🔴 Top 10 Of 2024
This is the fourth year that Free have been gracious enough to ask me to write one of these yearly round ups of the video uploads on the Free Skate Mag channel. Before we go any further, I am duty bound to point out once again that there is no attempt to say that the ten videos selected below are in any way objectively the ‘best’ videos that Free have hosted. All this represents is me watching the 104 videos uploaded onto their YouTube channel this year (and yes, I watched every one in its entirety) and picking the ten that most spoke to me personally.
I’m no expert and I make no claims to being right either. Likewise, due to deadline constraints and a need to observe dates of upload, several excellent videos did not make it into this list despite deserving to. Shout out to the likes of TNSC ‘Prizefight’, Zander Mitchell’s ‘Dial Tone’, ‘Hart’, the releases from emerging brand Sensi and the many other excellent films not discussed here. The thing is, they’re all free to watch (pun intended) so if you think my selection stinks, then just do your own innit.
Massive respect and love to everyone creating content for the culture. Without you, we are nothing. Merry Christmas.
– Ben Powell
‘Off the Ring’ by Macéo Moreau
This selection is as much to do with its means of production and the spirit motivating it as with the skateboarding featured. The older I get and the further into the ‘normal world’ I sink, the more I cringe at the entitlement and complete lack of self-awareness surrounding the filming of skate videos. People screaming and having tantrums in public, smashing up public property because they ‘can’t get their line’ and generally acting like embarrassing toddlers. Even worse is the whole ‘let’s decamp to a place we don’t understand, flash expensive equipment in front of the poor and then act confused when you get robbed’ mindset.
Off the Ring is none of the above and stands in direct opposition to the kind of social awkwardness that I’ve just made fun of. In the accompanying magazine article, the man behind the lens, Macéo Moreau, talks at length on the deeper context of this brilliant 10-minute video filmed entirely in a suburb of Paris vilified by the national and international press as a lawless centre of crime and general danger. He explains how he and his friends all grew up in the area that this video focuses on, (Seine-Saint-Denis), and how they enjoy the act of skateboarding and filming in those areas labelled as no-go zones by the majority of Parisians in a completely different way to time spent in some of the more celebrated spots of the city like Republique. This video is basically a love letter to the area, to the people who live there and to the many spots that you won’t see in any other videos. Pressed on whether the ‘93’ (the area’s official administrative number) can be as sketchy as the barely disguised classist coverage of the area would suggest, Macéo regales Arthur with a tale of the crew being robbed, but adds the caveat that this only happened due to an atypical failure on their part to engage with the locals at the spot where they were filming. Generally-speaking, engaging with the residents, sharing what they’re up to and making friends with locals is enshrined in the process here and as such, it should be celebrated as an antidote to the frankly colonial endeavours of a lot of skateboard video-making these days.
Trick and spot wise, Off The Ring is well rounded. If you love seeing mad configurations of inner-city concrete getting sessioned then you will love this: everything from perfect marble manny pads to what can only be described as concrete moonscapes pop up. You don’t need to worry about seeing yet another trick at the Trocadero here as this is the other Paris where few dare to tread. As I’ve already said, the skateboarding is top notch but it’s really the love that Off The Ring has for the areas they’re filming in and for the local people who they interact with along the way that rings loudest here.
Skateboarding loves to pride itself as an outsider activity but, if we’re being completely and brutally honest, when it comes to the aspect of skate culture around film making it is really a very privileged and middle-class activity. Within that world view, poorer areas only have value as places to take from, full of people to be avoided and feared: Off The Ring stands in total opposition to this and for that it ought to be applauded. Skating is fundamentally just a way to play in public so given that, why wouldn’t you want to share that fun with others? Don’t be afraid of the poor, they are the same as you, just less lucky. Don’t be an entitled bellend. Be nice to people. Share and explore. Massive respect to all involved in this video – you have restored my dwindling faith in skate film making!
