Porter Robinson Sees the Ceiling and Ignores It

Language arrived in 2012 like a proof of concept for a feeling nobody had quite named yet. Porter Robinson was nineteen, and the track had the audacity of someone who hadn’t yet learned what electronic music wasn’t supposed to do—that arpeggiated synth line climbing and climbing, the drop that didn’t destroy so much as release. Euphoric without being stupid about it, which is a harder balance than it sounds. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard it. That’s the only review that counts.