Category: DVD Reviews

When Jean-Marc Soulet and Abbe Nyberg (pictured together right) started the Swedish skateboard brand Newsoul Skateboards last year, I’m sure neither of them anticipated the irrefutably and phenomenally viral nature of their straight-to-online debut video feature ‘You Got Soul’. It’s unlikely for anyone tuned into the skateweb to have not stumbled across the flourishing entrepreneur and esteemed shralper, Abbe Nyberg, his name written in the blue text that makes that arrow of your mouse turn into a little pointy finger. Behold the power of the digital age; more names are being linked than ever but it makes the truly talented almost impossible to miss.

Should you have clicked your finger on Abbe Nyberg’s name, chances are you would have been directed to his section from You Got Soul which racked over 200,000 views in just a few days. That’s the kind of rapid video success stories reserved exclusively for Kanye West and videos of cats doing adorable shit. To see someone whose name isn’t exactly most excitable youtubers’ go-to search and someone whose style and trick selection is unique to the point of being vilified by the same, it was wonderful to see the well deserved universal love rise above the usual forgettable fog that clouds up the internet.

Be sure to not group the rest of the video in with that fog. It deserves just as much blue text linkage as the young Nyberg’s properly breakthrough part. Abbe’s business partner Jean-Marc Soulet takes the opening section and I wouldn’t be too surprised if his superbly baggy bottoms have a practical purpose of concealing his bionic legs because the concept of human legs achieving such awkward and brilliant ledge combinations and flips out of manual is something I’m unable to fathom. Though well executed simple tricks have been something of a constant trend since Jamie Thomas welcomed us all to hell, it’s awesome that the head-rubbing tricks that I can’t even name are just as encouraged in 2010 as they were in the early 90s. Soulet starts as Nyberg will later carry on, be prepared to scratch your noggin a lot with this one.

After a brief segment set to awaken memories of how frustrating it is making a skate video , Filip Almqvist is quick to remind us how rewarding they are when they’re finished. Almqvist boasts an accomplished style that both summons and rises above the aforementioned well executed simple trick trend, often tailsliding that extra foot of two before getting that compulsory flip out. Erik Nylander shares his song and is a fresh blood who is running down the path to blowing yo’ mind in the future. Watch out for this kid. Just try not to be jealous by how disgustingly potential-ridden he is. Skating with the likes of Jean-Marc, Filip, Abbe and friends can only be fun, constantly motivational and inspiring; such is the vibe of this entire 15 minute video.

The calm before the storm comes in the form of something that’s always been a personal favourite feature in skate videos, the collection of goofy footage. Rather than save these for the often-skipped credits, here we see the stuff that really makes going out skating fun set to a tune reminiscent of the similar in between section snacks that cut up Flip Sorry. Then it’s up to Abbe Nyberg to close the video and we all know what happened there. If you don’t, then join in on the viral fun and tell all your friends because the reason why this section has been posted everywhere is for a genuine reason. It’s not because he does stupid backflips down stair sets, it’s not because he does tricks without looking, it’s not even because he has an awesome elmo jumper, it’s because he’s a straight-up amazing skateboarder. Like, properly holy shit amazing.

But let us not forget the big picture here, Newsoul as a collective are exactly what they claim to be: an honest skateboard company whose focus is to bring together people through a mutual love of skateboarding, having fun and apparently cool elmo jumper. From the plethora of youtube comments alone it seems that they’ve achieved exactly that despite only being in business for a year. They’re already receiving emails from those wishing to buy their products from outside Sweden so say what you want about videos going straight online… if you’ve got a message to put across then there’s nothing stopping you from getting it out there now. If it’s as good as this, people will not only pay attention, but talk about it. Lots.

Bellend Sebastian

Despite this year’s staggering quantity of quality DVDs and increasingly astounding straight-to-web videos, it still comes as no big surprise that one of the most anticipated releases comes in the form of the subtle and nostalgic third offering from Habitat, Origin. When the video was announced earlier this year and Field Logs began coming in and the tumblr starting tumbling I was unsure how the balance of retrospective re-edited cuts from Mosaic and Inhabitants and fresh footage from the current team would be achieved. Mosaic being one of my all-time favourite videos, I was excited either way but I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how much new footage they’ve racked up for Origin. Make no mistake, this is the third full-length video to come from the Habitat camp.

