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.

Video of the Week: LEM VILLEMIN IS PRO FOR CLICHE!

It's about time! Lem's pro part is the one we've been waiting for since Diagonal, and watching it is nothing short of cathartic. From back in his Chocolate days to now with Cliche through Bon Voyage, everyone's been rooting for Lem to turn pro and that day has finally come. His majestic flick and catch have just gotten better in time and it's a really wonderful thing to see his name on the bottom of a board for one of my favorite companies. Congrats Lem!

This week was heavy in skate videos, so here are the other top selections:
Collin Provost's new Emerica MADE B-Sides are gnarly as expected and also feature essentially a full new part from him. I thought Clint Walker's kickflip was nuts, but Collin takes it to a whole new level with this ender.
Leo Heinert is introduced as the first rider for TORRO with a part full of quick-footed East Coast shredding like I've never seen. His addition (2:38) to the NYC Courthouse Ledge drop along with those recently from the Supreme kids' in Cherry [spoilers] pretty much give the finger to my older post, which is sick!
I've heard of Jaakko Ojanen before through random park clips, but this new street part is simply insane: skating fast, incorporating a huge bag of tricks, and hitting some of the gnarliest spots.
Two Up is a pretty heavy two-part video with ripping Australians Nick Boserio and Alex Campbell, each coming through with very unique styles to cement in your head if they weren't there already.
Joe Gavin's new video part for Grey Skate Mag shows him shredding the grittiest and roughest streets you can think of with some of the sickest pole jams.
Moose's "extra" footage is still full of casual hammers, a relaxing blend of chill vibes and gnarly tricks.
Bryant Chapo is killing it for FKD.

To get everyone hyped up for their upcoming video parts (two for Vans and one for Outliers), Chris Pfanner drops a mini part for Red Bull, Nassim Guammaz has a gnarly prequel Vans part, and Brad Cromer reminds us how naturally skilled he is by dropping a sweet iPhone part for Doom Sayer.

Some other things worth checking out:
Kingpin did a really nice article on 11 no-push lines that are definitely worth remembering.
Skateboarding Makes the World Go Round is full of incredible Brazilian skating at an assortment of locations around the world with some unheard-of guys mixed with some stars too.

This Week: Maintenance

Hopefully this doesn't become a biweekly blog, but again this week I'll have to sit back away from the daily posts. Until next week, enjoy Cale Nuske's part from Cliche's Deja Vu. From one of my favorite teams in skating, this guy was ripping with a smooth style, as evidenced by his compilation of footage in this video part. Another guy I could've/should've included in my Return to the Radar posts, I am beyond curious as to his whereabouts as of late. Either way, he most certainly is casually crushing it wherever he is.

Video of the Week: Tyler Bledsoe - Etnies Highlight

First and foremost, Etnies really should have just worked on a full length video with all the full parts they've been dropping the past months. That being said, I am thrilled about a new full part from Mr. Bledsoe. While it is definitely hard to compare to his Hallelujah part, the fact that he has returned to the radar in a wonderfully stylish fashion is too awesome to be spoiled, even by perhaps some over-prominent product placement by Etnies in the video. Regardless, with a style like Tyler's and some of the sweetest ways of incorporating flip tricks to back tails and back smiths, the part was great. Just look at the pop out of the backside heelflip from the back smith at 1:10. That alone is magical . . . and it was in a line. The back tail 360 flip at 1:44 and the frontside flip into the grass at 2:25 (with a pretty legit rollaway) were both clutch as well. All around, it's great to see new Tyler Bledsoe footage.

I'd feel weird declaring a single trick as Video of the Week, but Derek Elmendorf certainly had me thinking. Redefining gnarly handrail skating years ago, he continues to do so today.

