Porter Robinson

Biography

Robinson began producing at the age of 12, achieving international notice by the time he was 18. His early influences include video gaming music, in particular, Dance Dance Revolution. He is a major fan of anime and Japanese culture, and incorporates these elements into his music.

Viewed as one of America's forefront electronic producers, he has been named 7th in the Billboard 21 under 21 list, 1st in InTheMix's 25 under 25 list, and 5th in DJ Times' 2013 ranking for America's Best DJ. Three of Robinson's records reached number one on Beatport's overall chart before the time he was 21.

He currently lives in his hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Music production

A self-taught producer, Robinson originally released a variety of original singles on Glamara Records and Big Fish Recordings.

In the summer of 2011, he signed a one-EP deal with OWSLA, a new label operated by Skrillex, to release the eleven-track Spitfire. As the first release on OWSLA, it reached number one on the iTunes Dance chart as well as number one on Beatport's overall chart, crashing Beatport's servers upon release.

Robinson next released a single, "Language", on April 10, 2012 through Big Beat Records in North America, and Ministry of Sound everywhere else. The song rose to the #1 overall chart position on Beatport as well as the iTunes Dance chart. The single was premiered initially via a live BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix on January 27. The music video, directed by Jodeb, was released via Ministry of Sound's YouTube channel on August 1, 2012.

He co-wrote Zedd's US Top 10 hit "Clarity", and also sang backing vocals on this song.

On December 17, 2012, a collaborative single with Mat Zo entitled "Easy" was pre-released exclusively on Beatport by Ministry of Sound, and spent two entire weeks as the #1 overall song on the Beatport Top 100 chart. The full official release occurred in Spring 2013, and was accompanied by an animated music video.

Robinson has been commissioned for official remixes by artists including Avicii and Lady Gaga.

Porter's debut studio album Worlds was released through Astralwerks and Virgin EMI on August 12, 2014. He made his official vocal debut on the single "Sad Machine". The Vocaloid software voice, AVANNA, was also used as a vocalist for this single.

On June 21, 2014, Robinson made his second appearance on the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix.

Touring

Robinson has toured internationally as a headliner and played main stages at the world's biggest electronic festivals. He has toured alongside Tiesto, Skrillex, and deadmau5, the latter telling USA Today, "Porter Robinson plans, produces, and plays his own music... Being a DJ generally means being a human iPod. Porter is an authentic artist."

His rise to prominence on the touring circuit began in 2011 when he performed at major music festivals including Ultra Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo, South by Southwest, and many more. 2011 also saw Robinson giving direct support to Skrillex on the OWSLA and Project Blue Book tours, and Tiesto on the College Invasion Tour, before he began a run of headline dates across clubs in North America for his "Spitfire Tour". A mini-documentary focusing on Robinson's experience on the Tiesto tour was broadcast on MTV's television network and uploaded to his YouTube channel.

Robinson kicked off the following year by performing an Essential Mix that was broadcast live from Hull City Hall, January 28, 2012 on BBC Radio 1 during his first trip to the UK. Shortly after, he announced his first major European headline tour dubbed "The Spitfire Tour Europe", which visited clubs in many cities across the continent over the course of 6 weeks. In June 2012 he embarked on a large, 31-date headline bus tour of North America called The Language Tour, which featured support from Mat Zo and The M Machine. A mini-documentary was recorded from that tour and uploaded to Porter's YouTube channel.

In September and October 2012, Robinson and close friend Zedd co-headlined the Poseidon Back-To-Back Tour. Robinson also played numerous worldwide festivals that year including Tomorrowland, Coachella, Creamfields, Future Music Festival, Ultra Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, Stereosonic, Electric Zoo, and Mysteryland.

Porter kicked off the 2013 festival season by playing the main stage of Ultra Music Festival, followed by many more including Bonnaroo, Paradiso Music Festival, Creamfields, Nocturnal Wonderland, Wireless Festival, Global Gathering, Tomorrowland, Fuji Rock Festival, and X-Games Brazil.

Off the back of his 'Worlds' album release in 2014, he embarked on a 42-date North American headline run dubbed "The Worlds Tour", where Porter performed a brand new live show rather than DJ'ing for the first time ever. The tour saw him triggering samples, playing MIDI controllers and singing, and was accompanied by an ultra-elaborate video and light show. Porter stated that this new, hyperreal visual show is meant to evoke a fictional universe inspired by MMORPG style video games, as informed by glitchy surrealism, anime and Tumblr art.