Sometimes, unexpectedly, we find that a music producer will shine on the horizon of electronic music without even meaning to do so. That is exactly what happened with Porter Robinson, the North Carolina based producer who exploded on the music scene with his album Worlds in 2014. His claim to fame started with his single Say My Name and the following EP Spitfire in 2011. Reflecting on whether he thought he would be where he is today he said
“I kind of blew up when I was 18 years old on a track called ‘Say My Name,’ that went to number one on Beatport unexpectedly. I was still on track to go UNC at Chapel Hill, I had no plans to be a musician. It wasn’t even a goal of mine. Then I had this song that blew up and went viral and suddenly I found myself playing shows and having this music career.”
When asked about whether he wanted to define his sound with Worlds, he said that he didn’t set out with the mission to get into EDM per say. He just made the music he loved and what he liked to play. He discovered electronic music first through video games and that is what inspired a lot of songs on the album as well.
“Songs like “Sad Machine” and “Hear The Bells,” they all use what are known as soundfonts, which are essentially these low quality emulations of real instruments of harps, flutes, pianos, strings and things that don’t sound realistic. But they don’t sound 8-Bit either, like the NES, they specifically to me, dead-on like Nintendo 64 music. A lot of them are almost like emulations of the Ocarina of Time music and that’s something that for a lot of people that were kind of present for that era of video game history picked up on immediately.”
Discussing what future plans are for the producer – a new album, a new musical direction or just going with the flow – Porter had the following to say
“It’s so hard for me to say. I’m kind of in an inspiration rut right now. I’ve been trying to write music this year since the album came out and a lot of the time has been spent on tour. But it’s been f***ing hard! I’m not sure what I’m going to. The one thing I can guarantee is that it’s probably going to take a long time. And that’s all I can say, because I just don’t want to put out something half-baked. I don’t strike while the iron is hot and do an instant follow-up, I really just want to make it right and make it good. These are the questions that I think about all day, pull my hair out and get really frustrated about on most days.”
Source: Cuepoint
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