New Balance Numeric – Wake up Massi
Let’s not fuck about – it’s been one hell of a year for New Balance. We all heard the grumbling about Intervals being sterile or too corpo or whatever and obviously you’re entitled to your opinion even if you won’t admit to cribbing it off Joa. To the more rational amongst us though, the statement – ‘global shoe brand makes polished video featuring some truly incredible skateboarding from their A-list pros’ – doesn’t really sound that contentious. “But, but, the frame rate, but, but the music, but, but the B-roll…” Mate, what were you expecting? Low definition VX footage of people riding up the outside of Dick Rizzo’s launderette? Come on…
With that out of the way, it’s time to throw confetti in NB’s direction once again courtesy of this thirteen-minute gem representing some of their lesser known (globally-speaking) European heads. It’s become evident to all that whilst some brands seem to focus on swallowing other people’s riders and/or scatter-gunning free kicks at anyone with more than 10 Instagram followers, others (and in this case categorically NB) are more invested in discovering, showcasing and nurturing new talent. And yeah, I know the likes of Tyler Surrey and Charlie Munro have industry back-stories, but you’d be hard pressed to say the same about Dee Collins or Evan Johnson or the titular Massimo Cristofoletti.
What you get with ‘Wake up Massi’, aside from the comic title relating to Massimo’s cat-like ability to sleep for 23 hours a day, is an expertly crafted insight into some extremely high-level street skating from dudes you might not already be bored of. Lots of super close fish-eye lines in the pertharms tradition featuring some classic Balearic spots and a brace of less familiar ones.
Andrew Verde starts it off with well-dressed ledge tech elan throwing his previous life as a teenage handrail dominator into sharp relief. Mr Verde released another full section with Free only a month after this part dropped so it’s clear that he’s on one currently.
Trick-wise you’re deep in Ledge Country – switch 270 fs ollie gap out to regular backtail fakie is not a compound noun you’re likely to type out that many times in your life. Whilst NBD claims are no doubt unfounded, name me another person who made this slippery pretzel of a move look that authoritative. Also, you need to be absolutely shit-hot at skating to not suffer by inviting extended cameos from Tyler Surrey and Flo Martain into your section. My man is far from green.
Leeds-own Dale Starkie follows Andrew with a distinct change of pace. Where once there were European plazas and perfect marble, Dale switches to an array of atrociously rough looking bank obstacles dotted throughout the UK. The one taildrop off the sign into the cobbled bank really does need to be seen firsthand to be appreciated for its truly unskateable nature. Disgusting. Disclaimer: I’ve known Dale since he was about 13 and have watched his progression from kid-who-will-kickflip-off-anything to his current manifestation as rough-bank-manager and it’s great to see. Shout out to fellow Leeds-associated heads Will Sheerin and Connie Gascoyne who both have little cameos in Dale’s section. If you ever meet him and he offers to take you to some ‘spots’ just run away.
Following a short but shocking couple of tricks from Space Cadet Evan Johnson (go watch his ‘Headz’ video part for more) Wake up Massi closes with two duos. First up is Ireland’s (or to be totally accurate, Derry’s) bespectacled mega pop merchant Dee Collins and ex-Primitive UK mainstay Charlie Munro. Dee turned a few heads last year, not least by rifling off seemingly endless over-knee-high tech bangers down the stairs at Bay Sixty6 in London during the Trom Knox shoe launch demo. If you like seeing people pop and catch their tricks at levels of rare peak-execution, then you’re going to love this. Geggs man!
The final duo features what amounts to a full part from the somniferous and languid Italian Massimo Cristofoletti with solid cameo back up from Davide Holzknecht. My God, there are some ridiculously good lines in here: the fast-footed manny line ending on the perfectly executed manual fs bigspin and the two-tricker ending on the backtail heelflip out are just pisstake. Basically, if you can film a three-trick line with one of the tricks being a fs 180 on flat and it still makes it into a video of this standard, then you better know that your style is Bellissimo.
All in all – this is a beautifully made video with incredible skating and music where the filmer/editor has just let the skateboarding speak without shoehorning some nonsensical ‘vision’ into it to inflate their own ego. I’ve probably watched this 50 times since it came out and I enjoy it still.
(Re)Existe – Ambiente Skateshop
You already know what time it is – skate shops are the source of everything. They are the nourishment that builds friendships, scenes, careers and memories that last lifetimes.
