Listen: Arca – “Soichiro”

Experimental electronic producer Arca shared some new music from his forthcoming record titled Mutant earlier this week. “Soichiro” is a wild ride of glitchy, scattery percussion and twisted synth sounds juxtaposed in moments of stark, minimal hums and swooshes. 

Mutant does not currently have an official release date but should be out before year’s end.

Onomatopoeia's Best Music of 2014

Welcome to Onomatopoeia’s year-end best of 2014, I am a little late but still here so thanks for the patience.  I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record but 2014 truly was an abysmal year for music. To be fair it wasn't so much a bad year for music as it was for the album format. To say it was difficult for me to even compose a list of thirteen would be a huge understatement.

My process usually begins around September, I try and get the ball rolling and start making a list with what I've really enjoyed in the months leading up to this moment. I had something like seven albums listed with only three months to go.  So rather than force a full list I made sure to go back to everything I remember enjoying but not necessarily loving and re-exploring them in greater detail. In the end I did find thirteen releases that I felt happy with along with a solid honorable mentions section.

For those who frequent this space most of the material should be familiar, I don't know if there are too many surprises but as always I hope some of you get something new out of it.

CONTINUE TO ONOMATOPOEIA"S BEST OF 2014.

Download/Listen: Arca - "Sheep" Mix

Arca returns to the fold today with some new music and it comes less than 24-hours after Björk officially announced her new LP which as previously reported heavily features the Venezuelan producer. We will have to wait till March until Vulnicura officially drops but luckily for fans Hood By Air had Alejandro put together Sheep, a score to accompany a Florentine fashion show for the widely overpriced, uninspired and often hideous fashion line.

The eleven-track playlist features bits and pieces from FKA Twigs, Björk, and Lana Del Rey.

Track List:

1:Mothered
2. Pity
3. Drowning
4. En
5. Faggot
6. Submissive
7. Umbilical
8. Hymn
9. Don’t / Else
10. At Last I Am Free (interlude)
11. Immortal

Video: Arca – “Xen”

Arca and Jesse Kanda continue their creative partnership with another new video, this time for the stellar title track from Arca’s Xen LP.  Much like the visuals we have seen so far, “Xen” keeps things dark, distorted, atmospheric and odd in the best way possible.

Video: Arca – “Now You Know”

Arca has been keeping pretty active as of late and with the release of his new LP, Xen on November 4th, it only makes sense to be out their promoting the material with appearances, remixes and videos. “Now You Know” is the latest song from the forthcoming LP to get the video treatment and it stays true to the Venezuelan’s aesthetic matching the producer’s creepy alien like sounds to a T. Jesse Kandra once again handles the animation on this one, choosing to find inspiration from fireworks.

Video: Arca - "Thievery"

Arca returns to us today with a Jesse Kandra directed video for his latest single, “Thievery.” I shared an audio stream of the tune several weeks back but Alejandro isn't the type of cat to just phone in his visuals, often providing the viewer with something as equally strange and wonderful as his music tends to be. The tune will appear on the Venezuelan’s forthcoming LP, Xen, which is scheduled to drop on November 4^th via Mute records.

In addition to working on his own music, Acra has also been named as the sole producer for Björk’s new album. 

Listen: Arca - "Thieves"

24-year-old Venezuelan recording  artist, Arca, real name Alejandro Ghersi, is in-demand as ever after making a name for himself in 2013 with his production credits on Kanye West’s Yeezus. Of course I’ve also praised the producer for his work on early FKA Twigs material in 2012 where he also lent some of his signature uneasy production. Though Ghersi has issued a couple of full-length releases before; 2012's Stretch 2 for UNO and last year's &&&&& for Hippos In Tanks; Xen is being billed by Mute Records as his official debut album. It'll arrive on digital, CD and vinyl formats. Limited to 500 copies, the vinyl edition comes sealed in black PVC with a bonus 10-inch of exclusive material and will drop on November 3rd.

You can get a taste for Xen below via a stream of  "Thievery”.

Video: FKA Twigs – “Papi Pacify”

As you might have noticed we have been supporting Twigs over here since day one, she deserves it; her first ep made my best of the year list in 2012 and with the recent name change and release of ep #2 her star is only rising. “Papi Pacify” was written and produced by Twigs and Arca and maintains that same sultry and smokey vibe established on ep #1 with a slightly harder edge production wise; the visuals come from Tom Beard and continue what seems to be a perfect streak in the video department for the mysterious UK based artist.

Video: FKA Twigs – “Water Me”

U.K. singer Twigs, who recently changed her name to FKA Twigs at the request of an artist who shares the same name, has got a new tune and video out today by the name of “Water Me.” Like “How’s That” the song was co-written by Arca and sports a fantastically moody beat for the unique looking songstress to lay down her sultry vocals.  “Water Me” is taken from FKA Twigs' EP2 which will be released on the  9th of September 2013 via Young Turks. Jesse Kanda handles directing duties once again on the simple yet striking video…

Video: Twigs – “How’s That”

It’s been a minute since we heard from U.K. singer Twigs, who’s EP made my best of 2012 list, so I was excited to see that she has been keeping busy in the studio working on new material. The smooth “How’s That”, which was co-written by Arca, makes its debut with yet another great Jesse Kanda video to boot, check it below…

Video: Twigs - "Ache"

I can’t say that I know very much about U.K. artist Twigs, prior to “Ache” the only thing I had heard from the band/collective/producer? was something I shared back in July titled “Hide.” The tune got me interested enough to further peruse them and share this video. To add to my lack of knowledge on Twigs I can’t exactly tell you what’s happening in this video but apparently Michael Jordan has licensed his name and number to a line of Bane masks. Grace Ladoja returns with directing duties, enjoy….

Video: Twigs - "Hide"

U.K. artist Twigs has entered the scene with not just a fantastic song but a pretty unique video to boot. , “Hide” is a sensual piece of experimental R&B  that hits all the right notes and has got me thirsty for more from the mysterious former dancer. Grace Ladoja handles the visuals which see Twigs’ business covered by a red heart shaped Anthurium flower, also known as the "Boy Flower", one might read into the symbolism but really who cares when something is this good. I don't know what Twigs’ future plans include but mark my words she will be deservingly huge.