#AND THEY WERE TUNED BY MY FAVORITE VOCALOID ARTIST OF ALL TIME???????????

[ophanim-vesper]

probably super late but idrc

[devilbombers]

Music Rambles: Vocaloid/utaite

for real have been living under a rock all this time because I actually only really got into the vocaloid/utaite scene only about 2 years ago. I REALLY think I missed out during it's peak.

Love or hate vocaloid, you cannot ignore the herstory and impact it has on the world

The beginning of the end

I still recall in highschool some of my friends were really into it and as a matter of fact I was constantly reminded of the fucking kagamine twins just because I have a twin lmao. I thought it was all super cringe though and I would actually get creeped out if people mentioned it and shamed them for it. oh how the tables have turned.

cringe or not, it was impossible to ignore it or deny the yass slayery it has. Some songs I either pretended it sounded like shit and/or listened to in secret was:

butterfly on your right shoulder - the kagamine twins (#1 guilty pleasure at the time)

electric angel - the kagamine twins

just be friends - megurine luka

angelfish - rin kagamine

first love academy, school of true love - rin, len and gumi (fun fact: this is the first song i ever found with gumi in it so i actually thought gumi was a man at first. Ever since then I've accepted gumi as a trans legend lmao)

it really wasn't until I discovered reol did I actually give in to it all. Initially I thought reol's voice was unbearably high and giga's intense beats hurt my brain, but luvoratory is too good to be played once and after a few thousand listens before i knew how i felt i was hooked.

things probably spiralled out of control for me with it all because fast forward to around 2019; miku expo begins and she ACTUALLY has a show in my city. I actually cop VIP TICKETS to go see her. This would've been the craziest shit ever to ever happen to me if it didn't get cancelled because of covid aadjasdsaldlaakl it was supposed to be my first concert too. (on a slightly lighter note; I got tickets a little while ago to go see gumi live in my city!!!!!!!!!)

thoughts on the genre as a whole

I think the most irresistible thing about the whole vocaloid/utaite genre to me is there is no consistent genre to it. It works so well with my personal philosophy of having no favorite music genre of course I have to be so invested in it.

some producers and utaite i like:

giga

nilfruits

yuu miyashita

babuchan

rerulili

kira

oster project

kikuo

ado

mitchie m

utsu-p

Hiiragi Kirai

tsumiki

youman

if you're already familar with some of these guys, you can already tell all of these artists and such are quite vastly different from each other. It's a little beautiful to me in a way how it all is how it is and you can't really see any other music subculture do something like this.

FAVORITE VOICE BANKS

I really want to say it's Rin Kagamine because I'm delusional as fuck and think we're the same person and most of the vocaloid songs i listen to happen to use her vocals. Some years ago during a very boring and so forgettable con I cannot remember what it was called, i was just sitting idly by my table as my friend played songs a little on their speaker. One of the songs they played was Meltdown by iroha and ever since then I can't stop playing it almost every single day and everytime even the slightest inconvenience happens to me; I will blare this song so loud in frusturation.

Vflower is somewhere way up there with fav vocaloids. VERY unique sounding voice and I really like how producers are able to tune her very differently from each other. She's really dominating the scene lately and at this point its IMPOSSIBLE to ignore her. which is exactly why I'm so aggravated at companies and such for not letting her play live or even put her in fucking project sekai!!!!!!! how the fuck are you gonna keep putting her songs in it but not have her in it! i don't care if she's not in the same company theres no way you don't have the money to do it!!!!!!!!

i feel like there isn't a lot of songs by Gumi by herself; i really wish there were more bangers for her. She duets extremely well with mostly rin or miku though. Her voice provider is half-filipino therfor gumi is half-filipino and my only representation in this awful world so i really like her. Very nice sounding voice, theres a lot of opportunity to use her for most things really. I have the exact same issue as i do with vflower, PUT HER IN PROJECT SEKAI AND LET HER DO MORE CONCERTS YOU COWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Megurine Luka has the most prettiest sounding voice for sure. I would group her in my top 3 vocaloids in no particular order with vflower and rin. LOTS of nice range and there isn't much to say i can say other than shes a fucking legend and she's kind of sexy lmao.

THERE REALLY IS NO SONGS FOR MEIKO AND IT FUCKING SUCKS CAUSE SHE HAS SO MUCH UNTAPPED POTENTIAL. Very nice almost silkyish mature sounding voice. Personally i think no one knows how to harness her voice the best than oster project. Maybe it's just because they're the only producer who makes shit for her, but I feel like maybe meiko's voice is best used in dramatic type songs with lots of classic instruments. I'm actually angry at the world for not producing her enough my god

Ms Hatsune Miku; what can i really say except she's literally the bitch of all time. Obviously the vocaloid with the most impact for sure with what i would say is the most balanced type of voice from all the voice banks which gives her lots of opportunity to do literally any song which is exactly why she has so much motherfucking power.

[randombubblegum]

do u have any favorite vocaloid producers :3

this was such a hard question i had to think about it for a long time...... vocaloid was all i listened to from 12 to 21 and its had such a huge influence on me it would be impossible to sum it all up but ill list some of my favorite producers!!

- maybe my favorite producer is powapowaP (rest in peace) T__T..... his music has always meant a lot to me and his death hit me really hard (he was only a year older than me)..... but regardless i love his work and i always will. i hope hes resting peacefully ;__;

- hachi!!! its fucking nuts seeing him as kenshi yonezu get sooo big.... ive been a fan of his since matryoshka came out so hearing him in the grocery store here is wild..... i love him very much

- scop!! i dont think hes making music anymore?!?! but i loooove the scratchy vocal tuning he used for miku its really distinctive

- sasakure.UK and (old) DECO*27: i like popular vocaloid producers too!! i was suuuper into deco*27 in early high school so his old stuff is still some of my favs.... same with sasakure he has such a distinctive melodic style.... his song “campanella” made me read “night on the galactic railroad” and its a book i rly love

- nayuta seijin: i got rly into them in 2017 for whatever reason and i love their space motif hehe.... their songs are on rhythm games at arcades here and i play them a lot >:)

-nekobolo: another sort of niche producer maybe but their songs are sooo pretty and the way their miku sings sticks with me.... i love it a lot.....

