In Session: tINI

One of the first times we encountered tINI was on a hotel balcony at 6am in Hungary. We were at Balaton Sound playing classics like 'Let's Dance' by David Bowie, taking in the sunrise after a long session at the festival when the German DJ came outside and asked us to turn it down. We introduced ourselves and ended up chatting away as the sun came up, Bowie still blaring. The smile never left her face and that sentiment is the same when she DJs. Wherever she is in the world, whenever she's spinning records, she's smiling, genuinely exuding confidence and happiness.

Who can blame her either? Her rise to the top has been as organic as it gets. She developed a keen ear for music before she was ten and threw herself into meddling with different sounds via her brother's Atari at an early age. Through listening to records by Moodymann and a mixture of hip-hop and electronic records, she was hooked and eventually started taking her DJing global in 2003.

Still at a young age she found herself playing in various clubs around her home in Munich before jetting off around Europe with her own nights. It wasn't long before Ibiza called and from then, a love affair began that would come to define her sound and style.

Anyone who's been following tINI's movements over the years will more than likely have discovered her through her work with Desolat and her involvement with the don of all dons and former cover star Loco Dice. Having caught his eye after warming up for him, the pair went on to play a b2b set that would engrain her sound on the Desolat imprint. From there, it's been a union that's had dancefloors captivated for years and tINI's debut album 'Tessa' came out in 2011 via the label, further cementing her position within the crew.

To go over tINI's career so far by just looking at her work with Desolat though would be a disservice to the selector. Her worldwide presence has gone well beyond the reaches of Desolat and her tINI & The Gang parties are a global destination for those seeking out the best rolling tech and bumping house.

Her Ibiza editions of the event are always full and although her residency at Destino last year didn't go to plan because of licensing and police involvement, that's not going to stop her this year. Her island dominance this year will be as fruitful as ever as we learnt when we spoke to her recently:

"I’ll have a tINI residency at Cocoon. I’m going to be playing four or five times at Amnesia, exclusively for Cocoon. I’m not going to be playing for Marco or for HYTE. So it’s the Circoloco Opening, Carl Cox Closing, and in between, four or five gigs at Cocoon and five or six tINI and the Gang parties at Ibiza Underground."

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Regulars of the White Isle will know that Underground is one of the slickest spots around and tINI's groove-fuelled fiestas will work just fine in the intimate surroundings. One of tINI's most impressive achievements of 2016 however was her set at Sunwaves in Romania.

The beach-based festival is known for its marathon sets and endless supply of tech and last year Marco Carola stole the headlines with a mammoth 24-hour set. A set that because of its runtime actually meant that tINI didn't perform when she was supposed to. This year though it would be her b2b with Bill Patrick that had dancers gasping. She went head-to-head for a colossal 31-hours with the American DJ and kept audiences captivated throughout the day and night. We have it on good authority that she was a force to be reckoned with and one worthy of that sort of attention span from the audience.

A glorious selector, a skilled producer and a woman that clearly loves her job, we've always had a lot of time for tINI and now she's delivered an In Session mix ahead of her appearance at Sonus Festival later this year. The Croatian festival is brought to you by the minds behind Time Warp and the line-up is pretty eye-popping. Ricardo Villalobos, Zip, Apollonia, Cassy and Dubfire are among the acts already announced and tINI's sound fits perfectly within the tech-heavy schedule.

Her In Session mix is a sumptuous tech voyage, one that's perfect for a chilled evening in the sun or a hazy afternoon at the beach. The blends are seamless and the music bumps with a groove that screams tINI. Here's to another big 2016 for one of the smiliest DJs we know.

Catch tINI at Sonus Festival from August 21-25, tickets here

Funster is Mixmag's Digital Music Editor, follow him on Twitter here