KHAC-AM (880) emits a powerful signal from Tse Bonito, N.M., along the state border with Arizona, across from Window Rock, Ariz., along Route 264 in Navajo territory. It was our latest road-trip discovery on the AM dial, as we returned from an arbitration hearing in Farmington up in the Four Corners down Highway 550.
And oh, my god, the station was pumping out some fascinating Christian music. No commercials, no voiceovers, a product, perhaps, of Moody Bible Radio. We stopped on 880 when we heard some wicked guitar distortion that would have made Neil Young and Crazy Horse blanch. Like Scott Biram on Adderall. No clue who the artist is or what the song was called. It sounded like it was coming from another universe. The sound quality was pretty awful. An internet search for a playlist proved fruitless.
That segued into a lovely song with much friendlier guitar picking (with slight echoes of Mark Knopfler's '80s soundtracks), from Anthony Quails, "Acres of Faith":
We were the 65th person to view that one on YouTube. Good luck, Tony.
There was power pop from a band called Foreverlin, sort of a neutered Buffalo Tom or a defeated U2, with the generic "You Remain":
As we approached Cuba, mesmerized by the striated rock formations, a dreamy song played. Shazam captured it and identified it as "New" by Headman, but now that we've traced it down online, that doesn't seem right. Well, anyway, here is the title track on the Headman EP (almost certainly not Christian techno) that also features "New," which we couldn't find, "Running Into Time." (First, the rocks.)
Did we have a religious experience during the 5 o'clock hour? Is there any way we could find that first song, the sonic guitar blast? Was that an illusion? A bleed from a nearby station?
Is there anybody out there?
* - Holy Crap is an occasional series about unique films, cutting a wide swath from brilliant to awful. This is our first foray into radio. Check out previous entries here.
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