Opening in traditional art and craft style, the motif of leaves, autumn colours and subliminal flashes of typefaces and logos from years gone by this is a short celebration of all the things we visually associate with Habitat. Before you put on those rose-tinted spectacles on properly though there is a full fourty minutes or so of the current team representing all we’ve come to love about my favourite nature-heavy brand in skateboarding. If you thought that Danny Garcia’s style couldn’t get any more perfect then you were wrong, in just one minute and thirty seconds the proud owner of Tim O Connor’s ‘best kickflip of all time’ award doesn’t dissappoint regardless of how short you think a section under two minutes is. There are a couple of members of the quality of quantity crew on Habitat and Danny is one of them. A superb and stylish warm up to one of the most hyped sections of the year only a day after release, Austyn Gillette.

This guy fully deserves his own paragraph. Gillette has been turning heads lately with some very innovative 180 to 50-50 variations in the hardest way imaginable and he’s took those idiosyncrasies and cranked them to such a eye-opening extent that he’s put out a strong contender for section of the year. Not only does he boast a deep and interesting bag of tricks but he has the sort of aesthetically awesome natural style that could turn your average skater into an arsehole. But Austyn is far, far, far from your average skater; he’s one of only two people to clock up two songs in this video (amongst a lot of shared parts) and both skaters have earned their length on-screen with skateboarding that’s not only instantly exciting but memorable.

Stefan Janoski was rumoured to have little footage, but that’s far from the truth. Stefan ranks somewhere on the second layer on the Gino scale (in which footage of him pushing down the street doing 360 flips could be a satisfactory section, oh wait…) but that doesn’t stop him from putting out banging part after banging part. No filler here, and it’s set to a sweet Benjy Ferree track that I remember claiming back in 2006 would have been all over skate videos like Belle and Seb and Arcade Fire would a year later. Four years later, it still works really well. But then, I had no doubt that the editors and music supervisors over at Habitat would deliver another perfect soundtrack.

So imagine how stoked I was when Panda Bear’s recent b-side ‘Slow Motion’ dropped to the East Coasters. Amongst this, Tim O Connor gets his traditional not-even-a-ten-trick-edit in (don’t get me wrong, any new footage is still golden) and Steve Durante slips in a switch 360 flip to 5-0 in a line on the alphabet blocks that he may as well own now. Bonkers. Alex Davis has an awesome style and takes a harsh slam on one of those huge red banks while Fred Gall once again redeems New Jersey from its spiraling reputation into the gutter by skating gutter spots like a fucking boss. No one hits walls and banks like Fred, no one.

Mark Suciu bursts through a starry, starry night title which a late-night ledge trick that you really couldn’t have been expecting from anyone. He’s got a nice, subtle style that comes through brilliantly in lines – specifically that one on rising grey blocks which includes a switch frontside bigspin reminiscent of the one in Carroll’s legendary SF library line. He’s a great and fitting addition to the team.

The International Montage is as strong as you might expect given how sections that focus on those who don’t fly the red, white and blue have flourished in recent years and have just as much an influence on those riding the plank in the US as they do wherever they hail from. This includes Gunez Ozdogan, who has made quite a name for himself due to his penchant for awkward ledge tricks and a style that bridges the nonchalance between Gino and Jesus Fernandez.

Marius Syvanen opens his section with a slam to the face that would make even the hardest amongst us wince, but having since watched his section three times I’d be surprised if it was the hardest slam he took while filming for the video. Marius skates on incomprehendable terrain, and does similarly unthinkable manouevres on them. Take that buttery smooth 5-0 transfer from handrail to mammoth bank as an example, then re-watch it forty times and just try to imagine doing it yourself. We’re in an era in which watching skate videos is a form of fantastical escapism now.

I’ve always been a relatively unspoken fan of Daryl Angel. He deserves a lot more discussion really, particularly from myself as I was thoroughly impressed with what he racked up for this. Gap to backlip to pop out of near-death? Nollie front 180 into Jerry Hsu’s rock gap? Switch ollie a downhill roadgap? Questions that I will never understand the answers to; apparently they’re all possible. Guru Khalsa similarly doesn’t get talked about enough despite killing it for years, and given the hugely positive reaction so far I hope that continues to change.

