, aka Arca, is already a muse for both Björk and Kanye. What do they know that we dont?
Internet commenters can be all kinds of awful, but scroll through an artists SoundCloud page and the time-stamped reactions are often as illuminating as any critics review. In the case of rising producer Arca, theres an overarching theme. Put simply its, What the actual fuck? I dont even think you are human! cries one listener, flabbergasted by Broke Up and its squiggling rave synths, which sound as if theyre gasping for life. Huhhhhhhhh, goes another, when the drowsy, pitched-down vocal of DOEP drops in, a sliver of R&B squashed under a hobnailed boot. This is just too crazy! is a common observation when his freaky beeps and blips clatter and collide.
Somewhere in there, beneath all the clattering beeps and blips, is hip-hop music, but Venezuelan-born Arca real name Alejandro Ghersi doesnt want you to have it that easy. His tracks are ambiguous and, deviating from conventional notions of melody and bass, are more likely to make you think than dance. If this sounds challenging, its the way music production is going. Arcas generation of Ableton-manglers begin their careers making hybrid R&B, hip-hop and electronic music in their bedrooms. These songs then attract the attention of pop vanguardists searching for a way to capture or, if you like, leech off the zeitgeist. The trickle-down effect is such that, once the trendsetters have had done with it, youll probably end up hearing it on the next Alexandra Burke record.
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by Kate Hutchinson via Electronic music | The Guardian
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