I had several brilliant shop full-length videos to pick from this year, but space constraints meant that I could only select one to write about. With that said – big up Nozbone, MFT, Emage, Freedom Boardshop, Plus skate shop and all the other skate stores making videos and highlighting their scenes. You all rule!
So now, onto (Re)Existe from Ambiente Skate shop: when your opener is a snowboard level tweaked melon out of a massive bump to bar drenched in a 1970s Driller Killer soundscape complete with post slam stigmata then yeah, this is going to be truth, know that. Brazil has featured heavily in every one of these previous Top Tens and that’s because Brazilian skateboarding is fucking incredible. That statement isn’t intended to convey any revelations though: Brazilian skateboarding has been globally influential whilst also being profoundly independent of the US-led zeitgeist since the beginning.
Arthur Ribiero sets the tone with a track by a band composed of 3 of the original members of Napalm Death. If your skateshop video kicks in with a Scorn track from a 1992 LP by a band from the UK then we’re not looking at TikTok morsels here – this is some realness. Music choice declares much about your intentions and cultural standpoint. Slinging on ‘whatever is trending’ and editing your footage in order of trick difficulty is not creating culture. Sorry. This video represents the opposite to that. So does Arthur Ribeiro kickflipping head high Vietnam green fences out of a literal lump of mud. In fact, this guy’s trick selection is off the wall – switch inward heel a hench road gap followed up by a half pressure flip late shove-it (I think) – moving mad! All black outfits, dark industrial aural backdrop, otherworldly pop – yep. This guy is on the come up.
The next guy, Murilo Dos Santos, takes the ambience (pun intended) established by Arthur and runs straight into the jungle with it. Accompanied by Brazilian sludge pioneers and indigenous community advocates Deafkids – Murilo mixes up huge pop, strong ledge maths and some perilous looking handrail footage into a part that seethes with focus. The fact that he’s wearing about 5 different shoe brands throughout the section makes it even cooler.
Just when you’re done readjusting your mind to take in this opening duo, up pops the otherworldly-looking Marjorie Silva, accompanied by yet more genre-defying Brazilian post punk madness. Last year’s list introduced me (and presumably some of you) to the talents of Kanya Abel, another Brazilian woman given shine by a full-length Brazilian shop video. For 2024, it’s Marjorie Silva’s turn with Ambiente providing the platform.
Off the bat, Marjorie produces some alternative universe bars – her tattoos, spicy outfits and Elven ride aways alone will be enough to make you remember this one. Favourites for me were the straight no comply manny and the line with the no comply shove down the stairs. Nonconformity FTW.
The penultimate guy on this down-home masterpiece is one for the tran appreciators as Tauan Taures can fuck a bowl right up, no diggety. Power, finesse, speed and amplitude – the guy’s got it all. Halfway through, Tauan Taures is joined by Tauan Torres just to confuse the non-Portuguese speakers even further and this duo switch up the heat with heavy footage on every obstacle you can imagine. I’m still not 100% on which one is which, or if they are indeed two separate humans, but what I am sure of is – the skateboarding is fucking amazing. So many spots here where you’d deffo need a Tetanus jab. Outstanding handrail and hubba onslaught for the last minute too. Keep your eyes open.
Regarding open eyeballs – last up is Akira Shiroma whose Japanese sounding name probably speaks to the fact that Brazil has the largest Japanese diaspora outside of Japan itself. Again, this guy is on his own tip: absurd trick choices like switch bs heelflip Spanish grind in lines, or front lip nollie heel out (yeah, I’ve never seen one before either) mixed with extreme after-bangs and a seeming ability to skate everything, guarantees the legitimacy of him getting last part. Nosebluntslide nollie big heel out at full speed on a not insubstantial ledge – are you fucking mad? There’s so much weird but incredible skating in this part, set to some more bonkers music (this time 1970’s Danish prog rock) that you’re going to probably need a glass of cold milk afterwards. He even finishes on a darkside. Unironic slow clapping mate – amazing.
For the record – Ambiente Skateshop is in a place called Goiânia, 120 miles south of the capital Brasilia. What you do with that information is your business but it’s a tough time for skate retail anywhere in the world right now so think about where you spend your money. Don’t be one of those lazy sheep throwing coins at Jeff Bezos just because it’s a bit easier. Support those invested in our culture if you value its continued existence.
