DMNW Staff Picks: The Best Albums of 2014

[authorbox authorid=”163″ title=”Lizzy Weibling: Porter Robinson’s Sea of Voices“]In our world of artists often striving to put out the next “banger” it’s rare to find a beautifully crafted album that plays beautifully from start to finish. Porter Robinson’s Worlds is that rare album that I can listen to over and over and over again and continue to smile. From the very first bars of Divinity all the way through to the end of Goodbye To A World the album holds me in its grasp each time and takes my heart on a journey. His craftsmanship speaks volumes to his skill, the album is not a gentle ride and yet it is a soothing one, with soaring highs and beats that grab hold of your brain and force you to enjoy. Sad Machine’s opening bars have already elevated the track to one of the few that can put me into my happy place no matter where I’m at. Sea of Voices is one that I can’t help but fall in love with every time I hear it, and the crescendo is reminiscent of what one might walk down the aisle to.

Porter Robinson brought magic with Worlds

I had the fortune of being able to attend the Worlds Tour with some of the folks on this team and in my rave family and the show was pure magic, there’s no other way to describe it. Holding my hands up in the air with an overjoyed smile on my face as the confetti blizzard was taking place during White Static Snow is a moment I’ll never forget. Porter may not want us to think of his shows as raves, and yet the environment was full of more PLUR and happiness than I’d experienced in a long time. The time he took preparing the show came through beautiful and it was the perfect compliment to the album he had spent so much time perfecting.

Worlds is an album that has become an instant EDM classic and its tracks will become icons in their own right. EDM has saved my life, and this album is one that I discovered right when everything was starting to turn around and has become one that will always remind of this time in my life right now.