Below: Yup. That’s a bridge. Silas Baxter-Neal

Silas Baxter-Neal has left me speechless again. He’s one of the candidates for the best skaterboarder of whatever time he intends to spend his career skating in. The SBN era is something I’m very glad to be a part of (even if it’s from my chair). I mean shit, he literally 50-50s over an entire bridge. Regardez ici s’il vous plait ->

The film concludes with a lengthy montage of some of the best moments from the last ten years, featuring literally everyone who’s ever been a part of the Habitat crew. Even though we were expecting something like this, anyone who has been fond of Mosaic and Inhabitants will absolutely revel in this. It’s touching, gnarly, respectful and a sublimely put together montage that will be re-watched more than any other edit dropping online this year. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt living in the disposable ‘throwaway footage’ generation in which there are at least ten impressive edits dropping a day, is that only the very best can earn there place in the long-term memory of skateboarders. Origin, and particularly this montage of the last ten years can be described as truly unforgettable.

Stanley

From all accounts, Tim Brauch was one of skateboarding’s most uplifting and proverbially ‘supercharged’ individuals who brought joy to many through his own optimistic and ‘go out and get some’ approach to life. Sadly, at the young age of 25 he passed away from a sudden cardiac arrest brought on from years of dealing with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Sudden deaths like his are an extreme rarity in people with the condition and it will go down in history as one of skateboarding’s most tragic losses. But melancholy is for the most part in the background of this production, it is in this documentary that we learn through family, friends and video footage of Tim himself how his condition neither worried him nor prevented him from going out and doing what he wanted to do. It is, from the off, a very inspiring watch as well a crushing reminder of mortality. Ultimately, the film is a celebration of Tim’s life and the joy that he infused in his friends and family is captured brilliantly by director Pete Koff who manages to instill it flawlessly into anyone watching.

To say that Tim Brauch ripped on a skateboard would be an understatement; he is one of the originals, blessed with the rare innovating spirit that can be attributed to few besides him.  Willingly ignorant of trends or industry/marketed progession, Tim skated how he felt he should skate, and doing so awarded him the respect of his peers, Steve Caballero, Jason Adams, Salman Agah and Bryce Kanights to name but a few. Their collective message is that watching Tim inspired them more than any other to have fun, be creative and make the most out of every day. The quote that adorns the DVD ‘this is going to be the best day ever‘, couldn’t be more appropriate and it’s not at all hard to imagine Tim saying that at the beginning of every single day.

In the hour long feature we witness a meaty chunk of skating from Brauch, Cab, Jason Adams and more from an era in which skating was unquestionably a lot more fun and pure. It’s rad, really rad to look back at the wonderful colours that even the best HD cameras aren’t designed to capture. But the overwhelming sensation you get from watching this video is the optimism, inherant in both the impromptu of-the-moment skating and shameless approach to taking what you want from life and giving all of those good vibes back. It is enough to inspire and motivate even the most pessimistic skater that there is joy out there for all those willing to go out and find it.

The DVD features over two hours of bonus features and all further information can be found here. You can donate towards and find information about the Tim Brauch Memorial Fund here. Look out for the film in your local skater-owned-store.

Stanley

“The movie was off the hook, very inspirational story for sure. Tim was awesome and it’s great that his legacy still lives on today, go see this film if you haven’t already… it rocks!” – Steve Caballero

Tim Brauch is Super Charged! from etnies on Vimeo.

The third instalment from the mass-touring, beer-swigging, tent-pitching, concrete shredding marriage of hesh and fresh sees Girl and Anti-Hero for the first time opting to release the finished product online, for free. This will be a little gutting to some who look forward to these releases every year and enjoy flicking through whatever booklet of wonderful pap the oxymoronic duo choose to sling inside the case. Whether this was a result of the European Vacation being a little shorter than the previous two jaunts or not, you have no reason this time not to sit down and take twenty minutes out of your day to watch two of the raddest board companies do what they do better than most, skate and have a bloody baller time. Yes, that was a UK/US lexical combo move that was as awkward-looking as a 90s curb dancing session, but this is a transatlantic trip and we should honour it in such a way, or something.

As always, we begin with the Beauty edit which doesn’t hesitate to drop heavy riffs and throw hammers all over the continent. Sean Malto gets stuck into a traditional backside noseblunt shape and carries on in an unsurprisingly perfect fashion. Tony Trujillo comes steaming out of nowhere is the first to step things up and delivers another highlight performance like the demo destroying machine he is; no boneless banquet can touch the exquisitely executed one TNT nails not even two minutes in. The other Tony (Miorana) wears socks and shots like a boss and skates like one too while Mike Carroll continues to provide evidence for my perpetually unpublished (and unwritten) essay on why the world would be a better place if people skate more like him and Vincent Alvarez gets a spotlight early on that should silence any kids bickering about his pro status. I’m sure that the editors did not consciously see this video as a means to shut up any armchair critics, but it’s just further proof that this guy not only rips but is someone who you should fully support by scraping layers of paint off his face whenever you go skating.