Finally, if any of you have wondered why I’ve also bothered to give so much detail about the music used on this, please bear with me for a second. Nobody is making a Brazilian shop video and accidentally using experimental Brazilian D-Beat or Danish Prog Rock: this is art created by and for the community it serves. Nobody’s opened Red Bull’s free music library and randomly selected ‘free track 136’: all these music choices mean something, and each track reflects the character of the skater foregrounded. That ladies and gentlemen is how you make a skateboard video that has some impact. Massive respect to filmer/editor Ademar Badê and to everyone involved in whatever capacity. Go learn about some new shit. Respeite e ame o Brasil sempre.
Concrete Jungle Foundation – ‘El Cerrito’
As with the previous skate shop video selection, El Cerrito was but one of a few excellent films about the now well-established DIY movement in contemporary skate culture and its intersection with NGO advocacy and development projects. If this kind of wholesome content floats your boat, then I’d suggest that you also watch Suvilahti Event Hub, the Vans Set in Concrete series and/or A Place to Skate about a similar Concrete Jungle Foundation (CJF) endeavour in Morocco, all of which await your eyes on Free’s YouTube page. All of those represent the same belief systems and document similar processes, namely that the act of collective creation in a skateboard context can deliver learning way beyond the confines of tricks and skatepark etiquette.
El Cerrito, which Google Translate informs me means ‘the little hill’ in Spanish, features an international cast of CJF associated skateboarders coming together with the local Peruvian skate scene of Cerrito de la Virgen to create a replacement for their self-built skatepark that has been lost due to some unexplained occurrence. As with all things CJF-focused, it’s clear from the outset that despite the volunteers descending en masse on this small residential district of Peru, there is categorically no sense of paternalism or imposed expectations or outcomes from the outsiders – the whole project is led by the local skaters and is collaborative through and through. This sits perfectly with CJF’s mission statement:
“We build skateparks and support communities that promote health and well-being, access to education, gender equality, community development and economic growth.”
Presented in a standard documentary format, El Cerrito mixes up talking heads from all the stakeholders with an overarching narration and gives access to all aspects of the process. This transparency once again lays bare the righteous intent, with each decision made during planning and construction explained and debated by all involved prior to being acted upon.
The narrator fills in the geographic information, which if you take nothing else from, ought to at least give food for thought regarding the depths to which skateboarding captures the heart. Cerrito de la Virgen’s suitability to host a DIY skatepark built by locals and outsiders becomes clearer too when you learn that the entire area was constructed from nothing following a flood which devasted the original infrastructure. And that all roads in this place are made of sand. We’re not dealing with trivialities here.
As the film progresses, local politicians and activists speak on the socio-economic situation for residents. Particularly on how the State has completely failed them and on the ways in which the residents of Cerrito de la Virgen have worked together to provide necessities for themselves. It’s into this context that the passion fuelling the skatepark build takes on deeper meaning. And that’s why I picked this upload.
It’s easy to get lost in the frivolity of SOTY and YouTube disses and shoes but that’s all just limited-vision, Global North shit. Watching this will refocus your attitude towards the simple joy of rolling about on a skateboard. Inspirational stuff.
Part of the point of these Top Ten lists, at least as far as I can work out, is to take the piss and poke fun at some of the absurdities of self-appointed ‘serious’ skateboard culture. That notion is irrelevant here because this is a film documenting the creation of a community. There is no hubris or sanctimony here. Just watch it. It will make you smile.
The eventual outcome of the project, the skatepark itself, is opened only a month after they started, to an absolute sesh. Every minute of effort, love and learning that went into transforming a vacant sand-filled plot of land into a skatepark is appreciated on wheels, by everybody. It’s hard to overstate the positivity in this film. On a global scale humanity is often a poison but on smaller microcosmic levels we’re not too bad. This place will nourish the youth for generations. That’s what matters. Huge respect to all involved in whatever capacity.
Go visit the CJF website to get involved yourselves. Spread some love if you can.