- nanou: he didnt make a ton of songs but “hello/how are you” is super dear to me and i like his original album “waltz of anomalies” a ton

-keeno: ok were getting real niche here but the gentle tuning he uses is so sweet to me..... also a ton of my fav utaites have covered his stuff!!!

this is just a small selection of artists ive loved over the years!!!! they all really mean a lot to me so if ur interested pls check them out :-) i also like more mainstream producers like wowaka, jin (of kagepro), mitchie M, etc but i figured i didnt need to list those. if u rly want to understand me as a person u need to grasp my vocaloid music taste honestly.... its rly precious to me hehe

[cottonloid]

Cotton Playlist: Unicorn

I wanted to write about Vocaloid songs I like, so I did. Here are my thoughts on Teniwoha and their latest song, “Unicorn.”

UNICORN, by Teniwoha

On February 7, 2020, Teniwoha uploaded “Villain” to their YouTube channel. Their previous song, “Bradbury,” had been uploaded in August 2019, and has at time of writing raked up a respectable 261,500 hits. Although Teniwoha had been uploading music to YouTube since 2014, only one song, “Meitantei Renzoku Satsujinjiken” had managed to break the million-view barrier. That song was uploaded in 2016. Teniwoha’s songs over the next four years received decent attention, with a few surpassing 100K and even 500K in views. But other songs languished with fewer than 50K views. Even “9,” a collaboration with emon(Tes.), has only managed to net 33,000 views.

I don’t know why Teniwoha received relatively little YouTube attention during this period. Maybe it was the state of the Vocaloid community during this time. Maybe they were not favored by the fickle gods of the YouTube algorithm. Maybe their songs missed the musical zeitgeist. Whatever the reason, the dry spell ended with “Villain,” which performed like no Teniwoha song before it. At time of writing, it sits at 4,850,000 views on YouTube. That’s not counting covers.

I’ve been a fan of Teniwoha since 2014, and I’m glad “Villain” was a big hit. I love “Villain,” even though it’s not my favorite Teniwoha song. But I’m not here to talk about “Villain” (even though I will actually be talking a lot more about “Villain”). I want to talk about “Unicorn,” which I like a little more.

How do we quantify the success of a song or an artist? I’ve been throwing out a lot of statistics, and sure, we can say that’s a measure of popularity. By that measure, “Unicorn” is the dark horse to “Villain.” Uploaded three months after Teniwoha’s biggest YouTube hit, it currently has 322K views. Not bad. But at this point, it’s not going to replicate the statistical success of “Villain,” despite the similarities between the songs. And there are quite a few similarities. Both videos feature illustrations by Nekoko. Both are about marginalized (pretty clearly queer) identities and create joy out of subversion and adversity. Both have an industrial-rock sound to them.

Comparing the two songs, I think it’s clear why “Villain” was the hit. It has a catchier, dynamic chorus and a badass keyboard riff. In comparison, the chorus in “Unicorn” kind of drifts downwards, then up, then down, then up again, before finally hitting that punchy, “Now! I’m a unicorn now!” “Villain” actually pulls a similar trick in its chorus—after the keyboard comes in, the vocals float back in to sing the title of the song. It’s neat. But it doesn’t blow me away quite like “Unicorn.” The chorus leading up to that part is less flashy, though the jeering/cheering sound at the beginning is a nice addition. But it builds up to a show-stealing synthesizer, and instead of the song’s title sounding like an afterthought, it bursts gleefully forth—“I’m a unicorn NOW!” This part sounds like a prancing horse (complete with clip-clop sounds in the background), and I love it.

It’s the bridge between the verse and chorus that really stands out. It shows up with force and confidence, taking what has until that point been a rhythmically measured song and propelling it forward. The tuning is great, and this is coming from someone who often does not like flower. The little squeak Teniwoha puts into their voice is extremely satisfying. Teniwoha deftly utilizes flower’s gruff low/mid-range, and there’s a tremoring quality to some of the vocals that feels appropriately horse-y (hoarse-y?).

But I don’t actually know shit about music. The real reason why “Unicorn” just barely edges out “Villain” for me is that it’s slightly more playful. And I think play is Teniwoha’s biggest strength. So in “Unicorn,” he gets to show off.

If I had to describe Teniwoha as an artist in two words, those words would be “playful” and “versatile.” Teniwoha primarily makes rock music, but if you listen to his backlog, you’ll hear a wide variety of styles. I’d name some, but again, I don’t know shit about music. And I don’t think all of Teniwoha’s songs fit neatly into genre conventions. For instance, they described their song “Onomatopetenshi” as “neo rakugo funk music.”

“Onomatopetenshi” is kind of the perfect Teniwoha song. It is basically a vessel for them to make a song entirely of puns. My Japanese language skills aren’t good enough to fully appreciate it, and to my knowledge, nobody has translated it. For obvious reasons. For instance, there are lyrics that translate roughly to “drunkenness, a good slave, old age, spirit fire.” That doesn’t make a lot of sense. But those lyrics (酔いどれ良い奴隷養老霊火) are pronounced, “yoidore yoidorei yourou rei hi.” Sure enough, the vocals yodel. (Skip to 0:33 in the song to hear it for yourself.)  

In another song, “Kyuubi goryoue mystery ~tenketsu~,” Teniwoha pens the infuriating line, “Look in fear upon the bon festival.” Which is fine in itself. But that line (恐れ見よ盆挿話) is pronounced “osore miyo bon souwa,” and is phonetically similar to “o sole mio, bonsoir.”

I think a witch cursed Teniwoha to make them write puns for the rest of their life.

Anyhow, my point is that Teniwoha can write a range of songs and have a great time doing it. My favorite Teniwoha songs are the ones that revel in their own deviousness. “Devious” feels like an appropriate word to describe someone who makes as many puns as Teniwoha. Ironically, “Villain” is a song that is textually about being devious. But it’s kind of heavy, thematically. The song finds its joy and soars in some places, but it’s a joy that is painfully earned. Embracing the role of the villain can feel empowering, but it’s a role other people have chosen for the song’s narrator.

As in “Villain,” the narrator in “Unicorn” declares themselves to be a unicorn. But it’s less clear that other people forced the narrator into this role, so this declaration reads to me as self-affirmation. There’s still a sense of bitterness in this song, but it a little more playful, a little more weaponized. (Like a unicorn horn???) The vibe is very, “Feeling abandoned by god? Cool. Let’s burn everything down.” It’s the difference between “hated life/蛇蝎ライフ” and “the joys and sorrows of life/苦楽ライフ.”

Teniwoha also gets to do a little more wordplay in “Unicorn,” rhyming English words like ark/mark/dark, melancholy/holy, and unicorn/you become/unison. Then there are some cross-language puns like “smile” and “数mile” (pronounced “suu mile”). The poetics of these lyrics are just generally great. There was some of that in “Villain,” of course, but the tone of the song is maybe a bit heavy for too many puns. I think that due to the slightly lighter tone in “Unicorn,” Teniwoha gets to flex their lyrical muscles a little. And write puns.

