In 1978, Kraftwerk released The Man-Machine – inaugurating an enduring mythos in electronic dance music, one emulated by those high-tech robots Daft Punk.

Now, post-digital revolution, the Australian DJ, producer and vocalist Ninajirachi (Nina Wilson) – who's branded herself "girl EDM" – is unveiling a sentimental album entitled I Love My Computer (ILMC), a paean to her laptop and the symbiotic possibilities of technology. And she's exploring retro-futurism. "I just hope that people will give it a listen from start to finish and find something that they like on there," Wilson says.

The Girl-Machine is Zooming from Eora/Sydney against a virtual background of pigeons in an azure sky. "I've had this for so long," she reveals, all big blue eyes and iconic blunt fringe. "I can't change it now." Days before dropping ILMC, Wilson is preparing to host listening parties and will program rage.

In fact, she's having a hectic year. Over the summer, the DJ supported Porter Robinson, his trademark complextro style a pivotal influence, and traversed the country with Laneway Festival. Next, she'll embark on her sold-out Dark Crystal IV tour – first stop Naarm/Melbourne, coincidentally her current base.

The 26-year-old's ascent is impressive. Wilson was raised on the Central Coast in New South Wales – Darkinjung Country. She has fond memories of hanging out at the beach, 10 minutes from her family's exurban home. But it was also here that the solitary tween discovered electronic music subcultures on the Internet as dubstep surged, along with the Flume-led ADM (Australian Dance Music) movement. A bedroom producer, Wilson would formulate a Gen Z synthesis of rave, trance, electro, bass and hyperpop.

"I think growing up in a place that had less going on, and [where] there was less stimulating material around me day-to-day, it just left a lot of room for imagination," she posits. "I had access to the Internet, computers, and games from when I was really young. So I'd fill in a lot of the gaps with that kind of stuff – and a lot of it really stuck with me. I think that's why it's inspired my music so much."

Then still attending school in Gosford, Wilson began to venture to Eora/Sydney and, in 2014, landed a work experience gig at the community station FBi Radio – where she heard SOPHIE's Hard. The prodigy was already a triple j Unearthed High finalist when, in 2017, "at a really important time," she encountered her mentor Nina Las Vegas (aka Nina Agzarian), herself from regional Wagga Wagga, at a Diplo event.

Concurrently, Wilson broke through with her first single, Pure Luck (featuring Freya Staer), topping Spotify's Viral 50 – Australia chart and went on to play Listen Out. In 2018, she signed to Agzarian's fledgling NLV Records, subsequently releasing a debut EP, Lapland.

In 2022, Wilson rolled out an acclaimed bushland-inspired mixtape, Second Nature, with Montaigne as a surprise vocalist, plus an accompanying online game. She DJed internationally, appearing at 2023's Lollapalooza. Last year, Wilson presented a quintessential fifth EP, girl EDM (disc 1). Billboard listed the electro-glitch single Angel Music (graced by New York electro-pop duo MGNA Crrrta) – a banger Wilson had premiered at the blockbuster EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) Las Vegas – in its "50 Best Dance Tracks Of 2024".

Today, Wilson credits Las Vegas with providing formative reassurance. "Maybe if I didn't meet her when I was 17, I would have kind of fallen through the cracks or been discouraged or something, but she's just lifted me up so much and given me so much."

A coming-of-age album, ILMC displays Wilson's confidence as she experiments with her "girl EDM" aesthetic – the lead single All I Am, is her biggest song on Spotify. The project's theme is the interplay between a girl and her computer, a subversive reference to Kraftwerk's cult "machine music" – the cover is additionally a nod to that of SZA's empowering Ctrl.

ILMC launches with London Song, evoking Madonna's electroclash era. Wilson revels in hyper-nostalgia on the hooky iPod Touch, while the industrial anthem CSIRAC pays homage to Australia's earliest digital computer – and the first worldwide to play digital music.

The dramatic Infohazard, co-produced with Naarm/Melbourne composer Darcy Baylis, is topical as the netizen recollects being randomly exposed to the dangerous side of cyberculture (a snuff film!) in childhood. More arch, Battery Death is a throwback to seminal Grimes. Wilson's newest single, It's You, features the LP's sole guest, daine.

"Sonically, it's not like a massive departure from the girl EDM music," she observes. "I'd actually say it's a nice continuation." All I Am originated mid-2023 as Wilson was immersed in girl EDM – Ben Lee, of all people, a co-writer. "So I think there's a really nice crossfade in terms of when the music was made."

And Wilson embraced the challenge of recording her full-length debut, particularly developing a concept and sequencing the tracks. "I think the most rewarding part of it was that it was different to making a non-album project, all of the world-building and lore-building," she notes. "I knew I didn't want to make an album until I could do something like that – and kind of had the ideas and the resources to do something like that.

"I probably just learnt that I love making albums! I always have wanted to make one. But, again, I just didn't wanna make one until I felt like I could make the album I wanted to. And, now that I know I can do it, I just wanna make a hundred more albums!

"It was obviously really demanding. I produce all my own music – and even the songs that I started with another collaborator, I do the work in finishing them. So it's a lot of hours and it's a lot of grinding and stuff to get the songs done. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I just can't wait to do it again."

