Recent No Complys #1: Wes Kremer

Closing off the week and the look at Recent No Complys is Wes Kremer with a trio of clips (but 5 trick variations) from his Real Street part. Traditionally the no comply is a play-around trick that keeps the flow going, so who better to utilize it than the man who's always having fun and flowing around on his board. Never passing up a moment to flash the 'Mafia sign, Wes starts things off with what I'd like to call a nose comply impossible. Just for the heck of it and because it looks so cool. Then, at a legit Chinese street spot, Wes scoops a non-compliant front shove down some stairs (how hard must it be to actually catch that trick?), keeps flowing with the David Gravette signature done as smoothly as ever, and then no comply frontside flips up the long 4 stair. Hold up. No comply frontside flip up? Has that ever been done? I don't even get how you can controllably flip the board when no complying up stairs, much less frontside flip as if it was a kicker. Even if it has been done, it certainly hasn't been caught a good 2 or 3 steps higher than it needed to be. Only Wes. And if that wasn't enough, Wes shows PJ and Moose that he's got the frontside heelflip 360 too by no complying with it down some stairs. Now Louie Barletta's non-flipping version from Bonus Round is still demonstrative of the fun you can have not only with some no complys but with a full part as well, and Albert Nyberg's version to lipslide is still one of the craziest tricks ever, but there's something different when Wes does the trick. Regardless of the technicality or the loads of fun with these tricks, Wes's skating is always pretty special.

Recent No Complys #4: Clint Walker

Clint Walker is one of the gnarliest dudes, bar none. His Modern Art part, that I will forever reference, proves just that.  So it's no surprise that he filled up the whole minute of his recent Real Street part with nothing but bangers, among which he had 3 killer no comply moves. The first at 0:16 is taken frontside off a significant drop into a bank, showing how Clint manages to keep his feet on the grip even though that's probably the weirdest-feeling trick to take down a drop. The second at 0:41 is also taken frontside, but this time to fakie 50-50 down a handrail, something I don't remember ever seeing like that (though Albert Nyberg cannot be forgotten). And finally, at 0:54, Clint demonstrates his ability to pop a no comply straight up and over a wall, perfectly guiding the board with his feet as he glides down.  It's rare to see the no comply taken to such gnarly levels, but who else than Clint to do it.

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.

Video of the Week: Nyjah Huston - Fade to Black

Best Quality Video at Thrasher

This week has been nuts with the release of way too many good videos. I wanted to pick a video of the week that would not have already been talked about as much as this one, but when a video part is as gnarly and well-rounded (in regards to Nyjah at least) as this one, it's too hard to not highlight Nyjah's hard work that he's put in this past year. From skating enormous rails (several on order of 20 stairs or more) to the most insane kinked rails to some huge gaps and then even to some crazy tech tricks, Nyjah's created one of the sickest parts possible today. I'd love to go over each and every clip and its awesomeness, but watching the video over and over again will work just as well. 

Then there was AB&A, the Etnies video starring Axel Cruysberghs, Barney Page, and Albert Nyberg that is watchable at the Berrics. Great editing and song selection from Etnies? Check. Three distinctly awesome styles and personalities? Check. Some very memorable NBDs from Albert Nyberg? CHECK. This video will be on replay for quite some time.

Narrowing down that European vibe, my previous wishes actually came true and Tom Knox of Isle Skateboards had his part in Eleventh Hour released. (I got the full video myself at Theories of Atlantis and would recommend it to any skate video collector.) It's really hard to beat the London spots and scenery; this video just provides that sense of awe solely from aesthetics. Mix that with Tom Knox's perfect adaption of his skating to his surroundings with his extremely quick feet and great improvisational tricks and you have one heck of a video part. 

The week of the Europeans maybe? It was great to see some new Danny Brady footage in the form of a new full part for Palace skateboards. Danny's great flick put to some unique editing for some more awesome vibes and skateboarding fans are pleased with this outcome.

I'm going to bunch together three parts that came out this week: TJ Rogers for Bones Wheels, a Travis Erickson compilation part, and a minute long Coalatree commercial for Ryan Spencer. All of these dudes rip extremely hard in these clips with just pure street skating from their personal hometown area spots. All of these dudes are also very underrated because parts like these that can be rewatched multiple times show that they should be much closer to turning pro than they currently are at the moment. 

And to wrap up this week, here are some other pretty tight videos:

-Sweet trick selection and style from John Hill in his Mag Minute

-Another tight release from the Old Dominion video by Venue Skateboards, this time featuring Jordan Bradshaw

-A reminder of how great Lakai and its team riders always are with the Lakai 'YIR' Die recap montage.

-A cool NYC montage project by Steve Marino called In The Streets (picks up nicely around 2:25)

-Equal amounts creativity and gnarliness in the Berrics blowup video from Jordan Maxham: Maxham Overdrive (his intro to Warco is still one of the most ridiculous internet videos in recent memory for me)