This wordplay also works thematically. Teniwoha bends linguistic meaning while his lyrics challenge a black/white binary. The unicorn’s very existence makes a mockery of this binary, just as puns throw linguistic sense into gleeful confusion. There’s a new meaning being made here.

Of course, this also happens in “Villain” to an extent. As always, my preference is simply a matter of taste. Both “Villain” and “Unicorn” are great queer anthems. But the spiteful jubilance of “Unicorn” matches my mood a little more right now. Or maybe I just like that the song sounds like a horse. And really, I’m just glad that more people are listening to Teniwoha now. After six years, they deserve it.

Now please go stream Teniwoha’s “Mononoke Mystery” album. It’s on Spotify, and it’s their best work.

[clownmoontoon]

Who's your favorite vocaloid?

IN ORDER FROM MOST FAVE TO LEAST FAVES ((OF THE FAVES bc i dont know ALL the vocaloids theres so m a n y)) BASED P MUCH ENTIRELY ON MY FAVE SONGS + THEIR DESIGN AESTHETICS

1. MIKU (( QUEEN absolutely no vocaloid can fully encompass creepy AND cute and P MUCH EVERY GENRE OF MUSIC quite like miku (at least imo!), shes aesthetically perf and creatives can make her voice do p much anything YOU WANT HER TO SING A CUTE POP SONG?? HEAVY METAL SCREAM?? RAP?? POLKA?? JAPANESE?? ENGLISH?? RUSSIAN?? U WANT HER TO SING DESPACITO (pls look it up) HECK YEAH MIKU IS HERE FOR U BC SHE IS QUEEN 👏 AND ‘TWO FACED LOVERS’ IS STILL MY FAVE VOCALOID SONG despite me jumping between other songs and loid faves haha aaa im gonna learn the dance to it one day *shakes fist* ))

2. GUMI (( gOD my fave vocaloid song for ages was ECHO and it still gives me chills today (plus inspired the story and characterization for two of my ocs!!) aND THEN “AGAIN” INSPIRED THE COMIC FOR ANGST WEEK ON MY MAJIMA BLOG HAHA and lets be real who WASNT inspired aesthetically and just in general by ‘Matryoshka’ ??? ALSO ‘MONSTER’?? ‘MACHINE GUN’?? ABSOLUTE BOPS!!! GUMI GOT THE GOODS!!!! ))

3. TETO (( I KNOW SHES AN UTALOID BUT I LOVE HER AND IM BEGGING YOU ALL TO LISTEN TO TANJIRO’S TETO COVERS the whole playlist is called “Teto Justice” and honestly i dont think anyone knows how to tune a loid as good as them!! ))

4. RIN (( meltdown is a dAMN GOOD S ON G also “Alluring Secret” fuckin chANGED THE GAME OK ive been wanting to do a jyushihomu vers of that forever kfjgh ITS SO INSPIRING!!! also from ‘Alluring Secret’ to ‘Summer Idol’ i love how gay she is for miku fkkjgkhj AND LETS NOT FORGET THE EVIL SERIES ))

5. LEN (( AGAIN, EVIL SERIES also pls look up the “LEN GROWL” cover of ghost rule is sO SO GO O D aND ‘BRING IT ON’ FUCKIN SLAPS ))

6. LUKA (( I ADORE LUKA’S VOICE AND ‘LUKA LUKA NIGHT FEVER’ WAS ONE OF THE FIRST VOCALOID SONGS I EVER HEARD GHGH shes so damn prETTY I RLLY LOVE HER DESIGN and the only reason shes not higher up is bc her voice is super chill and makes me relaxed and i tend to listen to vocaloid stuff more when i need to get hype (like if i have cleaning or work i need to be rlly awake and motivated to do haha) bUT I STILL LOVE HER ))

7. NERU (( ’STOP NAGGING ME’ WAS STUCK IN MY HEAD FOR SO L O NG sO SHE DESERVES TO BE ON THIS LIST also i recently found out that shes the “anti troll/flame vocaloid” and was literally created out of spite by a vocaloid fan to tease mean trolls aND THEN THE ARTIST (Smith Hioka) MADE A DEAL W CRYPTON AND SHE BECAME AN OFFICIAL VOCALOID CRIES ))

THIS GOT LONGER THAN I MEANT IT TO GHGHGtbh i got into voca/utaloids really late like literally last year HAHAi didnt really like the autotune-y voices at first but then i heard ECHO for the first time and it really made me wake up and realize just how much work goes into each song and all the art work/animations/edits ETC

ITS LIKE EACH SONG IS AN EXPLOSION OF SO MUCH ARTIST EFFORT AND I RLLY STARTED TO FULLY APPRECIATE THEM!! MUSIC PRODUCERS/TUNERS/WRITERS/ANIMATORS/ILLUSTRATORS AND OFTEN ITS JUST ONE PERSON DOING ALL THAT and then came genuine love for the music! ALSO THE AESTHETICS ARE JUST RLLY GOOD HAHA 

i always loved miku’s design even before i was a fan of her voice! AND THE RIGHT TUNER MAKES A W O R L D OF DIFFERENCE if your first vocaloid song exposure was a badly tuned miku im so sorry 

i feel really lucky that by the time i became part of the fandom there were sO MANY really skilled music producers working on vocaloid songs i rarely encounter a badly tuned song nowadays! 

[co-mm102]

#4: [robotic voice] mu-sic

So, you’ve heard of music that people sing over instrumentals in recording booths, you know: Queen, Taylor Swift, Hozier, the like. But have you ever heard of composers using softwares to sing for them? Imagine this: a composer sits at their desk, arranging the instruments they’re using for a song, writing lyrics at the side, and after hours and hours of editing, it’s time to have the vocals sing. After a cup of coffee, they sit back down on their desk, and instead of calling someone to sing for them or perhaps sing their own, they open a singing synthesizer that allows their lyrics to be sang with pre-recorded syllables: VOCALOID.

That’s it. No actual vocalist needed. Just your preferred Vocaloid voice bank, some fine tuning, and a beat. Vocaloid was created using voice samples from actual human voices, recording every syllable there is in the Japanese and English language for users to use to their satisfaction. Now, this all might sound foreign to anyone but perhaps you’ve heard some Vocaloid songs in your own time. Ever heard of Hatsune Miku, Vocaloid’s most famous voice bank? How about her rendition of the Polish song Ievan Polkka? Of course, one can’t forget her iconic ‘sekai de’ from Ryo’s hit song World Is Mine.