I bought the DVD for Meet the Lurkers not too long ago and was blown away at Dolan Stearns' ender part. Because it technically came out a bit ago, its internet release by Transworld this week doesn't seem fair to give Video of the Week. However, the skating is incredible. Dolan mixes a bit of old and new school style with flairs of extreme gnarliness and complete board control. It's this kind of creative, rad, and gnarly skating that get you psyched to go out on your board immediately. After the kickflip catch on the penultimate trick drops your jaw, do what you can to prepare for the unfathomable ollie to end the part.

Manny Santiago and Dave Bachinsky come through with a really awesome shared part: Salt N' Pepper. Both are beyond good on a skateboard - Dave probably getting my vote for most underrated - and they've been stacking tons of clips.

-Brazil's Klaus Bohms shreds nicely around the world for Adidas. That smith 180 at 0:50!
-Though a year old, Bones released a highlight video of New Ground that is too epic to neglect.
-Tum Yeto tours around with some heavy hitters. Glad to see Corey Duffel still killing it.
-I love Cliche, so I was pumped to see them crash the Active park.
-Even though I think he went pro too soon, Tom Remillard rips hard for his new board on Expedition.
-The city vibes of Traffic Patterns are priceless, much like the Ricky Oyola footage within.

Video of the Week: Mark Frolich in "Till Ur Legs Fall Off"

Mark Frolich in Till Ur Legs Fall Off

Just because Mark Frolich isn't in the US skateboarding spotlight does not mean that he has not been absolutely shredding this year. After already releasing a gnarly part in January, Frolich comes through with this solo part entitled "Till Ur Legs Fall Off". Mark skates super fast at some pretty hairy European spots but manages to maintain a really sick style. Add in the fact that his trick selection and flick are large and super awesome respectively and you have an astounding part. The fact that this part (and his earlier one this year) is 6 minutes of no artsy fillers and just pure street shredding also amazes me. Props to Mark for a large amount of destruction with his crazy part here.

Some other noteworthy videos from this week:
-The very talented and all around awesome Huf team in their Stoops Euro tour, part 1 and part 2
-A video part via The Skateboard Mag for David Bo where he always looks like he's going to lose control and slam but manages to pull out some crazy tricks with the sketchiest rollaways
-Ty Beall's part in "Old Dominion" that has some really unique spots
-The fluid skills of Cliche flow Mike Long are demonstrated in this small part via Transworld
-A well-articulated interview with Jerry Hsu over at Jenkem about leaving enjoi and going to Chocolate, and about the skateboarding industry in general (technically not a video but definitely worth reading)

And finally, congrats to Felipe Gustavo for finally turning pro! It's been a long time coming but it's finally official with this sick part of quality technical perfection that we love from Felipe. Maybe an indication of the Plan B video right around the corner...?

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.

Best Music for a Part #4: Future Islands

A lot of types of indie/rock music seem to work rather well in skateboarding. Whether it's the beats that tricks are landed to or the memorable melodies that climax with a banging trick, something about this genre brings out the right vibes in a skate video. One band that seems to have a solid collection of video parts is Future Islands.
I first remember hearing Future Islands through Austyn Gillette's awesome Unlimited part last year (above). As soon as images of Austyn's travels start popping up with the opening beat and entertaining jingle of "Tin Man", you're instantly captivated. From the start, as the part was advertised to be, you can tell that the next 7 minutes are going to be a visual journey simply from the tune and the visuals. (To add to that, Austyn came out with some pretty incredible skating as well, which is why this part turned out so great all around.) The first major change in chords around 1:56 accompanies Austyn's super long front board very well: "as time goes by..." so does Austyn sliding along the rail. The rest of the part is extremely well-edited and keeps this very appealing theme throughout it all, the music keeping you in a trance as Austyn smoothly and powerfully skates by.
Now the first time most people probably heard of Future Islands was with their song "Balance" through this part from Jason Park. Creativity, style, insane board control, etc. You name it, Jason Park has it. If only this guy could continue producing footage like this in the skateboarding spotlight. Personally, I first heard this same song in Lakai's "A Postcard from Paris" feature. Much like in Unlimited, the song works well here with the beautiful scenery and adds to the well-edited piece. Between the spots and the skating from the sick Lakai crew, Future Islands knows how to bring out the cheerful vibes from videos like this.
While browsing the many videos online over the past year or so I came upon this clip of Steve Stinson skating in his hometown park in Mililani, HI. The edit was to Future Islands' "Close to None" and again works very well. Some cool editing effects and very solid park skating from Steve are made very graceful and majestic with the song's melody and consistent bass.
Also, Joey Brezinski dropped an incredible part for Cliche's Bon Voyage this past spring. (Unfortunately I think all videos of that part were taken down from the internet.) Not only were Joey's manual combos and lines yet another step up from his last part, but the whole part exuded a positive feeling because of Future Islands' "Vireo's Eye". It's a very upbeat song and complements Joey's constant flipping in or shove-itting out of manuals and such. Bon Voyage as a whole was definitely well-edited (shoutout to Boris Proust!) but this was a stand out part for sure.