Seeing the crew hit up Alv’s infamous TBS was spectacular. The kind of uncouth transitions that make up that particular leg of the tour it would seem were unintentionally created just so Vincent Alvarez can skate them. Control goes beyond comprehension here. Before the end of Aaron Meza’s edit I found myself thinking that the in-joke phrase ‘I’d rather watch Gino push’ should be changed to ‘I’d rather watch Girl and Anti-Hero skate boozed out of their minds on Tuborg’. Really, this shit never gets old.

The Beast edit clocks in at another furious ten minutes that begins like a bad dad’s home movie at a summer camp turned massively inappropriate. It essentially carries on from where the Tuborg guzzling left off so let’s go straight down the hatch! Besides the skating, what’s amazing here is the combination of the pissed filming and the slightly more beastly skating gives you a vicarious sense of intoxication in what is probably the only feel-good edit of the summer that could potentially give you a hangover. It’s one that I guarantee you’ll enjoy however and Rick Howard’s speak no Americano edit will perk you right up again. The Girl and Anti-Hero marriage has provided us kids with a hell of a tortured upbringing but what a ride it’s been. Uncountable wrongs apparently make one huge right so go out, go travelling, go big and have a great time.

But always watch this trilogy of awesome first.

Bellend Sebastian

You can download the entire thing for free from the official website. The server has understandably been suffering from some overwhelming traffic issues but keep trying. It’s worth it.

Einmal Reicht (or ‘Once Is Enough‘) is at once an eye-opening scene video from the young, Berlin-based Chinchilla Crew and a further example as to why professional filmers need to step up their game. In the hands of Nico Kasterke, one can be sure that a camera will be put to good use and put some of the industry’s entry-level standard filmers to shame. We live in a glorious age. In the same way that the internet has rogered the music industry but placed the tools of production into the hands of the many consequently opening the doors for wonderful musicians we may never have heard of in previous generations, here we are able to watch Eimal Reicht online for free. When made the most of, living in the disposable footage generation isn’t always a bad thing. This is one of those golden examples that remind us how lucky we are to be in a smaller world where we can witness such talented skateboarders and filmers right from the beginning.

After a textbook introduction complete with shameless benihanas and a shit-the-bed backside 180 we’re introduced to Nino Ullman who seems to be having a bit of trouble at the Kulturforum. He later redeems himself with a disgustingly nonchalant b/s 5-0 fakie the hard way at the same spot before taking his sleepskating style to a variety of spots across Europe with a deep bag of tricks including one potentially lethal switch f/s bigspin. We’re off to a great start. Next up is Nepomuk Herok is a literal little ripper. He’s not as far away from the sky as some of Flip’s notorious young gunners but he can rip just as hard. This is the kind of section that makes street grabs not only legit again but rad too. Nepomuk can tuck knees over nipples in a way that’s probably illegal for someone his age.

Max Von Nolting follows a gruesome rib-cruncher with some steezy lines at Berlin’s famous benches. He’s swiftly shoved aside in a very Nick-Jensen-in-Static-2 style introduction by Mortiz Zimmerman who preludes a banging friends section by holding his own with some solid ledge bangers and some quick-footed lines.

It’s already been mentioned but the friends section really is fucking great. I watched it twice before moving on to Brian Rietze who’s got a cool lanky steeze that I can relate to. I really dig that he’s not afraid to get that foot on the ground and do some double flips too. Tim Wixwath steps shit up with a rad boneless 360 to get me excited. Those who suffer from boniophobia need not apply, but this kid is ruling. He kind of skates in a weird crunked out Beagle way and I like it.

Georg Balchamischvili will never hear me pronounce his name correctly but he will perhaps read me write some props for his last trick. Unexpected and gnarly as hell. Reik Manig doesn’t take more than three tricks to instantly become my favourite skater in this video. He’s got style, plenty pop, mad trick selection, gnarly spot choice and balls. After a leg-splitter that would send most packing he steps back up and gets shit done. There’s a front wallride grab out over some stairs that will make you pay attention to whatever this guy is doing in the near future for sure.  

Paul Röhrs takes one to the face for the team but delivers a sick section to match how sickening his opening bail is. Expect some pro-standard tech, huge nollie heelflips and lots of smiles. Farid Ulrich claims the last part for good reason, it takes a lot of style and substance to be given the honour of a cover shot for Place Magazine. You’ll find style and substance in abundance here.

