Blue October and my alternate universe

Blue October is proving to be a treasure trove of tunes that are my current 24/7 favorite soundtrack. I've already gushed about Calling You in a previous blog entry (still not sick of it, love the song completely!) I guess you can always tell which songs are the winners in any given anonymous album, because I just overheard this blaring off my office mate's Mac and its melody is like a stain you can't get off. I did a little Googling and learned that Calling You was a most requested tune in the US airwaves in its time. Into The Ocean has been a longtime favorite, perfect for highway cruising on Sunday afternoons on the way to the beach.

Blue October's songs are hardly feel good tunes, but they are diverse and powerful, and more importantly, emotive, as main man Justin Furstenfeld has no problem wearing his hurting heart on his sleeve, so lyrically the songs appeal to the Little Miss Drama in me. When he's not snarling about something that made him broken and angry, Furstenfeld can actually articulate a thing or two about everyone's favorite subject: luuurve.

Balance Beam reminds me of my embattled best friend D, who is trying to win my friend E's heart. And while the wooing process remains their private business, I get consulted for the occasional tip every now and then. I have long given up ambitions of being a good matchmaker (past results have been disastrous) but Balance Beam's catchy chorus sounds like good pointers. Boyfriends, take notice, too, you clueless goofs.

One, you've got to take it kind of slowly
Two, you've got to hurry up and make your move
Three, you've got to tell her how you're feeling
Four, you've got to be the perfect gentleman
When you shake the walls, you've got to make 'em bend
Yeah you're got to show her that she's the balance beam
And you keep falling all around her fairy tale.

Another favorite is Come In Closer. I like it because, if I may be frank, it sounds like a great make out song, with delicate trip-hop beats and sensual back up vocals. I'm validated to find another review of the song which describes it as "a wintry, fireplace sex song", so see, I'm not the only one who thinks of sex when I hear this track.

Finally, Hate Me. If Blue October's songs are an honest autobiography by Furstenfeld, then it's easy to surmise that he is a troubled man in constant battle with his inner demons. A couple of tracks are about wanting to transcend from depression, redemption and musings on lost loves. Hate Me implores the love interest to stay away from him for her own good. Lyrically, I like it because it hits a little closer to home. Not the part about addiction but pushing people away thinking it would be for the best for everyone concerned. I'm not going to elaborate, haha. But consider the lyrics:

Hate me today
Hate me tomorrow
Hate me for all the things I didn’t do for you

Hate me in ways
Yeah ways hard to swallow
Hate me so you can finally see what’s good for you

I'd like to segue over to the subject of my new iPod, which I'm loving more than I expected to. I've always preferred to get a Shuffle over the snazzier, more sophisticated ones. I did not need a screen or the admittedly awesome interface of the iPod Touch. I did not want a big storage space, I have my 3-year old iPod U2 for that, with more than 4,000 songs and half the 20GB storage capacity untouched. I just wanted something tiny that I can clip on somewhere in my body and forget about for an entire day. It's pretty much theft-proof, too, for the best pickpockets wouldn't know where to unclip the cute gizmo. Pretty nifty to listen to when you're jogging, or, like I did last night, dancing like crazy to salsa music in the kitchen, at 1 am, with the rest of the house oblivious to my crime.

Yesterday I discovered another reason to love it all the more. I was walking in the mall with (what else?) Blue October on shuffle, and it felt like I was in one big music video, with other mall-goers playing bit actors and of course, me as the star. Of course, this plays very well into my alternate universe, where I'm... erm, I shouldn't tell you. You're not part of it. Hehehe. Anyway, what I love the most about my Shuffle is that it doesn't feel like something I should be constantly worrying about if I've lost or misplaced it. It gives me such freedom to move that all I should be concentrating on is the music, and how that imaginary music video is playing out. Now if you'll excuse me, the chorus is coming up and you're in my shot.