Video of Last Week: Rodney Mullen TEDxTalks On Getting Up Again

There were a great deal of solid skate videos this week, but I must give top honors to Rodney Mullen's recent TEDxTalk. Even though the video came out prior to this past week, I didn't see it mentioned until this week and it is just too critical of a video to pass up mentioning.
Rodney has to be one of the brightest people on this planet. Finding enough physical and mental strength to progress any physical activity like Rodney has with skateboarding is already a feat in itself, which explains the whole industry behind professional athletes. But it takes a truly brilliant mind to pick apart at that psychological/physical teamwork to express the process behind doing what we do as skaters. I'm sure everyone's had those instantaneous fleeting thoughts right before you pop a trick that result in the board being kicked away and busting yourself, and just like Rodney said, you tell yourself that you're not going to do that the next time. I believe Rodney called it a "cognitive override" when he referred to getting back up again just to conquer the trick. His ability to put into words the evanescent thoughts that fly around in our heads to analyze skateboarders like no one else has before is remarkable. Personally I really enjoyed hearing him discuss skateboarding as a language, which is a relatively common connection, but going further to describe how "environmental components" shape our "physical dialect", a comparison I've never thought of before but really do admire now.
Rodney has intellectually conquered his body to the point of knowing his limits when it comes to ripping apart scar tissue, and through that has converted his physical setback into the most legitimate switching of stance possible for skateboarders. At least, that's what is currently considered because who knows what skaters will accomplish ten years from now...much like how Rodney established that learning tricks through others is merely learning that tricks are possible after being materialized from some innovative skater's thoughts.
I have boundless respect for Rodney and this video captures a lot of the reasons why he is one of my greatest inspirations.

On a more standard level of skateboarding videos, this week had a nice dosage, so listed below are some videos worthy of views:
Pat Rumney and Taylor Kirby's shared bonus part in the Deathwish Video, spawned after this week's welcome video for Pat onto Supra Footwear.
JP Souza full video part via Thrasher
Dashawn Jordan's pretty crazy raw clips
Alex Schmidt's exclusive part for The Skateboard Mag
Bert Wootton's Sequel video part

And last but not least, congrats to Sammy Winter for turning pro for Cliche! I love the whole Cliche squad and Sammy is definitely one of the sickest underrated dudes out there. Also in honor of Sammy turning pro this week, we have a short film by the one and only French Fred, Sammy's remixed part by Manolo from Bon Voyage, as well as his original part from the Cliche vid.