You can watch the entire video below. Props Chinchilla Crew, this shit is über and watching this once is definitely not enough.

Chinchilla “Einmal Reicht” from NicoK on Vimeo.

Elephant Direct is a visual project by two of skateboarding’s most traditional filmmakers, Jeremy Elkin and Jason Auger. Following in the spirit of Elkin’s Lo-Def, here the work is compounded into a temporary online stream that serves as a tribute to the working class. In today’s post-‘throwaway’ era, senses and memories are all too regularly put under a general anesthetic at the hands of both oversaturation and too many nameless kids doing 360 shove-its better than you could. And consequently, the relationship we form with skate videos rarely extend beyond a one-night stand of gross hyperbole and pressing a fucking ‘like’ button. Enter Elkin and Auger, determined to maintain that sense of mystery and memorable hand-made personality that made the likes of Video Days what it is: something that can never be described as ‘throwaway’.

The full, high quality video can currently be watched on (and only on) Color Magazine’s website, but for a very limited time only; Elkin and Auger’s own pragmatic poke at the limited attention spans the internet generation have. Named after a world-weary convenience store that has seen its fair share of drug deals and house arrests, Elephant features Kevin Lowry, Bradley Sheppard, Andrew McGraw, Marc Tison, Torey Goodall, Justin Gastelum, Seb Labbe, Russ Milligan, Pat O’Rourke and Mike Fyfe as seen through the idiosyncratic filming/editing double edged sword swung by two people who actually give a damn. As it’s such a special film that deserves to penetrate through the temporary times we awkwardly live in, we have decided upon watching the stream to give it a full-blown review. Be sure to keep your eyes on Color for how to get your hands on a legit copy when its limited life span online is inevitably replaced by crappy youtube pirates tugging their e-peen.

After a series of short but soul-warming animations and film clips we are introduced to Andrew McGraw. Here is a man with a seemingly endless bag of tricks that is emptied across a wide variation of Canada’s answer to terrain that will be sufficient evidence in an extensive essay on what spots have defined the term ‘east coast’ skateboarding over the past two decades. I’m talking ‘real’ street son; expect the unexpected.

Mike Fyfe is up next and takes the refreshingly stubborn ‘I refuse to skate anything other than the sketchy local spot’ approach to an entire new level (please see: the frontside boardslide to thin wall tightrope walk to evade a bunch of kids playing ball in the street rollaway just a few tricks in). One of those kids high fives him and so should you. The stuff he is skating is difficult even by UK standards, and I’d love to provide you with examples but I’m struggling to draw my attention away from the most OTT stedge I’ve ever seen. It’s exactly 4:20 in and that probably means something. The filmer must have been high as a kite to take equipment there. Props on a stellar front nose too.

What follows is a shared section featuring Russ Milligan, Pat O’ Rourke and Seb Labbe, the kind of line-up that implies bad implications, the idea that there wasn’t going to be that much footage from all of those names isn’t a pleasant idea. But having enjoyed this film so much until this point I didn’t let that doubt enter my mind and I was right not to; this section killed it. Russ’ continues to dabble in a trick selection that makes your feet feel weird just watching it, and I like that. Pat O’ Rourke meticulously flows through sick lines and Seb keeps it real tasteful on spots that continue to look awesome on camera but must suck to skate. By this I mean I’d love to skate everything I’m seeing in this video.

It wasn’t until the friends montage that I noticed something which may explain my increasing love for this video: everything looks like it was filmed in Autumn or Winter. Regardless of whether this aesthetic may be inherant amongst independent Canadian or East Coast videos, I really, really dig it. The montage is a great one too; there’s appearances from the likes of Brian Delatorre, Jimmy Macdonald (who lands a front biggie so rugged and raw that I screwfaced at the sight of it), Jeff Edwards and Luke Koch.

Bradley Sheppard and Torey Goodall are next in a car-grinding section that sent me into a brief state of bewilderment that I’m only half way into this relatively short video and I’ve already seen so much untainted awesome. There’s simply nothing not to like here, and furthermore, it’s remained true to its testament: this is for the workers, those who revel in doing stuff by hand and getting a little dirty. It makes me want to get grubby and skate the spots I skated growing up again and I haven’t felt that in some time. Rumour has it that this will be Torey’s retirement part (the rumour comes from the mouth of Torey himself, but we all know how skateboarders love to say stuff like that), and I sincerely hope that isn’t too true. This section was unexpected enough given the five years since his last full part, and it was a visual treat; Torey makes you want to skate.