Traditionally, electronic music courts mystique and intellectual austerity – although Kraftwerk instilled humour. Wilson's avant-pop is similarly playful. Yet ILMC is her most autobiographical expression. "I didn't think about it a lot consciously when I was making the music. I didn't set out to make something that would put me on show or try to pitch this idea of who I am.

"I just made music and wrote about stuff that was personal to me and tried to write about experiences that I've had – which I've done before, but a lot of the time in the past, I've made music about made-up scenarios or I've embellished things that have happened to me. But, this time, it's just kind of what came out subconsciously.

"It's funny – I mostly just make music for myself and make music that sounds good to me. And then, when I see that working for other people, or other people resonate with it as well, it just feels really cool. 'Cause, when I was growing up in the Central Coast, I didn't feel like there were a lot of people around me who liked the same music and things as me… So now, to have people really like the same things that I like, feels really nice and all I've ever wanted."

Back in 2019, Wilson was a warm-up DJ for the OG brat Charli XCX at a secret gig in Eora/Sydney. "I did get to meet her at that show, and she was really sweet," she affirms. Charli previously chose the Lapland cut Gardenia (with Oh Boy) for a Spotify Future playlist. "She remembered the song when we met, which felt really cool. She's totally an all-time musical hero of mine. So that was a really cool moment. She's just amazing!"

Wilson has defied a historically male-dominated electronic dance music scene in Australia and beyond – claiming her own space. "I wonder if me growing up online and learning about electronic music through the Internet and teaching myself to produce music from YouTube and stuff was one of the reasons why I never felt threatened by the fact that I didn't have a lot of women role models.

"I wonder if maybe the experience a lot of women have is they go to a studio in person, where they feel that they're not welcome, or they get told something in person that kind of makes them feel small.

"Obviously, I feel like every woman producer has experienced something weird, for sure. You know, I've definitely had some weird random stuff happen – like people thinking I'm a boy... But that's fine. I wonder if I never felt a barrier to entry because coming at it through the Internet is a little bit anonymous or genderless. I didn't really have anyone telling me 'no' to my face."

In 2025, Australian EDM is a global export, and Australia's female DJs (once contentiously dubbed 'DJanes') like NERVO and Alison Wonderland have smashed glass ceilings.

In April, Wilson served as a Spotify EQUAL Ambassador – the streaming platform promoting greater gender balance in the music industry. "I was really grateful to have the billboard in Times Square," she enthuses. "That was really cool. Obviously, I didn't get to go there, but it was amazing to see the photo of it!"

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The tastemaker is proud of the Spotify EQUAL playlist she curated – among its selections are tracks from San Francisco's underscores and her 2018 travel buddy Mallrat. "The criteria I got was that it had to be all music by women artists.

“But I made sure that all of the songs that I picked for it were also produced by all-women, which was really important to me… There's still not heaps of music produced by women comparatively. [But] that felt really important." Wilson highlights 'Ninajirachi' output, too. "I do like my own music," she quips. "I think it's kind of good."

In the '90s and 2000s, club brands touring Australia were typically UK or US imports. However, in 2022, Wilson initiated an annual homegrown party in Dark Crystal – the name a tribute to Jim Henson's '80s fantasy movie – after she was approached to DJ by Darlinghurst's National Art School for a joint Vivid Sydney program.

As Wilson and her team mulled over the bill, she decided to stage an inclusive mini-festival – booking acts with whom she recognised "an affinity". "We were like, 'Well, we should just make this not about [Ninajirachi]. We should just get all the artists that we thought of as a support and have everyone be the same size font and make it more of a community thing than a headline show.'" The flagship event was a phenomenal success, and Wilson eventually took it on the road.

That camaraderie will continue this fourth year as Wilson is joined by umru – the Estonian-American DJ/producer associated with PC Music's AG Cook, memorably remixing Angel Music – and MGNA Crrrta themselves, all former North American tourmates.

"The other artists on the line-up are my friends," she says. "So I'm really excited to see them again and to have them tour around my home country." Indeed, everything is coming "full circle". Far from complacent, Wilson is amped about the response to the 2025 edition. "It seems like people are really excited, and I hope they have a good time. I'm looking forward to it."

Following a North American run in September, Wilson will hit the Spilt Milk fest, which she last played in 2022. Ask if the DJ is contriving to buddy up with any international headliners, and she laughs. "Oh, my God, that's a good question. I mean, yeah, Doechii would be really cool." Regardless, Wilson is keen to catch her "old friend" Club Angel. "We met for the first time in 2019, and I saw him DJ [as Gabriel Espinosa] at Your Shot. I was just like, 'Who is this guy?' His set was so good. And I just went and introduced myself to him straight away after."

A wave of Australian super-DJ/producers have relocated abroad. But, quizzed about her plans, Wilson is non-committal. "I'm pretty open-minded at the moment… So I'm kind of excited to see what happens for the rest of the year and just make more music, I think."

It transpires that the rising star simply wants to feel more present. "The last 12 months, I've been so lucky to play in four different continents and so many different countries that I've never even been to before," she reflects. "But I guess I'd like to keep going back to those places. When you're on tour, sometimes you're in a place for less than 24 hours and don't get to experience much outside of the show. So I'd love to do another lap and spend more time in all the places and see what's up."

I Love My Computer is out now via NLV Records. This feature has been published in partnership with Spotify's Turn Up Aus - the next-generation evolution of Spotify Australia’s music DNA, as they continue their 13-year commitment to championing local music.