(image: Vocaloid Diva Hatsune Miku looks you in the eye.)

As a wandering, curious child scrounging the deep depth of the early internet, finding Vocaloid had been nothing short of a dream come true for me. Not only was I a child who regularly listened to Korean lyrics, I was also an avid watcher of Japanese animated shows. Mix it all together and you get, well, an anime girl who sings foreign lyrics! I was just about used to that. Cute lyrics, misleading videos, dark meanings, and hair to die for – Vocaloid had it all for little seven year old me. Now though, as a teenager-slash-adult, the one thing that draws me back in to Vocaloid every single year, without fail, is that all the content in Vocaloid is fan-made.

Let’s look at mainstream pop: a song is produced by either the artist themselves or through another producer, but it will ultimately be sung by the artist. Some add choreographies, some make their own, some hire choreographers. Eventually, the songs will be released through an album or a single, promoted by their recording agencies who release their songs on music platforms such as YouTube or Apple Music, or Spotify. Vocaloid challenges this whole process of of song production and distribution, simply because there is no one entity that produces Vocaloid songs. Everything released is made by fans: the instrumentals of the song, their videos or PVs, the promotion, the animation–all that is provided is a voice bank which producers will have to tune themselves through synthesizers for Vocaloids to sing their lyrics. 

Vocaloid is sustained by the Vocaloid community. If all Vocaloid users ceased to use Vocaloid, then Vocaloid would most likely cease to exist as well. Yet Vocaloid consumption is not stopping. Why? Well, that is because this is a profession for some. Some producers do shoot to fame. Some stay within the fandom. Some do not. Vocaloid can serve as a sort-of gateway for producers to be known in the Vocaloid community first, then branch out into other forms of music when they become famous enough. A prime example of this is Kenshi Yonezu, otherwise known as HACHI in Vocaloid circles, who created and sang the opening song for 2017′s hit anime My Hero Academia. Now, his songs are known and heard all over the world through the show, but before all that, he was first heard through Hatsune Miku in NicoNicoDouga (the Japanese YouTube).

Kenshi Yonezu was part of what the Vocaloid community liked to call their golden age, circa 2007-2011. This was around the time VOCALOID2 was released, following the success of the first Vocaloid engine. New voice banks were released: Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka, Kagamine Rin and Len, GUMI, Gackpoid, just to name a few. This was also the time when many iconic songs came to bloom, songs like Meltdown, Just Be Friends, and World’s End Dancehall were released. However, some people (my one sister included) were reluctant to listen to these kinds of songs as many of them sounded... robotic. As VOCALOID2 is one of their earlier releases, its quality was reduced to its time. Many songs sounded clunky due to their syllabic nature, some were dripping with autotune, some played like a storyteller with an instrumental in the background. Yet, it cannot be denied that there were some strokes of genius within. Songs like The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku were sang at a speed which humans cannot recreate, to convey how Miku felt as self awareness dawned on her: this is her final song before she was deleted forever. The Night ∞ Series was sung in a musicalesque manner, with 8 voice banks singing in a four-part series to tell a recurring mystery. Due to its popularity, it was granted a three-part novel with fleshed out scenes and far more content than that of the videos. It was also granted a manga. 

Vocaloid’s most recent releases is its VOCALOID5, with its numerous improvements, such as functions of breathing, whispering and growling. Song production in the Vocaloid community have become more realistic: you can hear them breath in, take a gasp of air before singing a line, vocals thin out towards the end to mimic real vocals running out of breath, growls are used for maximum human effect. A particular favorite song of mine is a cover of the song Fairytale by cillia, which sounded so human to me that I had a hard time believing it was actually a Vocaloid singing it. In the end, it all boils down to preference. Some people are inclined to the iconic robotic Vocaloid songs, some producers still use that clunky style in tuning, but every song will still have that Vocaloid magic in every syllable uttered.

Now, remember Kenshi Yonezu? HACHI within the Vocaloid circles? Recently (or three years age, more like), he released a song: Sand Dune. Surprisingly, it was sang by Hatsune Miku, for a community he abruptly left high and dry on his songs. It tells a message of the Vocaloid community dying, of Miku wandering a sand planet with nothing but memories of fame and her loyal fans following her. He hinted that producers will always leave the community eventually, stolen up by talent searches to create music elsewhere. The song is a bop, but he couldn’t be more wrong. 

While Vocaloid isn’t at its greatest peak, with songs topping charts at NicoNicoDouga and booming every week or so, it is nowhere near the dwindling state he sings about. You’d be surprised at how many commercials Miku is in, at how animated, hologram figures tour around the world, selling out concert venues to play the songs their fans made. The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra conducts an event called the Miku Symphony to perform Vocaloid songs annually. Prior to the pandemic, Hatsune Miku was supposed to perform at Coachella. Can you imagine that? Thousands of people possibly raving to the songs of a girl with sea-green hair, too wide eyes, and her lithe body when she eventually stage-dives into the crowd below and vanishes–oh wait, right, she’s not real. But she has been a growing phenomenon for the past decade, golden age past or not, this community will continue to thrive for as long as fans will allow it. Many see Hatsune Miku as an upcoming and sensational future pop icon but for the pop stars made by Vocaloid, produced by Vocaloid fans, the future has already come. 

[shanethvarosa]

2018: In Review

At this point in time, I feel like my blog is 100% reblogs of memes and ridiculous videos of animals and maybe some gratuitous selfies. Originally, Shaneth Varosa was supposed to be a place for me to publish some of my articles about music and try to facilitate discussion about these releases. Unfortunately, life gets in the way, and I can’t write like I used to. While here on Christmas break from work, and with the next hour or so of free time I have, I wanted to go over some of the artists that did The Most this year and recommend their work in case you’re in need of something new and exciting. See more after the cut! 

I’d like to start with about five honorable mentions and then move in to the ten artists who did the best job at promoting their craft and developing something sincere and meaningful. These honorable mentions all had really great releases, but overall didn't feel very impactful to pop culture overall. 

1. Florence And The Machine - High As Hope  was absolutely one of my most anticipated albums this year, especially after the amazing lead single was released out of the clear blue sky. The follow up single, Hunger, is one of the most relatable tracks in her discography. However, the lack of overall energy was somewhat disappointing despite the lyrics being 100% on point. 

2. Miyavi - I’m not sure I’m as big a fan of the Samurai Guitarist as I used to be, however he really is expanding upon his talents and schmoozing with the right people. A feature from Samuel L. Jackson was no small feet and he really did some neat guitar work on his third collaborative album this year. 

