Best Music for a Part #1: Beirut

Beirut's songs alone really don't naturally associate themselves with ideas of skateboarding, yet when their songs are used in video parts, the skating elegantly comes alive. I wouldn't ordinarily listen to most Beirut songs offhand, but now that I have the visuals of some pretty great parts connected to the songs, I love being carried away by the music into those very video parts. Beirut's style is particularly hard to put into words, especially as to why they make video parts so special. I'll leave it at this: the skating becomes extremely graceful, the vibes are relaxing for the senses, and the skills of the skaters are brought out by the memorable melodies.
Joey Brezinski's part in Cliche's Cle (above) was the first time I'd ever heard a song by Beirut, so when Joey specifically asks Junior during the opening conversation to check out a song, my interest was peaked. Moving from the dialogue to the video part as "Carousels" starts playing, you can already tell that Joey's wild manual combos and energetic style would fit well with the song. The main tune for Carousels is extremely catchy, making me want to pull up Joey's part again and again at the most random times simply to appease my craving for Beirut-edited skateboarding. One clip that sticks out for me is at 2:14 where Joey does a fakie manual kickflip to switch manual down a kinked pad to the singing of "It's a long way down..."
Before Stevie Perez blew up with Chocolate he came out with this part in Good Luck to Beirut's "Vagabond". The slow intro is fitting for both the song and the edit, and then the somewhat syncopated tune repeating in the background keeps things very up tempo and happy-go-lucky for Stevie to casually get a lot of tricks in with his quick feet and have fun while doing it. Stevie's make-everything-look-easy style also works rather well with the smooth song and keeps you craving more of those buttery lines from him.
One song that is high in my iTunes rotation from Beirut is "The Rip Tide" because it was used in Mark Suciu's Cross Continental, which is easily in my top 5 favorite video parts overall. The opening piano keys and old film capturing techniques settle you in for a great work of art and at about 0:44 unleashes the aesthetic energy when Mark properly lands bolts on a switch backside kickflip down a set. For the rest of the use of "The Rip Tide", every trick Mark does is technically impressive in some way or another (you know, classic Suciu) but with his insane control over his board and body, he oozes an incredibly smooth style that could not fit any better with the song. The trailing note on the trumpet as Mark ends his Washington DC line from 1:51 with the fast back tail gap out leaves your brain running through everything that just happened but wanting so much more of the flawless skating at the same time.
Lastly, looking at The Philadelphia Experiment again, the zoom in on the flowing LOVE park fountain about 4 minutes in together with the introductory chimes of "Payne's Bay" from Beirut provide you with the perfect mind state to witness a very appealing piece of videography, while engraining tricks like Ishod's front heel over the LOVE plaza garbage can into your head.
It helps that the lead singer of Beirut has a voice that will throw you into a trance of focusing on the skating. Not only that but the sheer intrigue behind all of Beirut's songs keeps you wanting more after you finish watching the skating that goes with it. Whatever mysterious aspect this is just works and I don't mind one bit.

Favorite Video Parts #3: Mark Suciu - Cross Continental

Again, much like the other videos of this week, the music behind this part really works perfectly with the skating. Beirut's "The Rip Tide" blends with Habitat's art direction and pulls you into the part, calming you down just enough to just sit back ready to be in awe at Suciu's smooth and technical abilities. This is later followed by Elliot Smith's "Junk Bond Trader" which gives off that feeling of fun creativity as the shredding continues. The timing of the song to his switch backside flip to start the part is almost cathartic in the way that I feel jealous but totally stoked at the same time.  The extra little rewinding 180s in the line at 0:55 is what I now personify Mark with: that quick-footed style that never seems to get old no matter how much footage he puts out.  I feel like a lot of people get tired of watching some skaters because they're too robotic or too predictable with their tricks.  This is exactly where Mark Suciu comes in. He provides that spontaneous and unexpected addition to his tricks and cleverly crafted lines, like a bonus 180 out of a grind or a random wallie just to hit an obstacle you normally wouldn't.  Cross Continental is filled with these welcomed little surprise tricks, some of my favorites include the backside flip at 1:17, immediately followed by a fun pop out of a back lip at 1:20, the back noseblunt front 270 in at 2:29, the extra pivot to finish the line at 3:43, and somehow throwing in a switch back noseblunt down a handrail at 5:06.  Not only the fast feet and creative tricks, but for the record he also throws down a switch feeble and a switch smith grind down handrails.  If all this isn't enough excitement yet, there's no way not to LOVE Mark's varial heelflip ender.