Fresh Finds: Class Of 2025 – Aussie Acts To Add To Your Playlist

Empire State Of Mind

Cyclone Wehner

The Bixels Boys on their humble basement beginnings.

Bixel Boys’ very name may evoke partying adultescents, but the LA DJ/producers are repping a grown-up dance music as part of America’s swelling counter-EDM movement. “There’s a lot of people out here that kind of affiliate themselves with using a computer more as a tool to make music, instead of making ‘EDM’,” says Ian MacPherson. Bixel Boys’ aim is to deliver “really rad new-sounding music” – the stuff of bloggers’ dreams. MacPherson and cohort Robert May have strong Australian ties, too, being down with Sweat It Out! (SIO!), the label founded by the late Ajax. Now they’re touring for the first time.

Many assume that Bixel Boys originate from LA’s hipster Venice. MacPherson laughs. “I think it was the way our official bio was written – a lot of people thought that we were actually [based] in Venice – but the way it goes is Rob and I actually met through a mutual friend. I was born in La Jolla [in San Diego] and then raised in San Francisco, and Rob was born in Michigan, but then we met in LA. But our first real parties, where we started DJing a lot more seriously, were at this basement in Venice.”

MacPherson, promoting the infamous No Shirt/No Shoes rooftop pool parties in downtown LA, encountered Australians who introduced him to SIO! – and Yolanda Be Cool. “I loved all the music – I thought it was super eclectic and bouncy and fun. It could go really big or it could be really housey. I really bonded with that identity.” When it came to hustling their own productions, Bixel Boys’ “first pick” was SIO! – and the label pounced on 2013’s debut EP, Black December.

"It could go really big or it could be really housey. I really bonded with that identity."

Bixel Boys’ sound is an ever-mutating mix of house, techno, bass and urban, the pair even hatching their own hashtag, #BigRoomUnderground. “We try to approach every song just in a vacuum – as if there was no song prior and no song coming after it,” MacPherson explains. “I think what we try to do is really approach everything from a standpoint [of] more like a band… So, when we’re approaching things, we want to just do our best, regardless of whatever constraint that may be put on dance music.” Their latest release is the Empire EP, again on SIO!, its hypnotic title track suitably subliminal – and unclassifiable. “It’s really hard to DJ,” MacPherson says somewhat proudly.

Bixel Boys are working on fresh music – and pursuing collaborations. “Actually, we were just in the studio with Blood Diamonds the other day. I’m excited to do something really weird and experimental there.” Fans should expect the unexpected when Bixel Boys hit Ambar this month. “We’re actually building a set just for this tour.” MacPherson hints at edits – and “fun twists”. “There’s a lot of singalong moments.”