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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Stretch 2

Arca

2012

Stretch 2

Album Summary

This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.

Stretch 2 is an extended play by Venezuelan producer Arca. It was released on 6 August 2012 by UNO NYC, following its predecessor Stretch 1 in April. Primarily an electronic hip-hop album, Stretch 2 features avant-garde time signatures, warped pitches, and "a kind of post-millennial take on trip-hop with a debt to Aphex Twin", as well as influences from gangsta rap, garage, and new age.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.3

Votes

102

Submitter

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Reviews

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Apr 28 2025
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3

An interesting electronic album with strange sounds and modulated voices and raps. Too disruptive to be compared to EDM, more a mixture between industrial, electronic and rap. A grandchild of Love's Secret Domain by Coil.

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Apr 28 2025
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4

This was a cool listen. I'm going to listen again whilst cruising around my city on my bike, I think it will up the vibes further.

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Apr 29 2025
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4

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Maiden voyage, Brokeup, Manners

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Apr 30 2025
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4

What an album should be. 10 or so interesting concepts none of which outstay their welcome. Experimental without being annoying or convinced of its own 'genius'

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Jun 23 2025
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4

This was a cool EP. It goes by really fast, and it's kind of hard to wrap your head around while it's playing, but it was certainly interesting and different 4/5

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Apr 28 2025
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3

Some much-needed experimental electronica for the list – not as demanding as some other Arca LPs I've listened to, much more rhythmic and twisting which I found enjoyable. Could've used a stronger melodic component, but still a cool LP at the end of the day.

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Apr 28 2025
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3

Interesting. At first thought I’d be annoyed, but mostly wasn’t. Worth the listen.

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Apr 30 2025
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3

I quite like this and have put it under 'Experimental/Ambient'. I don't think it's the best there is or particularly worthy though and not sure why the person who put this forward loves it so much.

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Apr 30 2025
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3

Special. Cool hiphop vibes, but much more electronic. Something I would never listen to myself, but it was enjoyable

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May 11 2025
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3

Interesting noise and effects orchestrated into sound.

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May 22 2025
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3

when Bjork and glitch hop combine. Was not expecting it. Very interesting stuff.

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Jun 11 2025
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3

thunka thunka thunka. Not the worst to listen to at work but kinda meh.

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Jun 23 2025
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3

Other than some of her production work on albums like Yeezus and Vulnicura, I hadn’t heard any of Arca’s music until her 2017 self-titled album, so it was pretty interesting to go back to this EP from 2012. It’s very glitchy as expected and has a dancey and groovy vibe rather than some of the more delicate and haunting textures of her self-titled or the apocalyptic chaos of the KiCK series. The production is impressive and the vision is there, but it’s not quite as effective as some of her more recent releases

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Jul 04 2025
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3

An EP (not an LP) released by Arca not long before they/she lent their electronic production skills to Björk and Ye. Of course, the whole thing is disconcerting, odd and even disturbing, as if it was first and foremost addressed to an audience of psychotic drug addicts, I'd be tempted to add... Yet *Stretch 2* remains worthy of admiration because it managed to foretell the sorts of weird tones, moods and intents mainstream hip hop would start to use not long after 2014. This music is so unstable it feels dangerous sometimes. Aphex Twin is an obvious template for the kind of creator Arca is. Too bad that she/they don't have Richard D. James's knack for infectious hooks that peppered his own oeuvre. The second half of this record is stronger. The conclusion of "Tapped In" is subtle and terrific, thanks to its mesmerizing high-pitched synthetic whistles and wails. The strange grooves and off-kilter vocal flows of "Strung" and "Brokeup" are fascinating. And "Manners" is an very soothing closer, all things considered. We're not so far from Oneohtrix Point Never turf here, and it's surely an asset. That said, something is still lost in translation here for me. To say it rather bluntly, thinking this album is a good contender for this list is simply... a Stretch. Canned laughter, please. And even with my very surface knowledge of Arca's body of work, claiming that this EP is the best entry point into her discography is... a Stretch 2. More canned laughter. Like, can you really imagine that the *follow-up* of a very early EP by any artist is their magnum opus? These days, Arca's most streamed tracks are a sort of goth reggaeton that has a flimsy relationship to her beginnings. Now either her early experiments OR her latest ones are gonna leave some sort of imprint in the future, but I would be very surprised if *both* did, to be honest. In other words, it is too soon to know whether her music is relevant in the long run. Interestingly, the user who selected this record was VERY generous in their ratings (average grade of 4, approximately). But instead of choosing easily digestible music, they chose a 100% experimental artist releasing very demanding and "difficult" stuff. Which goes against the cliché I had about those sorts of users being a little too indulgent and complacent overall (and conversely, that fans of edgy stuff would snub most of the albums in the original list). Good that my expectations were thwarted here. The human mind and all its surprises will never cease to amaze me. 3/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 8/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 29 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 38 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 72 (including this one) --- Émile, j'ai lu tes dernières réponses ! J'essaie de te donner les miennes dès demain. Mais dès aujourd'hui, je peux te dire que je n'ai ABSOLUMENT RIEN A VOIR avec le fait que le générateur te harcèle avec des albums de Sonic Youth, ha ha ! Y a de quoi effectivement devenir parano quand tu utilises ce truc tous les jours et qu'il te fait des coups pareils, lol.

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Apr 28 2025
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2

This album has some interesting moments here and there. It's little stylistically chaotic though, like it's the beginning of a good idea that doesn't quite get there. Fave Songs: Manners, Self Defense, Fortune

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Apr 29 2025
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2

The audiophollic version of that table in art class where kids threw all their stuff with no regard to cleanliness of any kind. 2 But with a naked person lying on it Very inappropriate. Very distasteful. But hey its something Ending is good

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Apr 29 2025
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2

Really not for me. Just seemed like gloopy over-processed vocals over tuneless beats.

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Apr 29 2025
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2

Electronic hip hop, trip hop. No me ha gustado. Un 2.

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Apr 29 2025
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2

Album cover looks like an early-stage embryo. I don't know what the rest of the shit around it could possibly mean. My guess is something electronic. Ok yeah electronic. And pointlessly so. I have no idea what the aim of this is, the intended audience, whether it achieved what it set out to, etc. This is a collection of weird beats. I'm struggling to think the context it could be used in. Video games? Nope. A club? Doubt it. Fitness classes? No. I can only assume this has a very small, niche audience, that rates it based on criteria no one else would ever attach to music. Anyway, it's almost over now, because it only goes for 25min, and I'm no wiser to what's happening. At least the music was just as confusing as the cover art, I guess. 2/5.

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Apr 30 2025
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2

This is the kind of music that blows out speakers.

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Apr 30 2025
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2

This has to be a troll and if it’s not I’m sorry but u just don’t understand this music at all. A couple of the songs have an ambient trip hop vibe to them but the rest of it was just annoying

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May 12 2025
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2

Not sure what this is doing here.

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May 23 2025
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2

I get the idea of making something like this, but that doesn't mean I like it.

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Apr 30 2025
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1

This was a pretty odd electronic album as it had a bunch of mashed up sounds put together for some songs. This is the type of electronic music that I have trouble enjoying. Overly produced music doesn’t feel natural rhythmically and without drugs it’s hard to see the vision. Not for me. 2.7/10

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May 02 2025
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1

Well Stretch 2 is awful, only redeeming feature is that it's over inside half an hour, but what there is is crap. 1/5.

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Jun 13 2025
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1

Not for me. Weird robotic sounds. It's like AI decided on the genre it most liked, because it was created by a sexy robot.

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