3. Crystal Kay - A Japanese/American pop star with a voice like Janet Jackson, but does not always make the strongest choices when it comes to album tunes. Her singles for this era were almost entirely ballads, so when she released an album with actual bangers for the summer, I was very impressed.

4. Cher - Usually, when Cher releases an album it is a shoe-in victory for album of the year. However, she really only did a cover album of songs, even if they were completely amazing songs. Here’s hoping she has a collection of original material to release soon. 

5. DADAROMA - A newer VK mainstay, but they haven’t actually released a full collection in over two years. Instead, they’re focusing on singles and EPs. This year, they began with “This is Live” which really blew me away following their lackluster third installment of the Dadaism series. They rounded out the year with the fourth installment which was also a significant improvement. However, in 2019, they should consider an album. 

Without any further ado, the top ten artists who really Did That this year:

10. Troye Sivan: I am a sucker for a good Gay Tune and “Bloom” had 12 of them. It’s rare when you find an album that has no tracks you want to skip, and maybe I’m biased, but there isn't one track that isn’t relatable to me and most of my pals. Highlights: Plum, Dance to This, Animal. 

9. CHVRCHES: Every couple of years, I’m guaranteed an over-the-top synth album from this group. Their debut found me at just the right time and their follow up found me at just the right time as well. These two albums really struck a chord with me personally and so naturally I was through the roof the Love is Dead was announced. While the production and vocal performance was totally still there, the lyrical content didn’t quite get me the way the previous albums did. Highlights: Graffiti, Graves, Deliverance.

8. Kamijo: Interesting how my favorite male singer and my favorite female singer both released albums this year and how neither of them made top five. Well, of course they were both excellent, but something stopped them from being everything they could be. Kamijo’s newest solo effort came in four parts and they were all a little confusing. Sang’s main storyline seemed to insinuate Napoleon Bonaparte was a vampire and the third installment of the album was a duet with vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Not to say the vocal performance and composition weren’t top of the line, but I just don’t know what he was trying to do with this era. Highlights: Sang II, Emigre, Nosferatu. 

7. Dir en grey: The world’s most iconic shock-rock band finally returned to us after a four year hiatus. This year’s Insulated World really did give us something to behold: A concept album that wasn’t completely based on mindless violence and fake-deepery. Sure, Kyo does his standard noise-making throughout a lot of the album, but I firmly believe this is their best work in about ten or more years. Highlight: Ranunculus, Keigaku no Yoku (Ravenous Greed), Ningen wo Kaburu (Suffering Human Beings). 

6. The 1975: A recent favorite of mine. Their singles for this era really enraptured what it is to be in your late 20′s in today’s day and age. Their whole album ended up being somewhat bizarre and ballad-heavy, but everything they put out before the main LP was fire and deeply, personally relatable. Highlights: Give Yourself a Try, Love it If We Made It, I Like America and America Likes Me. 

5. David: Most who will read this post will probably not know that “David” is a pseudonym for VK heavy-hitter Sui. This man started out in Metis Gretel many years ago, moved to a band called Megaromania, worked briefly with Lin before ultimately achieving his solo project which is easily the best thing he’s ever done. Probably because it is produced by Kamijo, but I digress. This year, he gave us his first solo album released in too-many parts, but the overall product was outstanding. His visuals even made him look like a true-blue cartoon character. Highlights: Confession (Awakening and Genesis), Genesis (In Bible), Metempsychosis. 

4. Panic! At the Disco: This band, whom we all know is just Brendan Urie, blew me away several years ago with Death of a Bachelor and the only way he could go at the time was down. DOAB was one of my top 25 albums of all time and I didn’t think he could outdo himself, but the energy given to us on Pray For the Wicked was genuinely dumbfounding. His lyrics were and are always at the forefront of what makes him special and for that reason I’m ecstatic that I have “Filthy as Charged” on a t-shirt. Also, he managed to make the title track of “The Greatest Showman” into the banger hit I knew it could be. Highlights: Dancing’s Not a Crime, Dying in LA, Old Fashioned. 

3. Asagi: For those of you who don’t know, Asagi is another heavy-hitter in the VK world. He did attempt a solo project back in the day, but it didn’t take off. This year, thankfully, it really did in the biggest way and he didn't let his main project, D, suffer at all. Fans were getting bored of D’s constant Vampire and/or Alice in Wonderland themes and so he basically said “I hear your pleas, here is what we give you” and released a traditional Japanese album with a modern twist in January as the true beginning of his solo presence. The man then followed up with several incredible singles with D including Revive and Deadly Sin, both of whom had insane B-Sides. Highlights: Madara (Chestnut Tiger Butterfly), Gekkai no Miko (Children of the Moon World), Homuzakura (Hidden Cherry Blossoms). 

2. the GazettE: An absolutely legendary band, one of the fewest VK success stories to be told. They’ve released so many concept albums over the years with stacks and stacks of successful singles, but 2015 really was their comeback year. They revamped everything about themselves and gave fans the darkest album in recent history. How do they follow it up? With their 9th LP of varying intensity, which was actually quite refreshing. My personal favorite aspect is how absolutely self-gratifying it was. Highlights: Ninth Odd Smell, The Mortal, Sono Koe wa Moroku (This Voice is Weak). 

1. BoA: My favorite multi-national pop-star had a... Kind of ridiculous last few years. In 2014 she released a Japanese comeback album that was literally a collection of singles that came out since her last album. In 2015, though, she brought us back with a Korean album really showcasing her talents as a singer/songwriter and then in 2018 she did THE MOST!!!! She starts the year with a Korean EP called “One Shot, Two Shot” which was all bangers, and then followed up with a Japanese LP called “Watashi Kono Mama de ii no Kana (I Wonder if I Can Remain this Good).” This album was a little less perfect than the EP, however it will be forgiven as it had a perfect selection of ballads with one of the hottest tracks of the year: Mannish Chocolat. Don’t ask me what that means. Almost immediately after, she released an EP called “Unchained” which was an acoustic set of some of her recent ballads. Most notably, “Close to Me” was released as a completely acoustic piano ballad. Several months go by, and she comes back with a Korean LP called “Woman” which was almost completely perfect as well. “Encounter” and “No Limit” are probably the hottest tracks, but the title-track really showcases her feminist nature. She rounded out the year with yet another Japanese single called “Amor” which is, truly, the hottest dance track of 2018. I hope she keeps this momentum up next year! 

