Every now and then, you come across an artist who makes you feel like an underachiever, unambitious, or just plain lazy; given what he’s already achieved at the tender age of just twenty-two, you’d have to count Porter Robinson amongst that number. He kicked his career off at the age of just twelve, and his earlier work was heavily indebted to dance music that he was exposed to through his love of Japanese video games - Dance Dance Revolution being one particular example.
By 2012, he released a debut single, “Language”, that pretty much immediately garnered international attention; it was released outside of his native U.S. via the legendary Ministry of Sound, and was quickly picked up by Radio 1 in the UK, where it was added to their Essential Mix. His ever-growing stature in the dance world led to him being tapped for official remixes of songs by artists as internationally acclaimed as Deadmau5 and Avicii by 2013, and he rounded off a hugely successful summer the same year by playing some of the world’s biggest music festivals. August 2014 saw the release of his debut album, Worlds, which met with critical acclaim and cracked the top twenty in the U.S.
Recently, EDM has taken the U.S. by storm. Festivals and concerts are popping up everywhere, it’s played all over the radios and these once unknown DJs have become part of our music industry like any other well-known artist. All DJ sets seem to be compromised of a common formula: build up, drop, transition and repeat. Many of these DJs just take this mindset, play an intense set and call it a day. But there’s something special about Porter Robinson and when he’s performing you know it’s a Porter set. It oozes his personality, gives off his own flare and voice— and even if you don’t know much about Porter it’s like his set gives you a glimpse into his creative mind. Ultra Miami 2013, weekend two to be exact - that’s when I first saw him live. If you’ve either witnessed it in person or through the live stream, the Ultra Worldwide stage attracted tens of thousands of people in a space that was probably less than 200 feet long and wide. Not exactly ideal spectator conditions. I was sardined between the people around as I squirmed my way to the front because there was no way I wasn’t going to be front and center for my favorite artist of all time. When Porter came on, the crowd went wild as he played his classic tracks like “Unison” while throwing in some unique material ranging from 172bpm, techno and hardstyle—not your typical EDM set. And that’s what made it so amazing because no one saw it coming. He’s a risk taker and he plays what he believes in, not repeated mainstream music that’s been butchered over and over again. Mixed with his amazing video and light set that shined geometric patterns and beautiful digitally created landscaping like mountains and fields, everything about his set was Porter. The energy was incredible and I even forgot how little space I had as I slowly, but surely grooved my way to the front. Twenty minutes in, I made it. Porter just started playing “Easy” (feat. Mat Zo) and the crowd exploded in energy to his hit single. I shyly turned to this six-foot guy raging next to me asking if he could put me on his shoulders. He gladly obliged and as I rose, every other girl doing a double decker came down and in that moment, I was the only person seven feet above ten thousand people. I’m in tears trying to explain the absolute awe and adrenaline rush I experienced—no words to even describe the pure natural euphoria I felt as I looked to the front and see Porter jamming out as the chorus of “Easy” roles in and everyone including me was screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs. Porter appropriately ended the emotional roller coaster that was his set with the famous “Language." That song says so little yet so much sentiment is given off by it and it just touches the soul. A perfect farewell song to a beautifully composed set.
Napersia
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