Marc Tison’s opening two lines on that unforgettable concrete full-pipe/mini ramp, the Montreal ‘O’, is enough to make this a stand-out section, so to speak. Not to say the other sections don’t stand out, but the sheer amount of control this man has over his skateboard is mind-bending. Pools are torn apart what follows on the ‘O’ by both Tison and Justin Gastelum is just too much. Bricks will be shat.

All that has been discussed culminates with Kevin Lowry who has proven enough times that he should be the first name to come up in your history if you type so much as ‘k’ into your Google Chrome searchbar. Any footage from this gent is outstanding and deserves your full attention. Fakie cab over a big block to switch manual (or fakie nosemanual if we’re playing that pedantic shit) down a bank? 50-50 over what looks to be the roof of a shop door? This is urban fantasy at work.

Your skateboarding life will be made better by having this video in your collection. It’s that simple. Jeremy Elkin and Jason Auger have outdone themselves in this worthy testament against the over-abundance of throwaway footage and video embeds on message boards. Stream it while you can, then go and get it.

Stanley

ELEPHANT DIRECT – TRAILER from Color Magazine on Vimeo.

Videos from companies as big as Emerica are always going to fall victim to insistent message board hype-bringers. Some people, inevitably were going to be dissappointed because no video can realistically deliver premeditated perfection, but we’re in safe hands for satisfaction here.  How can anything following in the footsteps of the boldly – and accurately – titled ‘This Is Skateboarding‘ deliver anything less than pure innate gratification to anyone who loves to watch skateboarding that they’re quietly aware and content that they will never be able to do themselves. Emerica have always done things naturally, and ‘Stay Gold‘ is no exception. From the off, it’s a city slicking, swampy bluesy rock jaunt through leather jackets and impossibly huge gaps. This is, very much, still skateboarding, the Emerica way.

Upon opening the DVD case there is a little touch that serves as part of the farewell to one of the most significant and enigmatic characters in skateboarding, Heath Kirchart. You’ve all seen that picture with him facing away from the camera by now, but to pull up a gold disc and find him smirking at you behind it is strangely heart-warming. Very nice touch, Emerica. His retrospective / new all-white section that opened the premiere is hidden as an easy-to-find easter egg, and it’s a golden reminder of how god damn progressive the people wearing these shoes have been throughout the years. No one can skate gaps and rails as naturally as Heath, and after a totally unexpected mega-ramp session in all-white do not expect to be returning to the comfort of your sofa for the rest of this video as from now on it’s legit face-as-close-to-the-screen-as-possible time. Stay gold, Heath Kirchart…

Brandon Westgate is first to the plate after some sleazy LA time-lapse (not the bad kind) driving segments and continues where he left off in the Zoo York video, which was absolutely blowing yo’ heads up son. I suspect even Andrew Brophy is a little jealous of Westgate’s pop. He chomps his way through SF with a style that recalls the aggressiveness of Grant Taylor, the control of Busenitz and the high-caffeine content of Donny Barley. Skater of the year anyone? A candidate for sure.

Bryan Herman pisses around in schoolyards for half of his part but don’t get all haters-gonna-hate just yet and say ‘woah, woah, where’s my bloody PROGRESS and INNOVATION I ordered’ because he’s given you more than enough of that already. In two parts Bryan not only trips out to some boiling hot Tom Waits (an instant winner) but has fun and summons up the spirit of schoolyard table popping that there can never be enough of. Marquis Preston follows with some outrageous trick selections into handrails that wouldn’t make me feel any more at ease walking up the stairs that he slides down. Spanky uses his full name for a mature, rocking section. Mr. Kevin Long knows Captain Beefheart… and shit is positively electric.

Collin Provost attacks transition and does a very surprising manouevre up a handrail that Leo later eats total shit on. Jamie Tancowny also tucks into a hefty platter of shit but has some tricks that are slick like rick so don’t miss. But though the new blood are doing their thing, Aaron Suski holds his own amongst the noobs. He can kill it as hard as ever with combos that are genuinely creative and balls to the wall natural style. Love it.

Braydon Szafranski looks and skates like a mess, but this is far, far from a negative comment. Expect a lot of quirky flips out of more or less everything he does, the game is being raised. So enter Figgy who swept under my radar to raise a game I had no idea he was even playing. I’m claiming he’s hacked his way in because there’s some unimaginable stuff in here. Perfect balance cheat on? I think so. This is the raddest part to come from the not so universally bummed hitters.

