Adio Footwear have refreshed your browsers with a brand new webpage. The new site blends well with their 2008 ad campaign, and also allows the Adio crew to update the main blog and add podcasts from anywhere at anytime. Exciting!
Check out the new look and stay tuned for some immediate updates from the team’s current excursion to Russia.
This year, Transworld charged up everyone’s creative minds with their very enjoyable Skate ‘n’ Create competition. DVS, Globe, Emerica and Osiris all spent 9 days in a warehouse, constructing the most mind-boggling obstacles to get subsequently shredded by 5 hand-picked riders from each team.
Daewon’s usual ‘wait, what?!’ antics on some well-crafted ledges secured DVS with the gold but we’ll let you pick your favourites. The effort put in by all four teams was admirable and everyone involved deserves plenty of props.
Have a peep at the incredible Globe entry either here or below for youtubers. Watch out for the last couple of minutes too, oh my.
Come on gents… what’s with this haggard and worn out ‘look how outrageously cultured and eclectic I am‘ fashion statement in skateboarding right now? Flannel shirts, cords and shoelace belts… how is looking like a student who missed the bus and forgot to have a shower going to get you anywhere in life? Fix up dudes!
As The Daily Fail have so rightfully (as always…*ahem*) pointed out, the perfect compliment to your ‘nerves of steel’ skating skills is a sharp suit to match. Whose going to pay attention to your gnar gnar stand up grinds if you don’t look the part? No one! That’s who!
Have a read of this and make of it what you will. Oh, to be present at a Daily Mail board meeting. “Wait guys, I’ve got a perfect idea…”
It should be noted that the person who wrote the above is a student who missed the bus this morning, smells a bit dodgy and is wearing a flannel shirt and cords. What a prick.
Osiris Footwear have created a micro site dedicated to their delightfully crazy entry in Transworld’s ‘Skate and Create‘ contest.
The site features a behind-the-scenes look at the action that went down during the filming of ‘Congress of Freaks‘ including a vast gallery, the video itself and some exclusive info.
Check it out here.
22.08.08
Barcelona Premiere.
Barcelona is a beautiful city. And with the amount of skating that gets filmed here, where better to have the Premier of Fallen’s latest and greatest production than 500 meters from the world famed Parral.lel skate spot? The Sala Apolo theatre is also a perfect venue, firstly it’s proper oldskool, secondly its HUGE (and it needs to be for the mass crowd of skaters and skate bettys that were standing patiently in the street outside its art deco doors), and thirdly, it has a well stocked bar!
It seems like every company’s DVD is “highly anticipated” these days, but the hype afterwards is usually pretty short lived. This DVD will be slightly different. We have come to expect a certain style of skating from Zero/Baker/Fallen and that’s nothing but straight big rail hammers. But this video has some heavy tech action too, as you would expect with heads like Billy Marks and Chris Cole on the team. The opening montage gives a feel of something monumental is about to go down; a lot cleaner than anything I have seen from the Jamie Thomas camp before.
Tommy Sandoval gets the video off to a rowdy start with the mandatory rail bangers, adding in a lovely pivot ollie-fakie back in about 10 feet up the sketchy banks at the docks here in Barca; the local crowd go mental at the sight of their home turf. Add in some feeble to backsmith rail action and a – somehow styley – fingerflip down a gap and you just know Sandoval is worth the hype and is undoubtedly on fire this year.
Some of the lesser known guys show the gap between pro and am is almost non-existent these days, with Gilbert Crockett dropping front crooks that Mike York would be envious of and making the backsmith-backside flip out undoubtedly “Fully Flared” worthy. Brian Hansen takes slams, and no wonder seeing he goes as fast as he does, especially when trying – and making – pop shove 50-50s on handrails and gnarly nollie back lips down 14 stair rails!
This is Josh Harmony´s “I made it” section – coming across totally official with innovative smith grind transfers off the wrong side of rails whilst throwing in some of the largest frontside flips down drops I have ever seen. So much flow and ease in his skating make Josh a firm crowd favourite, I’m sure there is a lot more to come.
