BINI is an Austrian DJ based in Melbourne, Australia who joins Flow for the 45th edition of the 333 Sessions podcast.

Uncovering a personal tale of one’s connection to the arts, Austrian born and now Melbourne based artist BINI is schooling dance floors with her signature hues of progressive house and melodic techno. Music has always been an integral part of BINI’s life and has paved the way for her spot in the clubs and across festival stages in Australia, Europe and beyond, channelling that true pursuit of electronic utopia. Celebrating indie dance, deep house, organic house, house, disco and downtempo notions across her catalogue, BINI’s sound garners conversation amongst club-goers and niche music enthusiasts with her powerful, yet dreamy and strong but delicate musical aura.

Outside of club performances, she keeps the groove with guest mixes, including a recent drop on Wildwood and 333 Sessions. BINI also takes the reins across the club and festival industry, known for capturing moments in time and interviewing a plethora of touring artists at Thick As Thieves events, Strawberry Fields and more. Coming into a fresh season, the energy is running wild for BINI as she is set to warm the hearts of dance floors across the map.

Your set was really something special, you should be proud of the art you have created! Talk us through the creative process, how did you find the format was there a particular vibe or energy you were trying to capture?

Thanks so much for getting me on board, it has been really special to be able to create such an extended journey for people to listen to and delve into different aspects of my musical persona.

Bringing in the new year of 2022 after the many hardships the world has endured in 2021, I wanted to channel a vibe that is hopeful.

Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve accumulated a long list of amazing tracks I haven’t been able to share with the world, so my first step was to go through that and choose songs I definitely wanted to include in the mix.

Then I looked at aspects like the keys those tracks are written in, considering their dynamics and energy, then arranged them accordingly – adding and subtracting from the main part until I felt I had a solid structure.

If you haven’t noticed, I am a sucker for minor keys and emotive melodies. No matter which genre I’ve liked at the time, be it indie and alternative in high school, salsa and electronic tango when I lived in Argentina at 16, or trap as a student in Vienna, I’ve always been drawn to touching melodies – in some way they remind me of the dualism of life. You need to have experienced sadness to feel happiness, so in some way tracks written in minor keys that are a bit melancholic remind me of that beauty of the present moment.

I remember being at Rainbow and experiencing moments that were probably some of the happiest of my life, at the same time I felt emotional because I knew this moment wouldn’t last forever. But exactly that makes times like that so incredibly precious.

How was your festive season, must have been nice to blow off some steam after the year/s we have had in Melbourne?

My festive season was great, but if I’m completely honest, it was also hard at times!

The festivities started off with visiting some friends close to Byron, continued at Elements Festival, and I then spent Christmas on the New South Wales south coast with my partner’s family.

Originally, I had planned to go see my family and friends in Austria where I’m from, but I ended up cancelling my plans. I wanted to take advantage of the freedoms we have in Australia at the moment, rather than flying back into a lockdown and heavy restrictions – it was a hard decision to make.

In Austria, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, and I’m very close with my family, so I was miserable that night because I really missed them. Luckily my partner and his family cheered me up, and we ended up having a nice night regardless.

I spotted you on the dance floor a couple of times at Elements, how was the festival for you? Any moments/performances that really stand out?

Elements Festival was absolutely amazing this year! I had a great time. It’s such a lush site, everyone is super friendly and the organisers are so passionate about creating an awesome vibe and safe space for their community to enjoy themselves.

I really loved the programming! Especially how they move genres around different stages, so as a House & Techno lover I got to experience many different aspects of the festival.

It’s hard to pick a favourite act, I saw a lot of amazing sets, and really think there were so many incredible performances I got to witness. For me personally, probably the most stand out one was Bec Grenfell on the main stage on Saturday afternoon. She’s been one of the biggest inspirations on my music journey, and her style really resonates with me, so it was super impressive to see her work the dancefloor with her exceptional skills.

How did you first find your love for electronic music?

I first moved to Melbourne in 2013, and spent every Sunday at my beloved stomping ground Revolver Upstairs, as well as many other amazing venues around town like OneSixOne, New Guernica and MyAeon.

At the time, Deep House was pretty big, and I fell in love with the melodies in it, as well as the feeling it gave me – I can only describe it as butterflies in your stomach.

Before I even arrived in Australia, someone showed me one of Spacey Space’s sets and I listened to it over and over, so a lot of local artists and the Revs residents definitely played a big role in igniting my passion for electronic music.

Additionally, I got to witness some great international artists like John Talabot, Jon Hopkins, Dusky, Finnebassen and Midland during my first few months here, and watching them play while also collecting memories with some beautiful people, and that’s how my love for it started.

Tell us a bit about where you’re originally from in Austria, and what brought you here to Australia?

My home town is Salzburg in Austria. After finishing school, I went backpacking in South America for 8 months and met some awesome people from Australia at a boat party in Rio.

I paid them a visit when they were back in Melbourne where they took me to Revs, and I instantly fell in love with this city, so in 2013 I decided to do a semester abroad here – at that time I was studying Theatre, Film and Media in our capital Vienna.

After living here in Australia for a few months, I went back home to finish my degree in Austria, then decided to complete my masters at RMIT in the CBD, which I finished in 2016. Fast forward 5 years and I’m still here!

At first, I never thought I’d live here for this long, but I love how life works sometimes – if I hadn’t have gone to that boat party, I might never have even visited Australia!

Outside of making music, how do you keep yourself busy?

I run a videography and photography business, so shooting, editing, creating concepts and managing projects takes up most of my time when I’m not working on music. Occasionally, I perform with silk fans or fire at events, and also organise dance performances for Thick As Thieves.

Something I’ve been trying to get better at is actually slowing down and setting time aside for recharging during my crazy schedule of running multiple creative ventures. I’ve learnt that a candle can’t burn on both ends, as my mother likes to put it.

What’s one track that never gets old for you no matter how many times you play it?

Usually, I try to keep renewing and reshuffling my playlists, because I enjoy finding new music to share with the world. If I had to pick just one though… one of my all-time favourites is Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers. Back in the day, I used to use it as a closing track for most of my DJ sets, but I hardly ever play it anymore, and if I do, it’s always loved by the dance floors and myself!

What’s next in your schedule, and is there anything else you would like to mention before we finish?

One of the things I’m most excited about is my upcoming headline show at Under The Lamp by The Sound Project. In a unique one-off where Ebony Willis and I will be going back-to-back, which I’m really looking forward to. Their parties have a very intimate vibe, and it’s a beautiful community of people who are there for the music, and the crew are some of the loveliest humans in our industry.

I’m also looking forward to a set at Revolver Sundays this week, weekly gigs at OnesixOne, upcoming shows at Killing Time. There are also some north side ventures and things that I am not allowed to mention yet, so stay tuned to my social media pages for more info on those.