Interview: Porter Robinson on the making of "Worlds"

EDM star Porter Robinson was pushing 20 and feeling nostalgic for the lost worlds of his youth -- which, as it turns out, were fictional worlds that could only be accessed through massively multiplayer online role-playing games (or MMORPGs) that no longer exist. But rather than just sit feeling sad about it, the digital prodigy managed to channel those feelings (as well as sounds that are certain to trigger nostalgia in fellow gamers) into one this year's most intriguing new releases, "Worlds."

Robinson checked in to talk about the album before his Wednesday, Sept. 10, show at Tempe's Marquee Theatre. Here's what he had to say.

Question: The new album is great. I heard "Sad Machine" first and was happy to hear that the rest of the album kind of followed through on what I liked about that track.

Answer: It's interesting that you should say that because to me, that song was almost kind of meant as a summary of the events on the album. It was the last one I wrote for the album and was definitely referencing a lot of the other material. I wanted to add another song to serve as a little bit of glue and to reference everything throughout the record. And it ended up being my favorite song on the record. So I'm glad it was the first one you heard.

Q: Yeah, it's my favorite too. You talked about it as the glue that held the other tracks together. Do you see it as a concept record?

A: I don't know exactly what a concept record means. I think the record is definitely about something. And I've said this so many times, so pardon me if it sounds rehearsed or something. But to me, "Worlds" is meant as kind of an appreciation of fiction and stories and escapism and fantasy. The whole album to me is directly channeling my nostalgia for games that I played growing up. Video games specifically. And anime. And movies. It doesn't have this real place in reality. It has its roots, I think, in the ideas of fiction – particularly the most fantastical kind of fiction. That's why you kind of hear sci-fi elements throughout it and fantasy elements throughout it. I use instrumentation from N64 videogames. I'd say the album isn't a story itself but is instead about stories.

Q: Right. But it's clearly meant to be listened to as an album.

A: Oh, certainly. I mean, the track order was very deliberate and I definitely wanted people to hear it in order. I'm so grateful for people to listen to my music, no matter what. But I'd rather someone listen through the whole album for free than just buy one of the songs, if that was the choice. It's hard to avoid the temptation sometimes and some albums are just loaded down with filler. Not to say that mine is this perfect album or whatever. But I wanted each song to have its own place and they were all meaningful to me in some way.

Q: Are there albums that spoke to you that you feel hold up as an album that you maybe had in the back of your mind, thinking, "Well, maybe I could make an album that works as an album like this did?"

A: Definitely. The No. 1 record that influenced this one would be "Discovery" by Daft Punk. It's the first album I listened to all the way through. I was very lucky to have picked one of the greatest records of all time, if not the greatest, for my first listen through. And obviously, I'm biased. But it is my favorite album of all time. And one of the things that did inform my track listing was that the first four songs of "Discovery" – "One More Time," "Aerodynamic," "Digital Love," and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," that's like the best first four songs any album has ever had, in my opinion. So I wanted to put a lot of big hooks up front, a lot of songs whose first moments felt really big and impactful. And also I just think that their musical sensibility in general, the way that they write chords, that album has influenced me like no other. I would say the second biggest influence on me would be Kanye West's "Graduation" album. I'm a huge, huge Kanye fan and that's my favorite album by him, which I guess is kind of a weird pick. Not a lot of people's favorite is "Graduation." But It had the most songs that I'm deeply in love with.

Q: You mentioned the impact fiction had on this record. Do you mean primarily video games and science-fiction movies? Or do you mean books as well?

A: It's nothing I'm proud of but I've never been this big literary fanatic at all. By fiction, I just mean the realm of things that aren't real. The entertainment media that aren't based in reality. And for me, the big ones in that category are definitely video games and anime. I'm not a huge movie buff and I don't watch that much television, but I've spent most of my life playing video games of one kind or another. And I think aesthetically, those have inspired me so much. There are just so many direct and indirect video-game references on the record that aren't just like Mario 8-bit! Ha-ha. Check it out! Chiptunes. I think it's slightly subtler than that, I would hope.

Q: There's like a bittersweet or at times melancholy vibe to a lot of the tracks. Did something in particular inspire that?

A: I really wanted the record to feel like the most tear-jerking moments of my favorite animation. So I think that channeling a slight sad vibe overall just made this whole thing feel a little more nostalgic and a little more emotional. Some of these songs were directly about my own feelings and experiences. I think "Fresh Static Snow" is a big one for that. But overall, I guess the album is less focused on this micro idea of emotions and this micro idea of stories but on the macro. It's about emotions and stories in general. And it just kind of tries to adopt the aesthetics of those things without being too literal, if that makes sense.

Q: So you are feeling nostalgic for the video games of your youth and that era in general?

A: Yeah. Absolutely. I think that those games aren't without tragedy either. Like, I spent years and years of my life playing an MMORPG. An MMROPG is a style of video game where zillions of players are connected to one server. They all live in one world. You're not, like, an expendable army man that when you die you become someone else. You create your character. You choose their appearance. It's like a role-playing game that millions of people play at the same time. Probably, most notably, "World of Warcraft" is one that most people know. I played video games for years. I immersed myself in them. They're so beautiful. They have these gorgeous imaginary landscapes. And they were just very dear to me. And the difference between these video games and normal games is that anytime you can go dust off your old NES cartridge or GameCube CD or whatever and pop it back in and play. But when these online games that are so reliant on people paying for subscriptions and millions of people playing at the same time, once they cease to be profitable, essentially, the world disappears and goes away because there is no single-player mode. If they can't afford to host servers, you can't play the game. And this one game that was very, very dear to me just essentially died. It is no longer accessible. And as a kid, that was pretty tragic to me. But as an adult, it's almost this romantic notion of this very beautiful place where I spent all this time and I can imagine myself in that I can't really get to anymore. And it definitely inspired the music.

Q: Man, that is really sad. Was there any concern on your part about how this music would be received by the people who were familiar with what you had done before this?

A: Yeah. Absolutely. It definitely occurred to me. I'm not capable of not thinking about the consequences. But I do my best when I write music to try to put all of that out of my head and write as sincerely as I can. I just think that's the only way to make the best art that you can, is to try to do it sincerely, without compromise. Because I think people are best at making the things that they love. The further you get away from your taste, the worse you'll be at making that thing. And if people are into it, that's great. And if not, well, shucks, but at least it kind of feels like you have your integrity in the end.

Details: 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $32. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.