Porter Robinson
Worlds
Astralwerks
Is it cool to like Porter Robinson? We asked a friend and got a blatant "No, he sucks." And while we've been smoked before for mentioning an artist's physical appearance, it can't be left unsaid: The contrived dopey doe eyes and ever un-smiling face don't win him any points. Regardless, we're not electronic music snobs and we have to say, we kind of liked Robinson's newest record. Wait, does that make us EDM fans?
Worlds is being heralded as a new direction for the young DJ. He says it's his exploration of the space between video games and anime. It's bright and sparkly, and without saying "Tonight is the night!" the record has that irritatingly effervescent tone inherent to pop music today. It's like Robinson found the secret program to make drum machines and synthesizers to scream "Oh, my god! Best. Night. Ever!" Can you tell we like this album against our own will?
Maybe it's that, with all its synths and harmonized choruses, Worlds reminds us of electro pop rather than full-on electronic music. Hell, even more than EDM. For the most part, the record is devoid of those annoyingly heavy wobbles and, to our pleasure, we heard some 8-bit in there. Some of the vocals even remind us of Passion Pit. "Lionhearted" in particular seems to bridge the gap between indietronica and EDM. Is this the birth of a new genre? Indiedm?
In truth, the only track we really hated was "Fellow Feeling." It delved too deep into the wobbles of dubstep and turned us right off.
