&&&&&
Mixtape by
Arca
ReleasedJuly 23, 2013 (2013-07-23)
Genre
Length25:34
Label
ProducerArca
Arca chronology
Stretch 2
(2012)		 &&&&&
(2013)		 Xen
(2014)
Limited vinyl cover (2014) and new vinyl and streaming cover for reissue (2020)
Singles from &&&&&
  1. "Knot"
    Released: July 29, 2020

&&&&& is the debut mixtape by Venezuelan electronic producer Arca. It was released on 23 July 2013 through Hippos in Tanks on SoundCloud.[1][2] Even though 14 tracks are listed, the entire mixtape is in sequence as a single track.[3] A vinyl release of the mixtape with an alternative album cover was released in January 2014 and was limited to 500 copies.[4] On 28 July 2020, Arca announced a re-release of &&&&& through PAN, making the mixtape available on mainstream streaming platforms for the first time on 18 September 2020.

Composition

&&&&& is an experimental electronic record with influences of dub, hip-hop, grime, ambient music, trap, and glitch.[5][1][6] Stereogum described the record as "even darker and denser" than Arca's two previous Stretch EPs.[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
No Ripcord8/10[8]
Pitchfork8.4/10[5]
Tiny Mix Tapes[1]

&&&&& received critical acclaim from music critics.[9] Tiny Mix Tapes says the mixtape "has the potential to conjure an emotional frenzy that’s alluring to the senses in a way that so much electronic artistry fails to even approach."[1] No Ripcord praised the mixtape for "its density, its intensity, its I'm-lost-in-a-big-city feel, its warm gust of beats blowing while the subway comes squeaking into the station, its darkness, its late-night ecstasy, its rawness, its rawness like raw milk, like drinking raw milk or eating sushi in an inexpensive restaurant somewhere on a street with trash and tweakers, its little motifs that twinkle like stars or Christmas lights, its muscular compactness."[8] In a review of the reissue, Pitchfork said that "there’s something a bit melancholy about listening to &&&&& now—the feeling that instead of freeing us from the past, technology has left us stuck in a loop, endlessly refreshing in search of a better world that never arrives, but that we can still dream of in our art."[10]

The album was eventually sent to Icelandic musician Björk's management, leading to the two artists collaborating on her eighth studio album Vulnicura.[11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Arca

No.TitleLength
1."Knot"2:13
2."Harness"1:53
3."Fossil"1:50
4."Feminine"0:35
5."Anaesthetic"2:09
6."Coin"2:15
7."Century"1:15
8."Mother"1:15
9."Hallucinogen"2:06
10."Pinch"1:37
11."DM True"2:19
12."Waste"2:34
13."Pure Anna"0:47
14."Obelisk"2:47
Total length:25:34

Personnel

  • Arca – production
  • Jesse Kanda – artwork

Charts

Chart performance for &&&&&
Chart (2020) Peak
position
UK Independent Album Breakers (Official Charts Company)[12] 19

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Arca – &&&&&". Tiny Mix Tapes.
  2. ↑ "&&&&& on SoundCloud". Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Download Arca's "&&&&&"". Complex. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Arca (4) – &&&&&". Discogs. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Friedlander, Emilie (September 21, 2020). "Arca: &&&&&". Pitchfork.
  6. ↑ Cliff, Aimee. "Arca – &&&&& [mixtape]". www.dummymag.com. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Download Arca &&&&&". Stereogum. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  8. 1 2 Iovino, Michael (September 2, 2016). "Arca: &&&&& – Music Review – No Ripcord". No Ripcord.
  9. ↑ Dazed (2014-03-18). "Arca and Jesse Kanda release nightmarish new video". Dazed. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  10. ↑ "Arca: &&&&&". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  11. ↑ "Arca". Pitchfork. 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  12. ↑ "Official Independent Album Breakers Chart Top 20 – 25 September 2020". Official Charts. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
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