Dida by Bart
This is a single skater part that feels like a full-length video. And I mean that in a very complimentary way. As soon as it starts, some guy is recklessly firing his soft tissue off the top of buildings and sliding through bushes on his teeth into busy roads.
This is presented as standard behaviour to the viewer, as the first minute-long ‘part’ is entirely composed of similarly ill-advised descents. My man likes to ride down some shit basically. Drop ins justifiably get called out by those invested in the progression of skateboarding but there’s being a lo-fi, retro pussy and then there’s riding into 20-foot-high Brutalist bus stops that lead directly into motorways. Levels, you with me?
Drop in guy conquers some epic pieces in this opening segment. It’s edited rapidly as he rolls and drops into seven levels of heinously unskateable inclines. Hair-brained and audacious top end mosher-drop action on some unfamiliar and bizarre looking Polish architecture. He then back fiftys a 20 plus stair hubba with less than a metre of run out at Mach Ten. Unsurprisingly, this hammer ends up with him clutching his genitals and writhing around in agony. Lunatic.
We’re now 1 minute 40 seconds in and I feel like I’ve already watched a full part. Heart and soul shit. Cue titles, ‘Dida by Bart’ they say. Okay, is this the same guy? Part 2 then…
Heads up: if you’re filming a line on some striking purple obelisks for your video part then do yourselves a favour – match your shirt and shoes to the spot. Then some sad old motherfucker is going to notice and write about it. Jokes: respect the hustle. Mike York based his career on yellow t-shirts, so you do you Dida. This second part isn’t what the drop in montage had led me to expect. Dida 2.0 goes in: divine execution on tranny backside noseblunt slides and yeah, he’s doing slappy crooks on curbs but he’s also riding into two storey banks covered in moss straight afterwards. Go on big lad!
It doesn’t hurt that it’s set to an amazing track by the band Priests either because Bartosz Motyka knows how to cut daring skating at high tempo to hectic and exciting music extremely well. Shout out my keyboard posse. The track fits his skating perfectly with lyrics about smashing your skull on concrete whilst Dida rolls onto aluminium handrails with huge drops at the side and/or ollies across lengthy grass gaps landing on the bevelled edge of a grimy looking duck pond. The lack of self-concern shown reminded me of Jack O’Grady at points given the ‘if this goes wrong then you’re on crutches’ vibe.
With Dida’s early bath in the duck pond comes the third section of sorts filmed entirely at one cool looking banked pond spot (maybe the same pond that he fell into but drained?). This short bank-tech outro is set to some upbeat electronica and allows Dida’s video to end on a lighter, less potentially injurious note which is unorthodox but works well. Basically, this one defies a lot of skate video conventions to serve up fresh talent, fresh spots and a soundtrack that doesn’t sound like aspirational Dubai elevator music. Ziom, to było zajebiste!
Sam Narvaez – Alegre
There are innumerable benefits to the relatively recent influx of female skateboarders into what had previously been an almost exclusively male-dominated activity. Whilst equality, inclusivity and new perspectives are all highly laudable and noble additions to the milieu, for me, one of the lesser discussed but hugely significant of these benefits is the diversification of the standard ‘skater fit’.
Samantha Narvaez may, on the surface at least, appear to represent the perennial staple of nice pants, t-shirt and tasteful adidas but underneath this patina of the quotidian lie new vistas. Case in point, the diaphanous all salmon-pink number for the front board on the back of the bench. Or, of equal sartorial import, the Kandinsky inspired tank top fit married with the line in Paris, or indeed the black pyjama pants with the all-over sun print. You may scoff here but ask yourself this – if skater fits don’t matter then why do people still remember Kareem Campbell’s Guess jeans 20 years later? Or peak-chronic, Guilty era Steve Olson’s hip hop anime character in a wig outfits? Yeah, you know you care. Don’t try front.