By now you’re probably impressed, a little surprised and already satisfied. WELL, if Stay Gold was a rollercoaster then you haven’t even hit the thrilling loop de loop which made you get in line in the first place. Jerry, Leo and Drew are worth the pricetag alone. You want proper, proper progression? Here you go…

Jerry Hsu’s part is (after the gnarliest bail montage ever) entirely switch or nollie, and it’s all stuff you wouldn’t even dream of doing regular. Leo Romero continues further down the unnatural path and does indeed skate up more handrails than anyone ever has done before. His last trick brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘WOAH WOAH WOAH, REWIND NOW’. Even if now we’re struggling to find the exact point on our iTunes player the correct term will always be ‘rewind that shit’, and this shit will be rewinded. A lot.

Andrew Reynolds is The Boss. That’s all you need to know. Go out and buy this, don’t bother skating stairs any more because all that can be done is surely achieved in Stay Gold. Surely. Well, at least until the next Emerica video.

You should also be aware that the DVD extras alone are worth the price tag (which is pretty wallet-friendly as it is). Mike Manzoori goes behind the scenes of Andrew Reynolds unparalleled perfectionist side and I cannot describe how baffled it will make you. The man is simply an unstoppable skateboarding machine, with a gloriously human personality. It’s fascinating, as are talks with the legendary Ed Templeton and footage from the Euro rippers. You should already be aware that the DVD version has the Heath Kirchart easter egg, but it also features one of the raddest Barrier Kult montages yet found by going left off the Bonus Features menu. Deer Man of Dark Woods raises the barrier bar even higher and his last three tricks will make you convert to the way of the jersey barrier doctrine. Nobless Oblige, may you continue to be a barrier shredder, Deer Man.

Stay Gold is an eye-opening watch on your first viewing, and only gets more impressive with every re-watch. Go and get it.

Stanley

If you need any further convincing, watch the video coverage of the premiere below to see what both everyone had to say about the film.

Let’s face it, the internet generation may offer us skate videos on a daily basis but how many of them carry that sense of homemade fun that made us all start skateboarding in the first place? The ratio is very unforgiving, while I couldn’t even guess how many videos have dropped this year, I can count on one hand how many were actually fun. But just one look at the packaging of Cardiff Skateboard Club’s ‘Join Us‘, the third ‘film’ to come from the treasure chest of Christian Hart’s editing suite, is an instant reminder of why skateboarding is awesome. Because it’s really just about pissing around.

Each copy comes alongside a randomly selected vinyl. Sweet lady luck smiled and blessed me with a John Williams album complete with the theme to The Deer Hunter (shit was so Oscar winning, but pales in comparison to the blank DVD packaged with it). Inside is a golden ticket that puts you in with a chance to win a very exciting prize! Whether it’s a slap up Italian meal with Dan Gambarini (who rocks a rad section backed by The Italian Job – switch 360 shove its on red banks, you know this!) you’re after or you had some ideas for Grim’s next tattoo, your prayers could be answered. All you have to do is sit through the C.S.C. video, which, whatever way you look at it is incredible. Somehow.

Filmed entirely on VHS, the skate footage of Cardiff locals, other Welsh rippers and some extended Leeds fam is all interspliced between cuts from films and television shows you’ve most likely forgotten about. Pirate Man continues to live up to his name by making mixed video tapes that would have been accused of killing the film industry if this was released in the 90s. It’s certainly packed with feel-good 90s vibes that you won’t find in any other scene video released this year. Whether you’re down with Cardiff or not, ‘Join Us’ is an invitation to all skateboarders who like to piss around and not take skateboarding so seriously.

So while intentionally aiming to take the Cardiff scene out of the gutter and straight into another one, Christian has perfected his bastardized approach to filmmaking in his most watchable video yet. Some heads continue to use his filming excursions as a way to skate exactly how they want to (Hologram honcho Kevin Barry tears down boundaries we didn’t even think existed in his closing section), while others push themselves to fill this with a whole different kind of WTF moments. Gibbsy is still out of this world and his last trick at the notorious Welsh offices will open your eyes wider than the pill heads getting off their pickle in Human Traffic. On top of that, the SOS section is one of the most fantastically thought out things  you’ll see in a skate video all year.

A glance at some of his older videos should give you an idea of what to expect. But if you are a fan of Beez or similarly low-life lo-fi editing and want the ultimate insight into the warped mind of a skateboarder in Cardiff then this is a must see. Though videos edited by an ADHD suffering Pirate who apparently has access to more VHS tapes than your nan are an acquired taste, they’re unquestionably the most bloody fun thing that could fill up your television or laptop screens right now.

