AM/FM USA by Phil Geraldi
The vastness of North America is alluring. From the 19th century idea of Manifest Destiny, to Kerouac’s On the Road, to the modern digital nomad phenomenon, “The Great American Road Trip” is cemented in our cultural consciousness as an experience of ultimate freedom. And there is something captivating and mind-expanding when you look out the window, watching the landscape turn from rocky shorelines to lush forests to high deserts. And on these long road trips, the radio not only provides a soundtrack for your drive; each station is a sonic landmark inextricable from its broadcasting range, representing the atmosphere and attitudes found within its locality. This idea is explored in the release AM/FM USA by Phil Geraldi, full of fuzzy radio samples immersed in late-night sounds that are intimately familiar to anyone who’s driven down backroad highways well past midnight without seeing another car for miles and miles and miles.
AM/FM USA gives the impression of flipping through the stations, bits and pieces of music and commercials filtering through the buzz. The noise falls away when Geraldi escapes the city limits, the countrysides’ twangy pedal steel playing smooth and clear through the airwaves. But the road trip is inherently transient. The signal is lost. The sound of passing cars whoosh past. The tape scans through classic rock, Spanish radio, talk radio. The chatter of one station blends into the melody of another. Crickets chirp. Sleepy small town acoustic guitar riffs accompanied by shimmering microtonal electronica threaten to induce road hypnosis. It’s a reminder that drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving.
While listening to this tape, it is impossible to ignore intrusive thoughts that radio is dying. It’s been dying for years. Yet radio waves are omnipresent, even when your receiver isn’t tuned in. And perhaps there is still a place for radio in the streaming era through independent volunteer-run stations, college radio, or even pirate stations hijacking frequencies beyond the FCC’s iron grip. -Kalen
