Porter Robinson Archives - Discotech

Porter Weston Robinson born July 15, 1992 is an American DJ, record producer, musician, and singer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His debut full-length studio album, Worlds, was released in 2014 and peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums. Robinson began releasing music under the alias Virtual Self in 2017, with his self-titled EP Virtual Self debuting the same year. Robinson was nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for his single “Ghost Voices”. At the inaugural Electronic Music Awards in 2017, he was nominated for Single of the Year and Live Act of the Year, both with Madeon, for the single “Shelter” and the Shelter Live Tour, respectively.

His other accolades include 5th place in DJ Times’ 2013 ranking for America’s Best DJ, 7th in the Billboard 21 under 21 list, topping InTheMix’s 25 under 25 list, and winning the 2015 MTVU Artist of the Year. Robinson also made DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs list for seven consecutive years.

Robinson released a single, “Language”, on April 10, 2012 through Big Beat Records in North America, and Ministry of Sound everywhere else. The song was relatively different in its production than the “complextro” sound that Robinson had become known for, favoring a more melodic sound and a dream-like piano lead. The song rose to the number one 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. The song was also included as the menu music for the 2012 video game Forza Horizon. Throughout the rest of 2012, Robinson embarked on his “Language Tour”, supported by artists Mat Zo and The M Machine.

In January 2019, it was announced that Ghost Voices was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, marking Robinson’s first nomination. Robinson celebrated the accomplishment by playing three Virtual Self sets in Los Angeles before the awards ceremony. In a statement to Billboard Dance, Robinson says he discovered the nomination through Twitter of all places. At the time, he hadn’t even realized “Ghost Voices” was submitted for consideration. “I was ecstatic, to be honest…I basically found out from Twitter…I just never once considered it as a real possibility at all…something about how vastly it exceeded my expectations,” he said. And he added “It was really gratifying.”

See a full list of upcoming Porter Robinson shows here.

Without further ado, Porter Robinson’s top 5 tracks of all time:

5. Virtual Self – Ghost Voices