I had the great pleasure of seeing Samantha skate in the flesh a few summers back during a European Krooked tour. At the time she was suffering under the yoke of a serious knee injury and, despite running one of those exoskeleton knee braces, was casually ripping up the ledges at my local skatepark. Good style is universal, and she has it, in spades. The title of this short but enjoyable clip is ‘Alegre’ which I believe means ‘cheerful’ in Spanish and it’s extremely fitting. Samantha’s skateboarding looks great, oozes with steez and it comes across as though she’s genuinely having a good time whilst filming. Add to that a variety of spots and destinations, cameos from Jenn Soto, Paul Shier, Nestor Judkins and her brother, plus an abundance of B-roll shots implying happiness and you’re onto a winner here. Especially if it’s currently freezing where you live.
If you could distil hazy summer sessions into a bottle, it’d probably smell like this part. I’m a big fan and look forward to more from one of sponsored skateboarding’s most relaxed and tasteful styles. Watch this and then go somewhere warm to skate with your mates. If you can make backlips on ledges look as good as her ender, then you’ll be buzzing for real. Big up…
Flo Mirtain – Thirtysomething
New Balance have already been strongly gassed up in this selection so let’s do it again, completely justifiably. It was tempting to simply use the following YouTube comment from our esteemed colleague Nick Ricciardi here because it’s true: “Flawless. Zero violations.” Couldn’t agree more Nick.
Flo Mirtain has been around for a long time and has been this good for at least 20 years so whilst it’s no surprise to most of us that skinny man is still capable of putting out a video this hard, what is surprising is the apparent ease with which this late 30s maniac is able to drop ledge and manny progression like this whilst holding down a proper (ish) job. All that shit about certain brands only employing skateboarders? Here’s the evidence.
The duo of Flo and Vincent Jugnet have been making videos and eroding the marble ledges of Lyon’s Hotel de Ville together for an age and, like all good double acts, if there’s nothing broken then why fix it? Ledgetarians are going to be in heaven here – every trick done the hardest possible way at maximum speed; every grind or slide locked and held for maximum time and plenty of spots that astute viewers will recognise from the work of Fred Mortagne and classic Cliché videos. This is not to say it’s all ledge tech though. Flo might be getting on a bit, but he’s got no issues casually slinging a switch heel down that huge double at the back of Palais de Tokyo, nor of travelling to Brazil to backside flip fakie manny on above knee-high ledges.
Basically, this is how anybody who loves a tech fleece wants to run it.
As my man Mr Ricciardi put it “Zero violations”.
Vans – Valomerkki
Given that the last few Vans Europe videos have had drinking-related themes, often via the anthropomorphised beer cooler ‘Tom’, it was no surprise to translate the Finnish title of this one and discover that it means the equivalent of ‘last orders at the bar’. Whilst the po-faced amongst us could question the morality of encouraging boozing, anybody who watches this and realises that the first landed trick is a ludicrous back fifty down a massive, kinked rail performed by the star of the show Simon Hallberg, will probably allow the ‘gonna get fucked up tonight’ implications of the title. There was a lot to recommend this one. The Vans Europe team is hands down one of the most diverse in the shoe game: all nationalities, genders and sexualities mixing to go ham in the Finnish capital, which seems to be a very popular destination right now. Equally, Valomerkki sits midway between a standard tour video and a mini documentary so, as with the opening Hallberg hammer, you get a chance to see the process involved with skating at this kind of level and its documentation. Add to that many unintentional lolz via the voice overs and you’re set.
Quite how that statement “That was so legendary, right now” makes any kind of sense is lost on me but it made me chuckle hard. Format-wise we’re taken on a tour of Helsinki and its suburbs which appear to be bursting with amazing looking brand new spots. One can only assume that with Helsinki being the capital city of a very affluent country, new marble shit is getting built there on the regs. Plus, I guess their street spots are only skateable for half the year which means they degrade more slowly than in southern Europe?
The voice over explains how this was a 30-person tour with three tour vans and due to the time of year, the skies never got dark. That explains the abundance of footage then, along with the diversity of obstacles encountered. Whilst Simon Hallberg is screaming at kinked rails there’d be another van packed with eager heads on their way to sesh artificial grass covered climbing walls somewhere else. Pretty much a recipe for logged success.
Stand outs wise – you really can’t go far wrong with Willow, Doobie and Pfanner crushing big rails nor with Tania Cruz and Helena Long repping for the fairer sex. Anybody with a mind and eyes is a big fan of Martino Cattaneo’s ability to do the unthinkable on the unrideable and Earl Parker (one-time Big Brother mag editor when it was good) lookalike Aleksi Suovarra brings the thinking man’s ledge goodies to the party.
