Artist: Porter Robinson
Album: Worlds
Release Date: August 12th, 2014
Reviewer: Drew Dittmann, Director of Hip-Hop/RPM/Electronica
Review Date: August 19th, 2014
Porter Robinson, one of the child prodigies of the new wave of EDM, released his debut studio album Worlds last week and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Robinson, who made it big at the age of 17, has been consistently producing chart-topping singles for the past four years (one even caused Beatport’s servers to crash). He first became known not only for his big-bass remixes of electronica juggernauts but also for his originals of varying genretic
Worlds marks an important shift in Robinson’s sound. This album came as a surprise for many electroheads, who looked at hallmark Robinson releases such as his Spitfire EP and saw an upcoming big-room house and edgy electro superstar. However the indie synthpop and complextro Worlds didn’t come out of nowhere, as others have suggested (Link). Looking at the progression of Robinson’s releases, “Language,” released in 2012, is a glittering and evocative trance-inspired single that clearly marks a turning point in his evolution as an artist. And his collaboration with Mat Zo on the dance track “Easy” is a natural to Worlds.
That is not to say Worlds is only a synthpop, four-on-the-floor, album without integrity to Porter Robinson as a whole. The album features heavy bangers such as the first track “Divinity” which lays down a hard beat. What’s particularly compelling about the album is that it simultaneously shows Robinson’s vulnerability and confidence, and in that way it contradicts the now industry-standard commercialized EDM DJs who are no more than “glorified iPods,” (Link). Perhaps Worlds is exactly what the expanding EDM culture needs to remind it what dance music is all about: expressing the exhilarating emotions that music makes us all feel.