Recent No Complys #5: Lem Villemin

Starting things off for the Recent No Complys is a clip from the beginning of May with the man of steeze himself: Lem Villemin. Torsten Frank shot a wonderful cruising piece called "Owl Eyes on Lem Villemin", showcasing Lem and his homies taking a casual (I use that somewhat loosely) stroll through the streets of Stuttgart. While some pretty solid tricks and street gaps go down in this awesome night session, the one trick that caught my eye is Lem's no comply backside 360 at 1:44. Now David Gravette still wears the crown for this trick, but Lem's version is noteworthy for two main reasons: the pop, and the nonchalance. It may be Cliche to say it, but the deck certainly may have helped with the pop. The nonchalance on the other hand, you can only attribute that to Lem.

Next Week: Recent No Complys

After a while of silence, I'm happy to say that the time has come to add a new High Five to the blog! I've noticed a lot of videos lately included different variations of the no comply. Now it's definitely one of those fun tricks to have and throw in a line, and honestly it's not really the most uncommon. Even the Video of Last Week had some rad no complies thrown out there. But a few eye-catching instances have popped up (pun intended) in videos released within the last 4 weeks, sticking in my head as a strong trend. These no comply variations are worth mentioning now as a group before they're forgotten. Besides the gnarly-as-usual skating that's gone down, May 2014 should be remembered as the month of the no comply.

Now there are some individuals that do not comply on a regular and outstanding basis, whom I will eventually dedicate a High Five to down the line, but right now is meant for just that: those working their magic with the trick right now. With that said, I'll give some early shoutouts to Cory Kennedy for a couple fun and impressive variations (at 1:09 and 2:20) in his Rat Poison part and to Victor Garibay for a really sick switch one at 0:39 in his Mag Minute. Stay tuned throughout the week for 5 of the most recent memorable no comply variations!

Video of the Week: From the Borders - Steve and Dave Mull

From the Borders is a relatively new take on the skate video. Two brothers, Steve and Dave Mull, rip apart what appears to be a bunch of hometown, woodsy-area spots with a gnarliness and skill set you don't usually see from your typical local backwoods brothers. Besides that, the assortment of spots are a fresh breath among the many online videos with standard downtown or park footage. Mix that with some great editing that also breaks the mold of most videos and the fast-paced excitement makes you feel like a kid again learning about your own town's spots. There are some pretty scary (in an impressive, ballsy way) spots out there, like Steve nosegrinding a rushing waterfall's bridge at 1:56 or Dave literally grinding a roof at the end, but the aesthetics of the whole video are what make it memorable.

In other skate news from last week:
It's great to see another all-terrain part from the underground Frecks, one that most definitely is not Wasting your Time.
Billy Roper is introduced to Surprise Skateboards with a quick-paced hopping around of many SF spots, maintaining those GX1000 vibes and keeping the really tight team at Surprise going strong.
Two parts (sort of) from It's a Secret were released via The Skateboard Mag: Will Blaty, coming through with awesomely trippy vibes and crazy body varials and footplant variations (2:51 is nuts!), and then Chris "Mango" Milic, with a bonus footage part full of fun creativity.
Joey Digital has a stacked montage featuring Brian Anderson, Shane O'Neill, Nick Boserio, Mark Suciu, Daryl Angel, and many more.
Alec Majerus is recruited at the Berrics with some heavy bangers. I loved the fakie tre back lip!
Kyle Camarillo presents his REDirect project Gold and Grey, featuring Miles Silvas and Jack Curtin, and puts out one of my favorite mixes of easy-on-the-eyes shots and proper skating from the contest so far.
Christopher Middlebrook's part from The Cinematographer Project was released on Transworld, reminding everyone at the freakish abilities and fearlessness of the Aussies.

Video of the Week: David Loy is Pro for Birdhouse

David Loy has been off the radar for a minute and I don't recall any definitive part that I associated him to. Even though I've heard much more about his brother lately, David's gradual off-stage destruction eventually culminated with this going pro part. The part reminds everyone that he is one of the gnarliest dudes out there, with a well-used height advantage too. The wallrides, drop-ins, and tall drops he takes are deadly. Mix in some huge rails and hubbas and this part will be in the spotlight for quite some time. Congrats David! I'm not alone when I admit to sleeping on this guy for a while, but this part was like 10 shots of espresso and a few Monsters to wake everyone up to his lunatic skating.

After everything that's been happening over the past few months, it's really not surprising that Alien Workshop has called it quits. Manolo's Tapes pays tribute to the iconic company with a bittersweet compilation of almost every rider to have ever ridden for AWS. Where the remaining riders will go is now the big question on everyone's mind [field].


In other skate news from the last week:
Peanut Head's part in Footage Party is filled with wild ripping and some startling clips. (Switch big flip came out of nowhere!)
Spencer Pratti is really good and shows it in this ironically-named Straight Skating clip.
Adidas took some of its team to the Skate Copa contest in NYC and ended up with some rad street clips from its stylish squad.
Melbourne is showcased in this edit full of awesome skating, including one of the gnarliest gap to 50-50s I've ever seen from Tim Williams.
Beagle's part in The Cinematographer Project is released and packed as expected with fun homie vibes.