I could go on about the oodles of amazing skating in this but honestly, just watch it and you’ll know why it got picked.
Sponsored skateboarding on trips is so far removed from the everyday experiences of you and I but at the same time fundamentally identical. Aside from the potential of putting yourself in hospital of course. Time limits, camera pressure, only ever probably visiting spots once and sponsor expectation are a heady mix. For those it doesn’t break, its results can be magical. Big up the waffle.
Madjik by Arthur Ducat
In a lot of ways I’m surprised that this one made it onto the list. It’s very, very of-the-moment with more ride-on grind variations than an old man curb video, a fact sure to raise the hackles of most self-appointed arbiters of cultural acceptability. However, alongside the weight carried by the excessive no ollie moves is a lovely overall atmosphere. I’m writing this with my 7th dose of Covid, or Flu or whatever the hell we’re calling a debilitating cold these days so watching this group of friends tackling the medieval back streets of Annency set to Bungalovv’s Argentinian electronica is just what the doctor ordered, (along with half a bottle of whiskey and enough Mal a la gorge medication to sink Asda).
Whilst there is an instantly noticeable preponderance of ride-on tricks, you’ll easily forget about it due to the sensuous music and glittering French summertime that this has been filmed during. It kind of reminded me of those first two or three hours when your dodgy Ecstasy pills kick in and everything is imbued with wide-eyed and completely non-judgemental joy. Something I could use a huge injection of right now if I’m honest. Not drugs though, I’d drop dead these days if I went near the Jason Dills.
Skate-wise, a lot of the people on this are somewhat interchangeable really: similar types of skateboarding performed en masse with the crowd congratulations you’d expect in that scenario. Young women ride off rooftops whilst equally fresh-faced young men nearly eunuchize themselves riding up full length road signs.
A lot of the action seems to be taking place in the fabled French countryside too, or at least far removed from the inner-city brutalism of the earlier Off The Ring and that, in and of itself, confers significance on this one for me. The filming is lovely, the music maintains a dreamy vibe, and it looks as though these cats genuinely do all love each other. As already stated, my major issues with this were trick form repetition and a couple of pairs of truly diabolical TK Maxx jeans dotted throughout. With that said however, the ride-on onslaught gets increasingly gnarly as the video ends such that even somebody funding their lifestyle by talking shit on other skaters would be hard pressed to dismiss this one. I loved it. If you don’t, who cares really? If it were Max Palmer doing the exact same stuff, you’d all be racing to applaud, be honest…
Jonathan Sjöberg – Smudgy
It was quite a shock to see how low the view count is on this one but I’m going to go ahead and ascribe that to footage fatigue and the very recent release of Polar’s ‘I Don’t Even Know How To F****ing Airwalk’. I’m assuming that Jonathan is either being groomed for a spot on Polar’s team or he’s already on because this intense 3-minute calling card absolutely rings with the approach to skateboarding that Pontus has built his reputation on. Sponsorship quandaries aside: this Smudgy part is very much in the tradition of ‘zero fucking about – just have it’ which had become increasingly rare in the current context where everybody making skate videos wants to be an artist or whatever. What you get here is straight up reckless ATV skating – from Burnside and scary looking Oregon DIY transition to my man early grabbing off shed rooftops and into sheets of plywood that snap as he lands – there is no pretence here. Accompanied by high-octane screamo, Jonathan is evidently here to make a point and that point seems to be, ‘move out of the fucking way or I’ll land on your head!”
At points I was reminded of skate clips from previous eras – the lack of B-roll and the rapid paced editing keeps you focused on the skating and, as is always the case, if as a relative unknown you can run cameos from Polar pros in your part without it detracting from your own footage then you’re killing it. If this guy can stay out of hospital, then I predict big things for him. Extra points to the editor for the subliminal Alien Workshop ‘Memory Screen’ cutaways too. Always prefer that to preening shots of somebody trying to look moody in their free clothes. As always though, don’t take my word for it – go watch it yourselves.