[insubordinating]

Tagged by : beautiful aneki, @bixxa-boom

Rules:

1. Post the rules 2. Answer the questions given to you by the tagger 3. Write 11 questions of your own

1. What’s your favorite pun?

lmao, I love pickup lines more than puns, but hey, this one’s pretty cute :   When you’re bi and can’t decide between your male crush or female crush, you’re at an intersextion. (I totally did not just search for this right now)

2. What’s a funny event that happened to you that makes your face red whenever you think about it, or something you saw happen to someone (friend or stranger) that would make you blush if it was you?

Not really funny (because I have terrible memory), but probably anything relating to genuine shows of affection.

3. If you could laze around in any sort of fancy clothing no matter how expensive or out of context it was, what would it be?

Hmmmm. BOOTS! Really, beautiful, gorgeous boots. I could be wearing pajamas for all I care, BUT I LOVE BOOTS. Aaaaand MY BED. I WOULD WEAR MY BED. YES. FVCK PAJAMAS. I’LL WEAR MY BED.

4. What’s your favorite dog breed? =D

I love all dogs equally! Buuut, if I had to choose, probably Labradors or Daschunds. 

5. Of all the series that you’ve watched or played, what’s your favorite soundtrack? (if you can’t decide pick your top five)

IB’s soundtrack was really good and totally suited the horror vibe of the game! As well as Mad Father, and Undertale!

6. Share an obscure fun fact about yourself that no one would know to ask about

I hate silence so much. I absolutely love it when neighboring houses would party or do karaoke so it fills in the silence. Also, at somewhere around 12 to 2 in the morning, the roosters start crowing and I absolutely love it lmao. I always have my mp3 beside me when I sleep.

7. What gives you the most second-hand embarassment from other people?

Probably when they say or do something and they get ignored or were not being heard.

8.  If you could meet anyone (artist, singer, comedian, tv character, meme legend, etc) from any time and place with no language barriers between you and that person, who would it be?

My favorite seiyuus (JUN FUKUYAMA!!), utaites/yutaites (rachie, aruvn, nqrse, sana) and producers (N-BUNA!! and DECO*27!). You didn’t specify only one, right, lmao.

9. What are your go-to songs when you’re very happy, sad and angry?

Happy : any upbeat Vocaloid songs, Melanie Martinez

Sad : songs like Alice Trust (n-buna), Transparent Elegy (n-buna), Skinny Love, Sorry (Halsey), BadBye (koma’n), or songs of similar tunes

Angry : uhh, idk, Melanie Martinez too, I guess?

10. What are your favorite tropes to see in fiction?

Those really badass female characters, the characters that play idiots, those crazy-assed, mentally-fucked up characters (all of these are characters, can they even be considered tropes lmao)

11. If human society had Quirks Superpowers what would yours be?

Hmm, the power to make a dream landscape on a different plane? Similar to that of Lucy’s ability (she can create Anne’s Room which is an alternate reality room) in Bungou Stray Dogs.

 Mrm, don’t like tagging people, but maybe @karascrotch (or crap, have you left this account?), @missbunbunchan and new friend, @angel-of-apricots . . . Anyone else who wants to do this ^^

1. Your worst fears?

2. What is your earliest memory?

3. What are the things people do that annoy you the most?

4. Describe a person who is very dear to your heart.

5. What are some of your beliefs/superstitions?

6. What was your first ever dream as a kid?

7. What are things that you would never leave the house without?

8. Who in your family are you most closest to?

9. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

10. What are uncommon studies/things/hobbies that you are into?

11. What can you, at the moment, say to yourself?

[killitwithbleach-blog]

Goodbye to a World

I’m standing on the most sacred ground in American music history. In 2015 Bethel Woods, the site of the first Woodstock Fest, has been transformed into Mysteryland, a multisensory cultural experience for a new generation of starry-eyed electro lovers.  Between two hundred-foot-high rainbow-painted horse heads Porter Robinson is concentrating on the instruments before him where DJ decks had been stationed all weekend. My face is drenched in the effervescent glow of the stage lights and suddenly I’m thinking, “Fuck, it’s happening again.” My nose tingles as I recognize the delicate melody that gradually swells into a triumphant wall of sound. The bastard has me tearing up for the second time this set. When the towering euphony reduces to four crooned lines, I’m crying.

                       We’ll see creation come undone

                       These bones that bound us will be gone

                       We’ll stir our spirits ‘til we’re one

                       Then soft as shadows we’ll become

The lyrics don’t conjure any particular memory or evoke any particular emotion, but rather elicit the response of experiencing vivid beauty. “Sea of Voices” was Porter Robinson’s homecoming announcement, telling the world that the year-long hiatus, his recession to his parents’ home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was over. (Robinson, 2014)

Porter Robinson’s ascension to EDM superstardom was more a series of snatched opportunities than a pursuit. A 12-year-old recluse fascinated by role-playing and rhythm video games, he began trying to re-create his favorite 8-bit tunes on a pirated copy of Sony’s ACID software. By posting his unripe productions on Internet forums he found a mentor in vet producer Kyrandian, who pushed Porter until out popped a Beatport number one. “Say My Name” was a bona fide electro house banger, and at 16, Porter was instantaneously inundated with requests to DJ parties around the country. DJ culture was totally foreign to the small-city Carolina boy and clubs were uncharted territory until he started performing in them.  One year later he wrangled Ultra Music Fest, South by Southwest, and three Electric Daisy Carnivals on his first headlining EP tour. One year after that, he charted Billboard. (in Fusilli, 2012)

Oblivious to the dominating Dutch house sound of the first wave of the EDM takeover, Porter’s 2010 to 2011 singles were influenced by the music that raised him: chiptune, trance, IDM (intelligent dance music) and Japanese electro hyperpop from the interactive video game Dance Dance Revolution. The result was a moderately eclectic soundboard within the typical 128-BPM four-on-the-floor electro house format, which he coined “complextro.” It was a style defined by its lack of definition and an emphasis on detail, which Porter thought characterized the work of some of his biggest inspirations, Wolfgang Gartner, DirtyLoud, and Skrillex. Porter prematurely enlisted himself as another purveyor of complextro while these early singles—though inspired by several genres—still fit snugly into the electro house casing. (in Fusilli, 2012) That is, until he wrote “Language.” With its trance breakdowns, glitched-out buildups, and an ambient vocal interlude between progressive house drops, it defied the structural and tonal conventions of electro house. Finally, Porter had fulfilled his own prophecy. He was a complextro artist. The summer of 2012 it was impossible to avoid “Language” at any major festival. If you knew at this point what the letters E-D-M stood for, you knew Porter Robinson’s name.