I mean, just look at the packaging…

To order a copy, head over to the C.S.C. website or speak with your local Pirate. There’s no trailer because that sort of thing is saved for the VHS pre-film gold, but watch the first part of his last video, First Blood, to get an idea of what to expect…

I have been sitting on this review for two weeks, still hesitant to write it even now. The issue with skate videos is that they have the awful tendency to rise up and fall out of the ever-shorter attention span of skateboarders who lurk the internet specifically for that one quick hit, that three minute section that’s perfect for those three minutes only. Every week I hear or read the phrase ‘that’s literally the best video I’ve ever seen’ and it made me a little nervous when my brain’s hypophysis was sending those potential hyperbole-ridden endorphins around my body on the first watch of Pontus Alv’s newest film. I simply couldn’t bring myself to physically write that this is not just the best, but the most important skate video I’ve ever seen so soon after watching it. Films must be watched again and again, they must be researched and you must speak to the director before you should even consider talking about it in such a way. So, over the next two weeks I did just that and I’ve reached a conclusion that I imagine won’t change any time soon.

In Search Of The Miraculous is definitely the most important skate video ever made.

The reason? For a start, it’s difficult to describe this as a skate video, even a film. ‘Film’ has been tainted by Hollywood and marketing in the same way that skate videos are scarred by industry input and the purpose to sell a product overriding the reason why we turn a video camera on our friends and go skating in the first place. Pontus does not sell you anything other than a narrative; his personal experiences that skateboarding has either dominated or heavily influenced are pieced together in what is essentially a visual window into Pontus’ soul. A soul that’s experienced a lot more since the darker Strongest Of The Strange; this is evident in the brighter colours, the upbeat music and the rainbows. Here we look into the light of skateboarding and remind ourselves that beautiful things, like Steppe Side, summer sessions, life and this video, are temporary. As a skateboarder, watching the video is an unending motivational, inspiring and euphoric ride. It’s timeless, beautiful.

Photo: Nils Svensson

Now despite what impression you might have from these words do not think that the skateboarding takes a back seat. It’s constantly at the front. Even when the film’s early 20th century cinema influences are in full force and there is  a man standing on a beach screaming at a sky that morphs into flying balloons, birds, rainbows and smoke, this is all skateboarding.

We are guided (through consistently polite subtitles that run throughout the movie, varying from the necessary to the witty to the downright unexpected and ridiculous) through all of the hand-built spots that Pontus and his friends have made. The barrier spot gets an explosive eye-opening montage before the animation and wonderful Pontus stuff kicks in. You want gnarly stuff, you got it.

Watching the skating is thrilling on a number of levels, not just how impressive the skating is (and it’s really fucking impressive). Vicarious highs are an important thing for me when watching a skate video, and not once do I not feel every grind, every whippy transition at the ever-changing Steppe Side, I feel like I’ve skated all of these spots I’ve never seen before; I can also guarantee there’s more untouched spots here than in any other video released this year. More than this, I feel the session, the good times being had and the highs and lows associated with spot hunting that is rarely captured – even by the most respected filmmakers – at all let alone throughout the entire film.

The music is perfect and like in Strongest Of The Strange, manages to amplify everything. Mr. Danijel Stankovic’s (formally Todorovic) incredible section is only enhanced by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (you know the song). Johan Linö-Waad joins Danijel in representing Malmö, a hometown to be proud of from the skateboarders it’s produced alone. Scott Bourne makes another appearance and as ever, it’s a pleasant surprise to see those black arms flailing around while he tears shit up. Günes Özdogan is another name that springs to mind quickly when trying to recall highlights but there’s just so many; the film in its entirety is very re-watchable and it deserves to be seen again and again to take it all in.

Pontus of course has a wonderful section and skates in the way many of us wish we could, with that loose, unhinged freedom that’s met with pure control as if there is indeed a telepathic connection between Alv and his skateboard that makes all those wallrides possible. He frequently appears in other sections throughout the entire film also: a visual reminder that this is his film and his story that he has shared not just with the people in the film, but with everyone watching it. After the seventh viewing I can only echo and pass on what he himself writes at the end… Skateboarding will always be beautiful, so go out there and skate as much as you can, while you can.

Stanley

Watch the full film here:

Pontus Alv – In Search of the Miraculous from Martin Ottosson on Vimeo.