tINI
Minimal tastemaker tINI is enjoying an ongoing wave of success.
Before speaking to German house and techno aficionado tINI, we already feel as if we know her personally. The stripped back sensitivity of her production recalls the attention to detail in her sets as well as her surroundings. She’s an artist who prides herself on finding inspiration from everything around her, channelling her emotions impulsively through her productions as well as the sets which have secured her residencies at Ibiza’s Ushuaia, London’s Fuse and Cocorico in Italy as well as her own ‘tINI and the Gang’ Ibiza beach party.
tINI’s own productions are defined by succinct percussion with a minimal spirit that carries evolving and hypnotic vocals. The tracks on her Desolat released debut album Tessa are at once dancefloor ready and deeply contemplative, offering an insight into tINI’s colourful world that’s inspired by her own experiences and the people she’s met along the way. “Everything I do happens pretty impulsively and out of that moment’s mood,” she tell us. “I still love to record wherever I go. There’s a track coming out soon with an iPhone recording of my friend Charlotte”. Charlotte is a character that has cropped up before, namely on theTessa album track All The Good Stuff, where she can be heard speaking candidly about Prosecco and sex for breakfast. tINI allows us wholly intimate insights into her life that at times feel almost intrusive, like we’ve slipped into her room and had a fumble through her diary.
As inspirations go, she remains retrospective whilst expertly open minded, citing influences from underground hip-hop to grunge through to new-wave, as well as new romantic titans such as The Cure. Although she started out spinning hip-hop, stumbling across Moodymann’s Amerika sparked a life-long electronic affair, perhaps paving the way for the more stripped back and sensory nature of her musical output, which is occasionally littered with acidic flavours and subtle nuances of soul. So does this still inform her work? “It still does and it always will!” she exclaims. “I listen to all kinds of electronic music from back then and also new industrial bands, and sometimes there are vibes or feelings in a song that make me want to sit down and produce.”
tINI’s open nature has led to a musical documentation of her life. After fledging her career in the small venues of her hometown Hamburg, she was picked up by Loco Dice who, after first seeing her play, asked her join him for a rare back-to-back set in Hamburg. tINI’s evident talent as a selector allowed her to transfer her passion into a career, and she continues to represent Desolat, with the revered Room 305 and Triptease forming two of the stand-out releases from the label.
According to tINI, Loco Dice remains a “mentor and a friend” who is nurturing her throughout the length of her distinguished and still growing career, from her initial Desolat signing to recent projects such as USED + ABUSED and tINI and the Gang. “The fact that he let me release an album before even releasing an EP in my life was a huge thing for me, and it showed me and the rest out there his respect and belief in me”.
tINI, along with the remainder of her Desolat cohorts, represents one of the few figures who can claim a mastery of minimal house. Although the transgression of the genre leads to sparse involvement after the long beleaguered territory of the term, it remains a genre that Desolat are firmly championing. Founded by Loco Dice and Martin Buttrich, the Dusseldorf label continues to form a key representation of the forerunners of what we’d rather call stripped back house. Self-assured and reluctant to fully credit Dice for her success, tINI attains achievements by her own merit: “I’m sure I would have made my way no matter how, but letting me use his ‘platform’ was a huge help; the same as the personal advice on how to survive in this business”.
tINI’s continued success could be attributed to a number of factors. From being plucked out of obscurity by Loco Dice and thrown into worldwide recognition, to her stirring productions, eclectic inspiration and the continued success of her album, she is one of the most exciting ladies in electronic music right now. So, how is she dealing with her unrelenting rise? “I’m constantly on tour, I lived in NYC in the winter, then some months in Berlin, now I am back in Ibiza for the summer and it’s hard to sit back and relax and realise what is happening at the moment”, she says, adding that she feels a sense of both gratification and disbelief about constantly being in demand, “Somehow I never stop, and I love it! But every now and then there’s a moment where I’m like ‘wow, is all this really happening right now.’”
This summer, the tINI and the Gang Ibiza beach party series is hosting Guti, Hector and Bill Patrick amongst others at the picturesque Sirocco Beach Club. The premise of the night is simple: The German DJ invites a collection of her friends and colleagues to join her every Wednesday from 5 PM through till midnight. Located away from the hustle and bustle of the Ibiza resorts, the picturesque setting overlooks the quieter end of Playa den Bossa’s shores. The reason for its success? “You can’t go wrong with something, if you are doing it for the right reasons like to support upcoming great DJs who play amazing deep sounds”. It’s an attitude, she explains, which breaks her ties from Ibiza’s increasing reputation for commerciality. “Some of the clubs here on the island go for more banging or commercial music, I have no problem with that, I just think that the chance of playing ‘deep’ or ‘underground’ music somewhere at a beach is amazing!”
Reluctant to rest on her laurels, tINI has a busy summer ahead of her. “I’m crazy excited about starting my tINI and the Gang party! I will host and play 15 Wednesdays alongside some amazing established as well as upcoming artists. Besides this, there are 14 other gigs that I’ll play on the island at Amnesia, DC10, Space, Sankeys and Ushuaia. And I’m going to release an EP on Guy Gerber’s Supplement Facts label called Thingy Situation, so my summer looks pretty amazing!”. Speaking of her influences, her creative mind is never latent as she plucks her inspiration from her surroundings. And surroundings this summer could be worse, as she’ll be residing in Ibiza to help make some time for producing. “Here you have so many different artists and styles playing in one week, I really enjoy the variety of sounds here. This year I brought a bit more equipment, let’s see how the island will influence my productions”.
This Summer has seen tINI appear across a huge range of venues and festivals, including a high-profile slot on the Just Jack stage alongside Raresh and Laura Jones at last month’s Eastern Electrics. “As you are outside, and mostly in front of a bigger crowd, you have to play a bit more ‘open’, maybe even a bit faster than usual”, she says when we ask her about her approach to a festival set. But don’t let this alter your perception; she assures us that wherever and whenever her set is performed, her set will be 100% her own. tINI is tINI, no matter where.
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Words: Anna Tehabsim
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