It’s the all-American name of the fresh new face of the American dream, although as far as faces go, our 19-year-old protagonist hasn’t quite grown into his yet. Porter sits opposite his Billboard interviewer at Coachella, a tan, tattooed human stamp of the word “bro.” In the same frame, Porter’s skin appears blanched and his shoulders permanently hunched over from years of living behind the blue light of a computer screen. His upper lip is shadowed by sweat and baby hairs. As Porter recites responses about his age and influences, he absentmindedly slackens his mic hand so the audio feed fades in and out. Once Billboard Bro has filled his question quota, he flashes a farewell smile at the camera. Porter is sheepishly thanking the camera he thinks has been filming him this whole time, and you have to wonder if socializing is something he ever enjoys. (Brooks, 2012)

In between “Say My Name” and “Language” Porter Robinson made a crucial decision.  With Gesaffelstein and Brodinski added to his roster of idols in 2011, he flirted with the idea of making a sharp left turn into tech house, a hybrid of mechanical techno percussion and groove-infused house. (Brooks, 2012)(in easylove Records, 2010) After all, his proclaimed main objective at the time was to “maximize energy and write a song that was perfect for the dance floor,” an idea he traversed in the 2011 Spitfire EP with two dubstep tracks and the crassly aggressive moombahton number “100% In the Bitch.” (in Fusilli, 2012) But something was missing. The constraints of music that functions solely to energize the body left him yearning for a sound that would satisfy the soul. Goodbye tech house, hello emotional introspection. The uplifting and anthemic “Language,” his first true complextro track, was also his first artistic expression of sincerity. Its chart-topping success was all Porter needed to start a new chapter of his career: the decision for beauty.

“Easy” was the confirmation that the Porter we knew, booty-shake-maker big-beat-banger Porter, was never coming back. A collab with fellow touring producer Mat Zo, “Easy” one-upped “Language” in emotionally uplifting power. By connecting with his fans on a deeper, more personal level, it seemed Porter had unearthed his true identity as an artist over entertainer. He was gaining momentum. And then he disappeared.

The decision to abandon the DJ culture that nurtured him peaked in late 2012 when he was touring with Mat Zo, “Easy” in development. “I remember being in the back of my tour bus, and we were all just listening to our favorite music and sharing tracks, and we did that for an hour, and there was not a single dance record that any of us wanted to play for each other.” (in Knaggs, 2014) EDM was losing its appeal. Porter was becoming fed up with the creative limitations of dance music as functional entertainment, the hackneyed structure that builds and releases for the sole purpose of partying. The fear of creative stagnation, which he frequently refers to as “the enemy” in interviews, prompted a retreat to Chapel Hill. “I’m going to go back and listen to every album that inspired me and figure out what it is that I loved about that stuff, and try to channel this all into something that’s really me.” (Robinson, 2014) No interviews, no tours—he dissolved back into the Internet so that the only time we saw his face was in hieroglyphics, 【＝◈︿◈＝】. If Porter hadn’t withdrawn at his peak, we might’ve lost interest in that year of Soundcloud inactivity and festival absence. But we didn’t. We were hungrily awaiting the big reveal.  

Worlds was Porter Robinson’s dissent from EDM, but it materialized less as a middle finger than a hug. It wasn’t 21-year-old Porter who emerged from the blue light portal of his parents’ basement, it was 12-year-old Porter, the boy consumed by the various universes of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). (in Knaggs, 2014) Porter constructed Worlds as a universe with different doors, where you could enter Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Diablo, Mario 64 or World of Warcraft, enter the fictional fantasy that he’d been living while “Say My Name” was still in the making. He forged a sonic trip down memory lane to the “cheesy 2000-era pop rock,” the late-90s/early-2000s video game chiptunes trapped in 8 bits, and the Japanese media that defined his childhood. To effectively and obviously reference this era in Worlds he went straight to the source, plucking out presets from General MIDI and SoundFonts, programs created in the 80s and 90s to facilitate seamless transitions from recorded to synthesized audio. (Robinson, 2014) “Most people would hear those and they wouldn’t think that it sounds retro, they would just think that it sounds bad. But for me, that’s moving the nostalgia forward.” (Robinson, 2014) This conglomerate of “retro” and contemporary synthesized sounds gives the album a timeless quality. Stadium-sized snare hits à la Phil Collins dance with unfamiliar modernity through advanced glitching effects. Every human voice on the album—including the many guest artists—is processed with an ethereal futurism. The album’s keyword was ‘escapism,’ the medium a projection of our imaginations. (Robinson, 2014)

In contrast to the discordant hues of the spitfire album cover, Worlds displays pastel softness. Deviating from the rapid-fire 128 to 140 BPM pace of Spitfire. Worlds hovers mostly around 90. Although 128 BPM rhythms do occur, they project a refined delicacy, as in the case of “Sea of Voices,” which actually feels like it floats through 32 BPM. If you were looking for a dance floor banger, Worlds was not the place to look. Crowds wouldn’t jump up and down at his shows anymore, but pulse the air with their outstretched hands, embracing each other affectionately and swaying in sensual undulations.

“Sad Machine” emerged as the immediate hit. An infectious opening hook carries the intro into Porter’s most singable verse yet. It’s a wistful post-apocalyptic duet between Porter and Avanna, a female character from a Japanese singing synthesis platform called Vocaloid. (Robinson, 2014) Boy meets robot. Boy and robot comfort each other in the wake of the end of the world. Porter embraced the role of vocalist out of necessity as the album’s due date rushed up, his vulnerable rawness as a singer contrasting with his computerized counterpart. (Robinson, 2014) His reference to Avanna in interviews as “she” and “her” is more endearing, rather than disturbing or pathetic, and he could care less that some label him an internet-certified pussy. “The best hate tweet I ever got was ‘hey loser go hang out with your imaginary robot girl’ I was like hell yes this dude gets it.” (twitter.com) K-k-k-kawaii, Porter!

Avanna resurfaces in tracks like “Fresh Static Snow” and “Goodbye to a World,” though not in the most Japanese of all, “Flicker.” In her place, a text-to-speech program spits out a nonsensical, whimsical rap of seamlessly chopped up and reconnected album titles translated to Japanese, albums like Daft Punk’s Discovery, his all time favorite. (Robinson, 2014)  This is one more example of how Porter cleverly repurposes his sources of musical inspiration directly into the product. “Flicker” is an ode to the Japanese ideal of the appreciation of beauty and color. He searches for the recreation of this ideal he’s absorbed from the timbre of Japanese video games through pensive breakdowns that bloom into optimistic chord progressions.