Video of the Week: Shep Dawgs Vol. 4

The Video of the Week, and probably the homie video of the year, without a doubt goes to Shep Dawgs Vol. 4. With the perfect soundtrack to keep the good vibes and gnarly sessions going, the loads of footage gathered in this true full length video starts off strong and never lets up. It's crazy because quite a few parts could have been the ender, but AJ Zavala (part featured above) puts his name on the radar with some nutty handrail variations and all around ripping. Definitely worth getting the DVD, the Shep Dawgs prove that there's nothing quite like feeding off the energy of each other and skating with the homies.

Cory Kennedy and Bert Wootton had their parts in Rat Poison released by The Skateboard Mag and boy are they awesome! Cory never ceases to amaze in whatever he's trying, be it some dork around trick, some crazy handrail, or a super tech ledge trick (or even making a line out of two varial flips), and Bert strings together some of the trickiest lines (the one at 2:00 is too good) while making everything look like it's nothing.
X Games Real Street is bound to make your day better. Even with some arguably strange competitiveness forced by the X Games overlords, these 16 mini parts from your favorite skaters are always worth it.
Tom Karangelov's Out of Sync part for Thunder Trucks has a couple of minutes of fast and gnarly skating, never slowing down since his Cold War part.
There's lots of rad London shredding in Innocence & Experience from Hold Tight London
Andrew Cannon's latest part for Theeve Trucks is super clean and full of good vibes.
Vince Duran has a Surprise Spring Cleaning, which is definitely not as throwaway as it sounds. His fakie ollie  and variations with it is for sure one of the best in the game right now.
Jon Holland's part for The Cinematographer Project with the Sk8mafia squad was re-released through Transworld this past week and worth a few views if you haven't seen it on the full DVD already.

Video of the Week: Dan Plunkett's "A Video Part About Nothing"

There were two videos that came out this week that were both beyond the norm of awesome skate videos. Joey Guevara came through with a part for Atlas that had one of the greatest mixes of San Jose spots and varied tricks I've seen. Joey skates super smoothly and has tons of rad lines in this part, which work perfectly with the backdrop of some gritty streets. However, maybe it's the Seinfeld reference, but Dan Plunkett gets my vote for Video of the Week with his Video Part About Nothing. I've never really attached any distinctly memorable part to Dan, even though I knew he skated some pretty gnarly stuff. So this part will definitely be the one to associate with Dan for me, and it's a good part to remember. Not only does he continue to show us that he's the king of bluntslides, but all the spots are super rugged. All together a gnarly part for a very underrated skater.

Some other tight videos from the past week:
Connor Kammerer - Tengu: God of Mischief
Josh Stafford - Mag Minute
Pyramid County - Couples Therapy
Mountain Dew - United Nations at the Berrics
Kevin Barnett - "See", REDirect
Brennan Conroy - The Cinematographer Project

Video of the Week: Youness Amrani - Almost a Part

I may be biased towards anything that Almost does, so their release of essentially Youness's pro part was high on my radar for this week. But even with my favoritism for Almost, Youness is on some next level stuff. The fact that he is one of the best manual skaters out there and can jump down some huge drops and rails is just not fair. His core balance is so strong (just look at his perfectly straight over fakie ollie to start the memorable line at 0:53) and it shows in the way he executes his tricks so flawlessly. And then you can look at his lines, that start and end with tricks other skaters have by themselves, such as back smiths or front feebles down big handrails. Throw in a nollie back 270 switch front tail (in a line at 2:00 nonetheless) along with two epic 360 flip variations down the famous monstrous ditch (with some sweet rollaways as well) and you have quite possibly the best video part of the year.

The Skateboard Mag also offered 6 parts from the indy video Goosenectar. Even though the full length was segmented here to spread over the course of the week, the releases definitely warrant a purchase of the DVD. And if it weren't for Youness dropping jaws and arguably one of the best parts of the year, then Goosenectar would undoubtedly be video of the week. Regardless, here are parts from Jared Cleland, Julian Heller, Sean Imes, Mason Silva, Louie Lopez and Alec Majerus, and Steven Swanson. Everyone seriously killed it!

In other awesome skate news from the week:
Kyron Davis drops a part for Grey Skate Mag and even though I know he's good, this part seems to be packed with more ripping than I've seen from him before and it's sick!
Sammy Montano has a Video Check Out for Transworld and comes through with loads of style and pop.
Cuban Fiedlity is Patrik Wallner's latest project featuring Walker Ryan and Michael Mackrodt traveling and skating through Cuba on pretty much untouched skate grounds.
Emerica's Euro squad absolutely shreds through Barcelona in the fashion only Emericans do.
GX1000 says that San Francisco is Grate, and I agree 110%.
Tony Hawk drops a part entitled Sync, full of Doubles with Andy Mac (even some triples!). This is a true testament to Tony's legendary status and the best showcase of how to have fun and be creative.
Alex Valdez's part in No Brainer mixes gnarly skating with the work put in behind it all and some fun too.
Albert Nyberg has Excess Baggage from AB&A with some never been seen tricks that will blow minds.
Dennis Busenitz basically had a full part in The Cinematographer Project with features from the Real Team, and Dan Wolfe was the lensman to portray it all. This part was just released online by Transworld and deserves a few watches.