North Carolina's EDM wunderkind, Porter Robinson, is on a mission to redefine the genre. With Worlds, his sophomore LP and Astralwerks debut, the young producer offers up a corrective twist for the genre and electro pop as well. Raised on a diet of Sonic The Hedgehog and Dance Dance Revolution, Robinson turned towards the world of the DDR Freak message board and the niche genre "hands up," a high energy version of Eurodance that was inspired by rhythm games. From there he made his sound more commercial and won new fans with "Say My Name," topping Beatport's Electro House charts. He got DJ bookings around the country on the strength of that song's success and soon found himself remixing Lady Gaga, along with becoming the first artist released by Skrillex's record label, OWSLA. In fact he'd even crash Beatport's servers when Skrillex and Tiësto both tweeted a link to his debut EP, Spitfire. But Robinson seems to be at odds with his raising start. Despite his monthly residency at the Marque in Vegas and the world tours, he'd rather be DJing Chrome Sparks tracks, music that seems to be lost on his fans. Enter Worlds, an album that owes as much to Passion Pit as it does to the current crop of EDM superstars. There are traces of Ratatat's pitch bending synths, M83's lush melodies, Justice's distorted and compressed bass, and Daft Punk's undeniable catchiness. It's all held down by club ready kick drums and massive build ups. There's plenty of tension that's offset by moments of serenity. You can tell that this is music made by someone with larger than life aspirations. Porter Robinson wants to be heard by everybody.

• 10th anniversary edition
• pearl colored double vinyl pressing (please note: actual pressing color and packaging may differ from mock-up photo)
• limited edition
• original release year: 2014
• music label: Astralwerks 2025

reviewed by Le Haim 08/2014