photo by Mia Mala McDonald
Muscles – ‘One Inch Badge Pin’
While I’m unsure if early 90s grunge music is ever going to make a fashionable comeback, Muscles is beating everyone else to the trance revivalist movement. Full of layered synths and unconventionally sung harmonies Muscles’ odd singing voice works perfectly for this tune. I’ve heard a few people say this song is about indie music betrayal, but I hear it as a simple going-out-meet-a-girl-hang-out tune. I’ve seen him play twice now and thought he would work so great in a middle of packed club, maybe even with a live skeleton backing band ala Midnight Juggernauts/Presets. He’s got some great gigs coming up, including a not to be missed Girl Talk support in Sydney and Melbourne.
November 27, 2006 9:07 am
The more I listen to this song, the more I start to like it. But I have to say the thought of a trance revivalist movement scares me somewhat. I guess the success of MSTRKRFT’s recent Oz tour is proof that people want that music back – or have people just become sheep to what others tell them is popular?
It scares me for two reasons: one, the fact that what’s deemed the “popular scene” shifts so quickly it’s hard to keep up. It also scares me because this musical movement will start to cause the decline of live music akin to the mid 90s. With many pubs, such as the Annandale Hotel, struggling to obtain extra-hours licensing laws in NSW (i.e. being able to trade past midnight), these roadblocks will no doubt act as a catalyst to drive people back to clubs and signal the decay of the live scene.