Jamie Thomas for me is always going to be the main event here, the Iggy Pop of skateboarding keeps going and going while proving the old line of “class is permanent”. No sitting back and relying on his young guns to get the job done here – as eager as ever to push himself with the fastest 360 ollies I have witnessed and an even faster front nosegrind revert on a high and tight hubba. Add in all the usual expected JT action and we are given a section that even Slap Magazine’s forums couldn’t dismiss as “past it”. Next up is the unstoppable Chris Cole, it’s weird to see such a hesh rock dude enter the Daewon-Mullen realms of tech – the opener is a 180 fakie nose grind on a block to switch bigspin flip out; Barca felt that trick hard and the place is screaming! His section, like JT´s, is relaxed and controlled, which is an odd thing to say considering he mixes handrail gnar with varial flipping body varial action as well as a flip wall ride-to late shove off; Cole simply has it all. There are a few bangers I have to leave out, just for the surprise, or should say shock factor of seeing them unexpected for the first time. I wish his section was longer. Or better still, never ending.
The rest of the team held it down, even after the main guys had blown us away. Billy Marks has some interesting ideas on rails, flipping out of feeble grinds is a very unnatural looking feat, as is his ender: a switch frontside bigspin heelflip down the Carlsbad gap. Matt Bennet is rock-solid – Tony Cervantes and James Hardy both have a controlled form of urgency in their skating; tricks like fakie ollie to 50-50 down 15 steps is a trick that demands as much precision as it does balls, must be tough keeping up with their peers in video mode, but the fact they are on the video proves they are up there with the up and coming best in the game.
This vid is unique in many ways: the skating and filming style goes together well and creates a smokey, Jack Daniels scented flavour matched perfectly by the bluesy rock sound track. There isn’t any blatant branding going on either, which is refreshing. Jamie Thomas (at the premier) is wearing a haggard old “Camel Cigarettes” shirt (obviously a token collector!) that looks freshly slammed in. Ride the Sky has been a major production for these guys for a long time now and I hope they are stoked as the Barca crowd is on the finished product which feels honest, and even at times moving to watch these guys throw down and do their thing. This film will give faith to the hesh-skaters that skateboarding hasn’t fallen exclusively to the new-era hat wearing, Xgames aspiring, MTV show having fad that the current generation seem happy to let our culture die in. Skating’s back – it’s dirty, it bleeds, but if the Fallen can get up and Ride the Sky, skating is alive and kicking in 2008.
Click here for the trailer.
Philip Procter
Scot Hull of Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Pig Destroyer fame has been hard at work on planting the seeds of grind for what seems like ages now, but this compilation has finally arrived. Harking back to the grindcore / death metal compilations of yesteryear, This Comp Kills Fascists Vol.1 , serves as a blast from the past or as an almost “this is how we used to do things” jibe at the pierced, dyed, myspace-core nonsense of present. So it’s 14 bands. 51 tracks. Gentlemen….time to grind.
The main point to mention about this record would be the long overdue return to the studio of New York Grindcore legends, Brutal Truth, recording new tracks for the first time in almost a decade. Although Kevin Shrape, Dan Lilker and co have aged their music is still skull shatteringly intense. It still obliterates all in its path, as demonstrated in tracks ‘Dogs of War‘ and ‘Turmoil‘. The Truth are back and are equally as brutal as they were in 1992.
Although some bands like Maruta, Spoonful Of Vicodin and Wasteoid fall short of the mark (…..it is Grindcore…..what do you want?!) most step up and kick you straight in the teeth in this stripped down and raw record. Example? Weekend Nachos. They sound like Ringworm having a bare knuckle fist fight with S.O.D. Their sludgy yet high paced metal is entertaining and a welcome break from the failings of the opening tracks of the compilation courtesy of Agents Of Satan.
