A Quick Chat with Bino Blip
“I just liked the idea of a small child at the helm of a giant man body”
Bino Blip chats with AMS about new single “Boy”.
In just a handful of releases, Bino Blip has established himself as an underground enigma and one of the most promising sonic and visual artists rising out of Sydney, championing a listening and viewing experience that is as unpredictable as it is magnetic.
With his latest track, Boy, Bino straddles breakbeat and pop sensibilities - It’s a vivid exploration of identity, ego, and the push-and-pull of maturity. From its frenetic rhythm to its biting commentary, Boy encapsulates the controlled chaos that defines Bino Blip’s artistry.
In this conversation, Bino opens up about the process behind the track, his thoughts on masculinity and adulthood, and the quirks of ADHD that feed into his creative process. He also reflects on his first sold-out show at Redfern’s Odd Assembly, and the philosophy driving his approach to high art through curation and immersive live performances.
"Boy" feels like your most distilled and deliberate work to date. What provoked this level of focus, and how did it affect the way you approached the song?
Boy came out of a co-write with Fletcher Matthews. Going into the session, I knew I wanted to make something in the breakbeat/ukg zone but with the backbone of a pop song. There was a clear direction stylistically and the lyrics fell into place immediately once the beat was sketched out.
The repeated line “body of a man with a heart of a boy” feels like it’s wrestling with maturity and perhaps aspects of masculinity. Do you think adulthood strips us of something essential, or is it a process of becoming more ourselves?
I just liked the idea of a small child at the helm of a giant man body - potentially dangerous, but could be pretty easily talked out of any violent posturing with a cuddle and a snack. I think ultimately, we create who we want to be. There are parts of the “kid-brain” that I never want to lose but there comes a point where you have too much body hair to have a nude temper tantrum at the beach.
The self-described "rant" in Boy feels unrestrained yet deliberate and poised in its chaos more so than any of your previous releases. How do you balance the absurdity and intensity of the performance with the deeper critique of ego and accountability?
I don’t know if balance is the correct word but I’m well acquainted with this particular duality. I’m high octane and have low impulse control but I’m also pretty sensitive and empathic. This is a perfect recipe for a whole lot of late night brain hum. Like that time when someone said “Hey” and you said “Good thanks” like a complete fucking moron. You know? The important shit.
You call out performative aggression in lines like "I know how you love to act violent, but when I call you out nothing but silence." Do you think this performativity is rooted in insecurity, or is it a learned response to societal pressures?
I don't think those two ideas are mutually exclusive. The performative aspect is learned behaviour for sure. It often feels like a script for blokes who lack emotional regulation strategies. Both societal pressures and personal insecurities exacerbate this too but ultimately, I think public blow ups are a user error. If you’re old enough to drive, shave your neck beard and suck the life out of a double apple dizzy stick, then you’re old enough to download a mindfulness podcast and self soothe over a bit of tummy time.
You, alongside Kids of Bill, are becoming known for poignant music videos, essentially a staple of the Bino Blip universe - Can you speak to what keeps you all coming back to the artform and what the process of translating the music to screen looks like?
For me, visuals and sonics are impossible to disentangle. When I write, there’s always a visual brainstorm happening at the same time. I also grew up watching rage and MTV, so music videos were always something I cared deeply about. When you make a music video for a song, you get to stretch and bend that concept as much as you want in order to make something that looks how the song sounds.
I keep going back to Kids of Bill because Sam and Harrison are my friends and I love working with them. They keep coming back to me because I hypnotised them both after administering a near lethal dose of a psychedelic compound I made of snail sperm and spoon drift. Why do we keep coming back to the art form? No idea, zero ROI.
When you embody such frenetic energy in both the song and video, do you feel more connected to who you are, or does it feel like an escape? Is there something in the performance of Bino Blip as a character that is specifically cathartic?
It’s all cathartic. It’s art, baby. There is no escape. I’m a WIP.
