Stretch 2

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.

lucille-bluth-good-for-her.gif

Wonky

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.

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

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'

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

This is glitchy chaos from 2012 and thus predating Arca’s collaborations with Kanye West (Yeezus), FKA twigs (LP1), and Björk (Vulnicura). This EP shows the early DNA of that fractured, futuristic, highly textured sound that would soon shape leftfield pop and hip-hop production. On first contact, this can feel abrasive and alienating. And I think that's actually her goal with this. I'm adoring the last two songs

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.

Beep boop wubba

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

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.

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

Interesting noise and effects orchestrated into sound.

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

Pretty weird

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

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

Good ep from Arca 👍

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.

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

Adventurous. The start is curious and had me intrigued about what was to follow. Unfortunately, it really felt like the first 6 tracks were more of the same without really finding a flow or a groove. It was just different. It wasn't until the final 3 tracks that i felt that it finally was trying to drive in the same direction. It offered some semblance of hope... I think Manners is the best track... but it was a bit too much of an effort to make it to that point.

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

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

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

This is the kind of music that blows out speakers.

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

Not sure what this is doing here.

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

It was short at least.

Nope. Stupid music.

Immediately became less cool once I realized that the album cover is just a long leg with a floating blue poker chip and not a weird cum fetus with a blue eye. Yeah not a fan. Seems to take from the Björk school of experimental music of "putting a billion random sound effects in your songs is experimental". All that was missing was the Looney Tunes banana peel sound effect. No wonder she went on to produce Vulnicura, aka the album where Björk is the furthest into her ass.

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

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.

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.

Terrible noises