The most literal representation of Porter Robinson’s resignation from aggressively beat-driven EDM is “Fellow Feeling,” where a weeping violin multiplies into a mournful symphony worthy of a blockbuster soundtrack. The first two minutes of this elegant lament recall the piece Porter has claimed to be “the most beautiful song [he’s] ever heard,” the orchestral version of “Serenity” by Afternova, an expansion on a trance beat, within which also lurks the melody of “Language” and the movement of “Sea of Voices.” (in Harper, 2011) “Fellow Feeling” is conducted by a girl’s whispered narrative filled first with regret, then optimism.

           I cried, for I didn’t think it could be true

           That you and I might’ve always known one another

           And that we could not only evoke,

           But conjure a place of our own

           And that everywhere that has ever existed

           It was all in service for our dream

           Now, please, hear what I hear

A chugging techno monster abruptly infiltrates the symphony, assaulting the vulnerability of the strings with mechanical grime.

           Let me explain

           This ugliness, this cruelty, this repulsiveness

           It will all die out

           And, now, I cry for all that is beautiful

This duel between the two conflicting aesthetics then morphs into a hard-hitting complextro beat guided by a driving side-chained kick drum. To Porter, this was the easiest way to declare his separation from the perfunctory functionality of dance music. The hybrid house climax at the end, though, references “Language” and “Easy” to make clear that mellifluous music at 128 BPM is still a possibility.

If you visit Porter Robinson’s Soundcloud page you will find it cleansed of the “ugliness” and “repulsiveness” to which he refers in “Fellow Feeling.” Missing are his moombahton and dubstep releases, the faux-complextro pre-“Language” singles, and the bass-heavy Spitfire remixes. The density and grit of these tracks cannot, in his mind, coexist with his newly refined artistry. I wonder if Porter can even listen to “100% In the Bitch” now without cringing at its vulgarity. As for Soundcloud’s music discovery function, he spends at least an hour daily searching the server for new ideas rather than “crazy production prowess.” Rejecting the negative connotation of the word ‘novelty,’ he embraces its implication of distinctiveness. “When I hear something that I’ve never heard before, I love that feeling, and I think that’s one of the greatest things about electronic music.” (Robinson, 2014)

The conception of the Worlds tour was as immense an effort as the album itself. Porter handed everyone in his art department a 20-page document with explicit instructions on the visual concept. Surrealism based on glitch and role-playing video games rather than trippy drug-inspired imagery was the goal. (Robinson, 2014) The outcome was a multi-screen cinematic journey through flashes of vibrant and prismatic glitches and Japanese calligraphy, skies of floating islands, pixilated flower fields, molten orbs, and the familiar forests we experience vicariously through recurring anime characters that leap, fly and fall through Porter’s low-poly imagination. Full immersion in his vision is essential, so he performs only original compositions edited for the sake of novelty, triggering samples on drum pads, playing dominant melodies on keys, and singing wherever possible. He defies the odds against a single DJ possessing so much virtuosic musicality. Inevitably, the experience begs the emotional participation of his audiences, which is guided by narrations, the most memorable of which is the following:

Every place you’ve ever imagined

It’s real

There is a fictional city in your

mind and you know every corner of it

Your mind is a world

Each of us is a place

This shit really takes you on a feel trip.

The conclusion of the album and the live show is Avanna’s swan song, “Goodbye to a World.” In the most heartbreaking instance of the overarching apocalyptic theme of Worlds, Avanna devolves literal bit by bit into her monotone death. The fragility that leads to worlds’ destruction references the MMPORGs so significant to Porter which, “once the company goes under, or the game is no longer profitable...these worlds are completely inaccessible. They basically just die.” (in Knaggs, 2014) I imagine young Porter’s eyes welling with tears as the server shuts down and he is forcibly returned to reality. “Worlds doesn’t really have a place in reality,” he tells us. (in Knaggs, 2014) As he grapples with the imminence of adulthood, he preserves a child-like fantasy. It’s a vessel of fiction and escapism, which is really the guiding spirit of EDM as a whole, though Worlds has liberated Porter from the shackles of the conventionally vapid modes of this ideology. As he noticed EDM curating its own obsolescence, he mapped out his immortality in an alternate universe with an open invitation and warm welcome for those of us who wish to join him.

  Bibliography

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    10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdzj2I0QgP8>.

 Robinson, Porter. "A Powerhouse, And He's Not Yet 20." Interview by Jim Fusilli. The Wall Street

    Journal. N.p., 4 July 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/

    SB10001424052702304299704577502452164796814>.

 Robinson, Porter. Porter Robinson Q&A @ Lollapalooza 2012. Interview by Jonathan Brooks. YouTube.

    N.p., 4 Aug. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u--wXQB--00>.

 Robinson, Porter. "New 'World' Order: Porter Robinson Interviewed." Interview by Rob Knaggs.

    Clas. N.p., 11 June 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.clashmusic.com/features/

    new-world-order-porter-robinson-interviewed#view-gallery-image-2>.

 Robinson, Porter. Porter Robinson Interview: 'EDM is entertainment, it's not art'. YouTube. N.p., 5

    June 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwOLDyJv-wI>.

 Robinson, Porter. Porter Robinson on Video Games and Breaking Down Tracks from His Debut Album,

    'Worlds'. YouTube. N.p., 11 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/

    watch?v=UiRDqYxPSig>.

 Robinson, Porter. EMC 2014: Keynote Porter Robinson: Changing the Game. Interview by Nick Thayer.

    YouTube. N.p., 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/

    watch?v=iPxfWmnRmyw>.

 Robinson, Porter. "Porter Robinson Interview." easylove Records. N.p., 1 Nov. 2010. Web. 10 Dec.

    2015. <http://www.easyloverecords.com/porter-robinson-interview/>.

 Sachs, Elliot. "Porter Robinson Refuses to Work with Katy Perry." YourEDM. N.p., 10 Aug. 2012. Web.

    10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.youredm.com/2012/08/20/

    porter-robinson-refuses-to-work-with-katy-perry/>.

  Robinson, Porter. "An Interview with Porter Robinson." Interview by Sarah Harper. Knight News. N.p.,

    29 Oct. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://knightnews.com/2011/10/

    an-interview-with-porter-robinson/>.

 Robinson, Porter. "Q&A: Porter Robinson Loves SF, His Dogs, and Japan." Interview by Carlos Olin

    Montalvo. SF Station. N.p., 12 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. <http://www.sfstation.com/2014/

    09/12/porter-robsinson-san-francisco-dance-music/>.