Blinker the Star, "Below the Sliding Doors"

Here’s a blast from my high school past — 1999, to be exact: “Below the Sliding Doors” by Canadian indie rockers Blinker the Star.

One of the blessings/curses of growing up in a college town is getting to listen to college radio. State funded, student run, and protected from the playlist suffocating grip of conglomerate control, college radio stations offer an unprecedented variety of programming. So long as it’s within FCC guidelines, they say, do, and play whatever they want. With little more than 200 watts at their command, college aged music lovers (sometimes snobs) offer a refreshing and eclectic alternative to the looped garbage on mainstream radio. Sometimes the music is good, expanding your listening horizons, and sometimes it’s not your thing, helping define the boundaries of your acoustic tastes.

The UI operates three radio stations, but KRUI is their stereotypical college station. At the start of my junior year of high school, all my radios were tuned to 89.7 FM. I listened to nothing else for a couple months. That summer, I’d worked with a few UI students who liked listening to KRUI while we painted, and every song, whether I liked it or not, was something I’d never heard before. I was intrigued, so I kept listening after we clocked out. At the time, KRUI had a cliché morning show (maybe it still does), and “Below the Sliding Doors” was played at least two or three times a week while I drove to school.

It’s a gem of a tune, though it sounds nothing like the rest of Blinker the Star’s discography. (I’d never heard any of their other songs until I followed links to their other YouTube vidoes.) Frankly, I have no fucking clue what the song is about, and the video is just as obscure (I love the flying ghetto blaster and ‘70s movement effects), but I could care less.

Enjoy.