In a previous interview, you mentioned that what you listen to and write about constantly changes and shifts, likely thanks to your ADHD. Can you speak further on your experience with ADHD and how it informs your art and the Bino Blip world?
For me, ADHD is a lucky dip. I’m either dialled the fuck in or disassociated. It’s a funny one too because it’s frequently used as an adjective to describe mild behavioural oddities so I don’t think it holds a lot of weight for people unless they’ve seen how hard it can make life on a day to day basis.
Neurodivergence is so on trend right now too which is kind of whacky. I feel like the pendulum is starting to swing a little too far towards vulnerability glorification. Everyone wants a valid struggle and ADHD has got to be one of the most easily obtained false diagnoses. Mostly because one of the symptoms of ADHD is that you can immediately diagnose all your friends with zero medical education. With an oversaturation of people voicing and validating every emotion they’ve ever had since birth, it can feel like we’re all just trauma bonding in the echo chamber, which can be counterproductive.
Having said that, the more I learn about the condition, the better I feel about having a Ferrari engine stuffed into a lime bike for a brain, so I still think it’s important to share and explore ideas. As for my art, I’m not sure how much of it can be attributed to neurodivergence cause I’m also just a bit of a freak.
And since we last spoke, you also played your first ever sold out show at Odd Assembly in Redfern. What was it like experiencing your first ever sold out show and can you speak to what curating a space to the extent you did was like?
The OA show was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work too but I reckon it was worth it. My answer to many of the complaints I hear about the music industry is to push it underground and do it yourself. When I was looking into how I could curate a show, I ran into all sorts of issues. Venues wanted a fee to hire the room, all bar sales, ticket percentages, a lot of them even had a fee for “providing a place to sell merch,” which is fucking insane.
I wanted to control how the space felt too, which was going to be difficult in a venue. My goal was for people to feel safe and comfy so that they were in the right headspace to take in what we created. That’s hard to do when you’re getting quizzed on how many drinks you consumed by some neckless, human captcha juggernaut before you even get inside. Odd Assembly was the answer. It’s a creative space run by creatives and Ash and his team were so accommodating of us and our ideas.
With that sentiment in mind, it’s clear you’re an artist deeply invested in crafting immersive experiences and building a world for your fans and audiences. Would you consider yourself a curator? What drives you to maintain this level of consistency across projects like your Odd Assembly show and music videos with Kids of Bill?
I just give a fuck about it. I love making stuff and collaborating and I hate watering down ideas. Obviously, there are certain restrictions like not having the budget for a Bino Blip Blimp to get to and from shows, but for me that’s all the more reason to give as much as I've got to this project. I’m delusional when it comes to my goals so that if I fall short of them, I can still stand by my output and be happy with where I land.
Music and art have provided so much for me over the course of my life and I feel privileged to be able to create that for someone else. With that in mind, I feel it’s important for me to care about the minor details. It’s like a chef peeling a tiny button mushroom. They don’t have to do it, the skin is perfectly fine for human consumption but it subliminally lets the consumer know that the chef cares.
Are there plans for more live Bino Blip shows in and beyond Sydney? If so, are there any particular venues, places or other local artists in Australia you would like to play at or with?
More shows for sure but for me, the variables all have to align. It’s a quality vs quantity situation. I also, by rule, like to work with musicians far better than myself, so the money has to be right. I’ve spent years doing all kinds of shows all over Aus in different bands, both as a session musician and with my own projects, and I’m not interested in $300 split 6 ways, a slab of tins and 50% off meals at the bistro. If I wanted exposure I’d take my pants off.
I have a lot of gear back catalogued for release this year including the rest of the ‘Boy’ EP I made with Fletch Matthews. I also have a collection of heavier tracks I made for Kids of Bill’s latest short film, Mutt, which I made with my dear friend and longtime collaborator, Daniel Willington of Battlesnake.