Video Age is the Best Way to Look Back into the Future
Though their first album drops at the end of June, the band’s single “Throwing Knives” is already garnering national acclaim.
By Olivia McCoy, University of Georgia
A lot of the musicality of today’s world is word vomiting or chords clicked on “repeat”—and believe me, I’m not dissing modern music.
But whatever happened to the good ol’ days back before the commandeering presence of pop culture and boy bands? Where did The Beatles, The Kinks, David Bowie and the rest of 20th century rock go?
Lucky for us, it seems like that magical time period is coming full circle. Record players are selling like hot cakes, tape machines are getting a good name again and bands like Video Age are coming into vogue.
This cozy New Orleans duo, featuring the talented Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli, brings their listeners back into the classics with gritty undertones and a funky beat, but also takes hold of today’s generations with their sharp and grid-like synthesizers. “Ray and I don’t like to think of ourselves as having too much genre loyalty,” says Farbe, the band’s lead singer and guitarist. “We kind of just do whatever suits the song.”
As of right now, the band consists of just these two guys—both obviously born in the wrong decade—though they do not disappoint in their new single “Throwing Knives.” Already voted one of the top ten songs of the week, TWICE, the single has pushed its way through the crowded mess of pop and rap to be compared with greats like Bastille and Kanye West by “USA Today” and “Post-Trash.”
I mean, who does that? One song and they’re already getting some pretty great publicity from the top of the chart. Not everyone is so lucky, but honestly, luck has nothing to do with it. When asked how much time he and Micarelli devote to the band each week, Farbe demurely responded, “Half.”
Well damn, I don’t think I’m that committed to anything—an open apology to my boss, parents, and boyfriend—and both of them have jobs on top of that. With all the time they’ve put into the project, nothing these guys do can be described as half-assed.
And all that fidelity to the band will finally pay off when their record “Living Alone” is released on July 29th.
“We wrote a bunch of songs, made a bunch of demos, picked our favorites and recorded them ourselves on my tape machine,” Farbe shrugged.
Can you really be surprised? There is no better way to seal authenticity into an album than to rely on the sordid scrolling of a tape machine, and to top it all off, the album will be released on vinyl. Bring back the 70s, baby!
While their genre remains fluid, the theme (right there in the title) is fixedly relatable. Everyone’s first experience living alone is terrifying—don’t lie.
It’s one thing to move out from your parent’s home for the first time and split rent with a roommate, pretty sketchy and entirely intriguing at the same time, but to close the door and lock it, not expecting anyone to follow in behind you is something else altogether.
“It was a beautiful shell of a house with no insulation, missing windowpanes, and rain always leaking in,” Farbe reminisced.
“Being alone for that long you start to see yourself clearly. But I never felt completely alone because the walls were so thin.”
And we all know that house. We’ve all experienced our own raggedy, rickety, ramshackle little houses or apartments. You know, the one where you’re grateful for all the “expansive” space (or so said the realtor), but also praying that you’ll somehow be found if you happen to die choking on a Cheeto—or is that just me?
Either way, I completely understand how it feels to learn about yourself when there’s no one around to put on a show for, and as intimidating as that is, it’s exhilarating and humbling too. If you don’t yet know what I’m talking about, and you have yet to experience that invigorating epiphany in that tattered, battered, and worn out little accommodation, then you certainly will while listening to this particular collection of songs.
And they’re not stopping with the album. Come August, you can see them live as they tour the country—well, the east coast at least. Starting in New Orleans, the couple have decided to work their way up to New York, and back down through Georgia during a two week period of time.
Sorry, West Coast, I guess you’ll just have to wait for next time their vintage 90s van comes ‘round. That’s right, when their last van conveniently gave its dying breath on the side of the highway on their way home from a previous tour, they upgraded—to a 1995 Ford Aerostar.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267824998″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
If you don’t know what those look like, look it up, and then try not to wake up your roommates while laughing at the blatant appropriateness of the vehicular transportation chosen by these timeless musicians. I couldn’t have written it better myself.
Now that I’ve taken up several moments of your time, take a couple more to check them out, because you won’t regret it. Welcome to the Video Age.