Video of the Week: Kevin Phelps

There were actually quite a few solid videos that came out this week, from the awesome team vibes and moments of the Pretty Sweet Tour, Vans release of Gilbert Crockett's part in Old Dominion to show the crusty East Coast spots, and even Ben Raemers' very fun and loose skating his Tiltmode part.
I'd also like to give an even more supporting nod to Tristan Funkhouser (aka T-Funk) with his first part for Baker Skateboards. Dude fits with Baker perfectly and already has a sick bag of man-style tricks at his age, which I respect a lot because the grom-style is not very appealing. His ender wallride is absolutely nuts, but I must say I would've killed to have seen that huge hippy jump from about 0:50 in his trailer for the part though...
Also special mention to Alain Saavedra for being welcomed to Consolidated with an extremely gnarly and just raw part. Big gaps and a really rugged style go together really well here.
And last special mention to Dustin Henry for a sweet On The Radar part for TWS. I'm a fan of anyone getting hooked up by Cliche, but it doesn't even matter because Dustin's quick feet and kickflips are very entertaining to watch.
The main video of this week goes to Kevin Phelps (above) with his part from Culture Shock. Hitting East Coast spots with West Coast tricks is really awesome to watch. It's really cool that Kevin has good pop, a lanky style that can still take some really solid impacts, a great bag of consistent tricks (that somehow kept getting larger throughout the part), and a unique take on well-known spots that lets him add memorable tricks to their histories.  Some of cool clips from the part include the smooth cab flip back disaster revert at 0:43, the front board at 1:37 mainly for the really cool look of all the red bricks at the spot, and the line at 2:17 because of the surprising half cab late back foot flip in the middle of two other really nice tricks. At 3:51, every clip becomes a banger pretty much: tailslide big flip on the NYC courthouse ledge, followed up by a nollie hardflip into that bank! Then Kevin goes to the other coast to double flip the Santa Monica triple set, which is super awesome. Then he stylishly lands a huge 50-50 drop off as well as a long noseslide big spin out on the same long ledge I remember David Gonzalez first lipsliding and then Eli Reed switch lipsliding. Later Kevin visits the huge brick double bank at 6:42 and skates it like no one else before with a giant ollie past the second bank to the flat below. And since 3 is always a lucky number, Kevin nails his third trick of the part at the NYC courthouse bank to finish things off: a ridiculous caballerial kickflip off the top shelf, somehow pulling out the switch drop and rollaway.

Switch Backside Kickflips #1: Lucas Puig

Lucas Puig is my other top favorite skater with Walker Ryan, and even though there might be some first-name bias in there, just about every aspect about him is unquestionably a factor to being my favorite skater. Asides from the heavy bag of tricks, one of the best natural styles in skating, and the photogenic European backdrop for his skating, Lucas always exudes those good vibes in his videos combining just the right amount of motivation for landing tricks with equal amounts of just having fun and messing around.
Besides that, when I first started getting into skateboarding I looked up skaters names Lucas and obviously found this guy. It just so happened to be a little after the release of Fully Flared. Of course I found Lucas's part and I instantly remembered his switch backside flip over the rail at 1:38. Not only was the trick in itself a complete shocker to me at the time, but the perfect landing and unwinding of his arms with the roll away was permanently ingrained into my memory. At 2:51, Lucas starts off a real OG line to match the song change with a switch backside flip there down some stairs followed by precision tricks in a very flowy line. It's hard to explain why I could watch that trick from Lucas all day, but when something is aesthetically pleasing as that it usually doesn't have an explanation. One thing I do know is that I've seen a good amount of ever-so-slight variations in the style of Lucas's trick throughout his video parts and clips, which makes the unpredictability of how the trick will appear that much more appealing.
To show even more of Lucas's mastery of the trick, here are some random web clips that include it:
At 0:27 in the Unseen Fully Flared Clips from French Fred, Lucas switch backside flips from kicker to kicker with yet another gorgeous demonstration of the trick. With his Helas homies in the DALAVAS Throwaway footage, Lucas switch backside flips at 0:26 off a kicker and over a street sign twice, because perfection comes in twos of course. In the Adidas at LES NYC clip, he pops a real nice one at 1:50 over the big apple.
Now take a look at Lucas's solid history of video parts, mostly through Cliche:
In Bon Appetit, he nails one at 3:32 over a crusty looking street gap. In Cle, Lucas pops a really solid switch backside flip at 3:55 over picnic table, something I don't remember seeing at all in the latest picnic table trick craze. And then at 3:59 he tweaks the trick out with his own personal touch over the hip of a steep bank. For La Cliche Promo, Lucas shows that he can handle this trick down some pretty tall stairs (and over a rail even) at 1:24 with elegant stomping of the trick, and then take it to the tech side too at 8:08 out of a switch back tail at Venice Beach. In Lucas's Kurds Are My Heroes part (above) he beautifully executes a switch backside flip in the middle of the line at 4:57 over yellow trash can, and then getting even more tech than before by switch backside flipping into a 5-0 grind super close to the wall at 5:18 for his ender. In his TWS Pro Spotlight Video he does the trick over at 1:35 over a California rail and across a sick street gap at 2:39. And most recently in Bon Voyage, Lucas switch backside flips over a flatground block to start a line (which ends with a back smith backside flip!), all the while skating very smoothly and speedily. Later on he switch backside flips a gritty street gap in camo pants, further proving that he is the king of his own style.