Chainsaw To The Face are as equally as harsh as their fucking awesome name suggests, while Shitstorm are as filthy and ….well….weather based as their name suggests. Rich Hoak pulls double duty on this record drumming with Brutal Truth and the just as legendary Total Fucking Destruction. The punk-jazz fusion-metal insanity is fantastic and nothing less that what you would expect from Philly’s finest grind institution.
Moody as fuck, death metal outfit Insect Warfare are another band to watch out for. The classic machine gun drums pelted with chugging grunts from both the guitars and vocals leave you feeling battered. The psychotic Kill The Client pull no punches with their old school style, mixing your typical grindcore samples and feedback before putting your ear drums in a blender. Overall a huge – and I mean HUGE – assault on your senses.
Man Will Destroy Himself shifts gear slightly with easier to swallow hardcore punk. Just because it’s easier to swallow on this record doesn’t make it any less abrasive. It’s fast as fuck and heavier than the average American child. The shrill, gargled vocals from front man ‘Earthworm’ coupled with clanging guitars and hardcore breakdowns; it’s the perfect addition to a record that could be in danger of sounding “samey” to the untrained ear.
If you are a fan of any the bands mentioned above, or have a hard-on for music of the “Power Violence” persuasion, then this is THE soundtrack to your lonely nights, blogging about how grindcore has changed whilst hunting for that illusive AxCx 7″on ebay. That’s not a bad thing….is it? IS IT?!? Answers on a postcard.
Tom Lindsey
Busy Signal has been smashing it up in his native Jamaica, but remains relatively unknown over here. However, with the release of his new album, Loaded, and this ridiculously good single Tic Toc, that could well be about to change.
This track has all the ingredients for a club smash, it’s got a booming bass drum that gets the body moving and a chorus that is more catchy than the common cold. The track is a combination of the typically high tempo dancehall energy and the hip hop blueprint and Busy Signal has been able to make the connection with consummate ease.
Coming from a crew that spawned the likes of Elephant Man, Mavado and Bounty Killer, all the signs are there for Busy Signal to make waves in this country and beyond and with this track and Unknown Number on the single release, you’re going to have to be deaf not to realise the potential of what is to come on Loaded.
All together now, Tic tic tic tic toc, tic tic tic tic toc, tic tic toc.
Abjekt.
Madlib is back with a brand new LP, ‘W.L.I.B. AM. King of the Wigflip‘, the final installment in the Beat Generation series.
After Kerouac, Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs left many restless and metabolically starving for more with their drug-fuelled literature classics, BBE Records revived the Beat Generation with a series of records that embraced diversity within hip-hop.
Following in the footsteps of Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock and J Dilla: Madlib is set to close the Beat Generation series with his new collection of – unsurprisingly eclectic – beats and rhymes, featuring contributions from Murs and Defari amongst others.
Watch out for The Beat Konducta’s jams dropping on October 22nd.
You Me At Six have made a track from their upcoming album, ‘Take Off Your Colours‘, available for free download on their website.
‘If You Run‘, one of the heavier tracks on the album, can be picked up online for absolutely nothing! Thus giving you the opportunity to tap your back-pocket change like those weirdos on the Asda adverts. Should you want to.
The band will also be playing the following dates on their October headline tour of the UK.
15th – MIDDLESBROUGH EMPIRE
16th – NORWICH WATERFRONT
17th – NOTTINGHAM RESCUE ROOMS
18th – WOLVERHAMPTON WULFRUN
19th – NORTHAMPTON ROADMENDER
21st – LEEDS MET UNIVERSITY
22nd – GLASGOW ABC 1
23rd – MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2
24th – LIVERPOOL ACADEMY 1
25th – SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY
26th – OXFORD ACADEMY
27th – LONDON ASTORIA
28th – CARDIFF SOLUS
29th – BRIGHTON KOMEDIA
30th – EXETER PHOENIX
This year’s Big Push is finally out for your viewing pleasure and the polls are now up on the