Porter Robinson Opens Up About EDM & his upcoming Album “Worlds” through a Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ Session!

In between previewing new tracks and revealing tracklists for his upcoming album “Worlds“, Music maker Porter Robinson made some time for his fans and listeners in a candid Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. Speaking out freely on questions posed to the sensational Electronica musician, he made clear his point of view on the topic of EDM wars, his inspiration behind the album and how Japanese music was part of his early influences!

With a bulk of questions pertaining to the ongoing debate regarding the EDM wars, Porter Robinson made his stand very clear regarding it, expressing a certain hint of disdain at the Big Room sounds heavyweight DJs have been producing. He also went out and out to say that he was done making his music for the Big Room stage and that he would rather let his artistic talent blossom instead.

when i talk about EDM, i generally mean main-stage, 128 BPM, 1-2-3 JUMP banger type stuff. i don’t mean all electronic music that’s dancy – even though that’s what the name prescribes, i don’t think that’s how it is (or should be) used anymore.

a lot of my angst about EDM came from my songwriting process. i think that EDM, in order to do its job in its intended setting (a DJ set), has requirements to make it ‘work’. the most effective electro tracks have a 30-second buildup, where the chord returns to the root note, with risers, maybe a rising vocal, a snare roll – there are moves you HAVE to do in an ‘EDM’ track to make it work.

i think that emphasis on FUNCTION over real artistic expression is what soured me on the genre. it felt extremely limiting to me to try to write music that had to, y’know… “work”. and once i cast that off, it opened up the world to me. it was the BEST FUCKING FEELING EVER to be writing music without those confines. writing music makes me so goddamn happy again

When specifically quizzed on certain Japanese influences by a user, Porter Robinson agreed that he was indeed a fan of Japanese music. He writes, “Japanese music is the reason i started writing music, really. I first heard electronic music in dance dance revolution and that’s what inspired me to even try.” Speaking about his upcoming new album and the tour to follow, Porter Robinson spoke about his journey as a musician from his early Spitfire days to ‘Worlds‘, and how his tour would allow him to present his music in a much more immersive manner than a live set.

i wasn’t aspiring to be a massive DJ from the start. i didn’t have this career track in my imagination before i started – i just kept taking opportunities and good things kept happening. before long, i found myself with a fanbase and a little bit of angst – i wished that i had come into thing with a plan, with a stronger idea. my issue with ‘spitfire’ is that i was trying to be a jack-of-all-trades and trying to do several different genres… like i was trying to impress producers rather than write the best music i could. it’s way way way more interesting to have ONE idea, executed well – all of my idols do that. i repeat a lot of moves in ‘worlds’ expressly because i wanted it to feel cohesive.

the ‘worlds’ show is going to be all my music. it’s not gonna be a DJ set in the way people are used to – i’ll be running multitracks (so i can turn cut out, say, the drums, bass, and leads, and just leave the vocals), trigger samples, singing!!!, and other stuff.

Citing Daft Punk & Kanye West as his biggest musical influences, Robinson was all praise for Madeon’s new album as well. He also discussed his favorite food, his studio working style and refrained from answering questions related to Deadmau5! You can check out the entire AMA post here!