Manny Maniacs #1: Joey Brezinski

When I think of manuals, I think of Joey Brezinski. His abilities are one of a kind and it takes his creativity (and goofiness) to come up with the video parts he does.  And even though they are filled with manual tricks, they all are interesting because Joey knows how to keep his tricks varied enough. I mean he even started a whole contest for manuals! Pretty much everyone would agree that Joey is the king (or at least one of the kings) of manuals so I will just post the three parts from him that really cemented my astonishment with his manuals tricks.
Above, in Hello Jojo, he keeps it fun at 0:53 with a mini nosepick 270 manual (NBD for sure!), and personal favorites at 1:12 and 3:01 with a front 180 fakie manual fakie frontside 360 shove out and a manual double heelflip out respectively. (The setup on the switch flip out of the 180 switch manny just before the double heel clip is also pretty awesome.) And the manual up and down line at 3:44 strikes the perfect balance in fun, quick action and skilled control of spinning, flipping, and balancing.
In his Right Foot Forward part for Transworld, he comes out swinging right from the start with a lot of cool combinations (manuals and ledges), throwing in tricks midway through his manuals or just continuing the lines when one good manny trick isn't enough apparently.  The inward heel nose manual at 1:22 looks quite nice and the ledge is rather high too, and then the manual wallride nose manual at 1:39 is also pretty awesome.  It takes a lot of control for that front blunt fakie manual fs half cab out at 2:40.  3:18 - 3:29 has a series of technically impressive and fun to watch manual combos, just like the body varials in the line at 3:52. And the last trick is also really crazy with how he manages to smoothly put together three tricks in one.
In his latest video part in Cliche's Bon Voyage, there are so many great manual tricks, as expected.  So I will let the clever lines and crazy combos speak for themselves. There's nothing quite like watching Joey skate.

Ams that Should be Pro #5: Lem Villemin

This post may be coming late, but so would Lem Villemin's name on a deck.  This dude's been around for quite some time now and word of Lem going pro was started years ago back when he had something possibly going on with Chocolate.  His part in the Adidas Diagonal video (above) is an immaculate display of proper, stylish skateboarding, which has been out for 4 years now.  Lem was also one of the original recruits at the Berrics, even before his near perfect part with Adidas, and even back then I'm pretty sure I remember talks of "Lem should turn pro soon".  Despite some injuries which has taken Lem off the radar lately, he has been on Cliche for about two years now and has come out with a solid mini part for Cliche as well as some always graceful and much appreciated footage in their new video Bon Voyage.  Basically put: anything Lem comes out with, however rare these days, is pure gold and it's quality footage (definitely not quantity as of late) that should support his turning pro campaign.  (For the hip-hop/rap listeners, I'd compare Lem to Jay Electronica in that there is considerably very little coverage of either of them, but what is out there in the industry is just a beautiful display.)  I recently heard Lem is doing better from injuries so I'm hoping he's working on stacking some smooth and powerful clips for his turning pro video part soon.