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On Video Age's forthcoming album Pop Therapy, out June 22nd via Inflated Records, longtime friends and songwriting partners Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli conjure up a thrilling assortment of experimental pop songs. Using a palette of vintage synthesizers and the propulsion of a Sequential Circuits Drumtraks drum machine, the New Orleans-based group's buoyant synth-pop echoes from some imagined vision of the past, leaning on an invented nostalgia to soundtrack an ideal future that never arrived. Video Age brings that future fully to life on Pop Therapy. Emerging from New Orleans' DIY scene and label collectives, Farbe and Micarelli were intrigued by each other's songwriting among several curiously satisfying guitar pop bands. As a producer and prolific engineer, Farbe has helmed some of the most exciting releases from genre-pushing New Orleans artists, whose singular visions are made possible with his gifted ear and love of tape recording. Micarelli's talent for crafting simple, tangible melodies complements Farbe's studio world-building, letting ideas drift until they emerge into impressive arrangements. The pair's seemingly effortless gift for crafting earworm hooks was glimpsed on their 2016 debut Living Alone, a gorgeous collection of guitar-driven melancholy. On Pop Therapy, they're joined by Duncan Troast, Nick Corson and Jordan Odom, taking inspiration from the limitless possibility on sonic canvases of the late 1970s and early 1980s (Yellow Magic Orchestra, McCartney II, Donald Fagen's The Nightfly). Where Living Alone catalogued the solitude of reflecting on what was and could have been, the sentimental love songs on Pop Therapy gaze longingly at the likeliness of a brighter tomorrow.

Tom Ware is a Grammy nominated engineer, producer and musician from Omaha Nebraska. Throughout the 70s and 80s Tom was the drummer for many bands, including Norman & The Rockwells, Toy boat Toy boat Toy boat, and Hit N Run. Because of his love for electronics, mechanics, and machines of any kind, he was always the only one who truly knew how pa systems worked. Tom got an entry level job at a Rainbow Studios and would work at the recording studio during the day, play evening gigs till 2 in the morning, then go back to the studio and work on new ideas all night. During these teeth cutting sessions, Tom worked by himself, following his instincts and creating sounds he loved to listen to.

His reckless abandon approach and thrill to learn was a high octane fuel that resulted in his first solo self-titled album. The album's 10 songs were recorded and mixed between August & December of 1983 and self-released in early 1984. The album would be re-released in 1985 by independent Krautrock/Kosmische Musik label Sky Records in Germany and re-titled 'The Fourth Circle'. Some of the instruments used on the LP were a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, & Pro One, Simmons SDSV electronic drums, Roland TR-606 drum machine, & Hammond B3 organ. While recording this album Tom was influenced by new wave sounds of Yellow Magic Orchestra, the Berlin and Düsseldorf schools of pulsing synth music and the celestial realms of Jean Michel Jarre. All songs have been mastered and lacquer cut by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Each LP is housed in a replica cover with computer graphics by Lars Erickson and photos by Ken Mayer and includes a postcard with liner notes by Tom Ware.

Horse Follows Darkness is the second record by Delia Gonzalez, her follow up to the album In Remembrance'.

The title is taken from a werewolf genre film her 8 year old son Wolfgang had created. At this time, Wolfgang also turned Delia onto a genre of cinema she had always resisted - the American Western.

Delia explains that what she observed was all relevant - the album is based on our personal experience of moving back to America (from Berlin) and the journey that followed. The record is a manifestation of that, and what one creates for themselves under the given circumstances. Coming back to America, I felt like a foreigner and NYC / America felt like the Wild West. Most Westerns from the 1960s to the present have revisionist themes. Many were made by emerging major filmmakers who saw the Western as an opportunity to expand their criticism of American society and values into
a new genre.'

The narrative of the record is one of re-encountering the frontier mentality that shaped the country but somehow never faded. This time as a foreigner. The genre of the Western remains pertinent, many of the same stories of that brutally deromanticised era are still relevant today. America hasn't changed - the cast, times and settings have, but we still hold onto the same ideal.

Horse Follows Darkness is essentially a modern electronic soundtrack for the Revisionist Western. Even the idea for the record cover is inspired by one of the most well known modern Westerns, Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs Miller.

The album was recorded with Abe Seiferth at Transmitter Park studios, which Delia likens to going to the finest tailor'. Abe became an integral part of the recording, playing guitar and helping to suggest experimenting with different synthesizers, something Delia was keen to do. Delia refers to Abe as a magical and incredibly intuitive collaborator' regarding the sound of the record.

The music that emerged from these recording sessions combines a range of influences - from the compositions of Erik Satie to 'Salon De Musique', the solo piano record by Su Tissue (of the L.A. punk band Suburban Lawns). The record also took on a much different shape and sound with the introduction of the Sequential Circuits Prophet VS, as well as a vintage Korg Poly synth and the Roland SH-101. The golden era Krautrock recordings of bands like Neu!, Cluster & Harmonia were touchstones as well, the repetition, swirling soundscapes and locked-in rhythm tracks.