AVS # 7 | Penal Code 100 A (1996)

From Kingpin # 60

Sure, before FTC’s first video Finally, some people had dabbled in the classic soul-ish repertoire. Some. Because in 1993, rare were the ones who allowed themselves to think outside the Das Efx/De La Soul box when it came to picking tracks for a skate video. A smooth-operating, Chico Brenes Finally part set to Sade’s suave purring later (not to mention the OG Jackson 5 intervention in Video Days), it suddenly made sense. So once again with FTC’s second film, Aaron Meza digged deep for the oldies (*) and skateboarding’s soundtracks were changed for a while, launching a trend that culminated with Girl’s early flicks.
Penal Code 100 A is such a good shop video, it even made forget that there's a Coolio tune in the Howard/Carroll part –courtesy of Mike Carroll, according to Aaron. The epitome of the SF/NYC connection, it also doubled as the the swan song of the hi-top white Superstar craze and featured about fifty of the most-wanted (sometimes blunted) skaters from both coasts, on classical spots. Penal Code 100 A also drew the blueprint, music-wise and otherwise, for the Girl/Chocolate decade to come.
Welcome to the 7th installment of A Visual Sound, dedicated to all the Markus Browns and Ben Sanchezes and Keefe bros out there. Droorstalgia at its fullest, people. Again.

(click on the sleeve, see the part)

Van Morrison: Moondance
Tune used: Caravan (Bobby Puleo)

As the Cliché team has proved more than once with its infamous tours, the gypsy lifestyle has been fascinating “gadjos” for a while. Irish songwriter Van Morrison was no exception, as the Rroms prompted him to write Caravan, a tune present on his third album from 1970 –with the other inspiration being how as a kid he could distinctely hear his neighbor’s radio, even though the guy was one mile away down the road. Weird, huh? Especially the link between the two, pretty hard to figure out but hey, what do you expect from a dude nicknamed “The Man” thirty years before John Reves?

Besides being one of George Ivan Morrison Order Of The British Empire’s reliable live crowd pleasers, Caravan reached a mythical status as one of the highlights in Last Waltz, the Martin Scorcese doc about VM’s last show before his band split, in 1976. Which leads us to our own legends and Martin Scorceses : Bobby Puleo and Aaron Meza. The former showed how to pop properly out of a f-side boardslide on a curb, while the latter figured out how all this epicness could be encapsuled: via a song from an absolutely classic album by Van The Man, brewed in a time when ‘R&B’ actually had the words “rhythm” and “blues” in it. “I like how the lines are during the versus and the single tricks during the chorus,” Meza had to say about his second-favourite tune on PC100A, after Althea and Donna’s (*).

The Isley Brothers : 3+3
Tune used : Who’s that lady (Montage #3)
Allright, allright: some might argue that this section’s highlight actually starts when the music stops. Just when the brothas from the same motha stop wondering who that intriguing lady might be, the Lennie Kirk show begins. Two sick lines, one drop of death, no music, cut. This said, this 90s skater’s wet dream montage wouldn’t be this good without The Isley Brothers’ track, a 1973 reworked tune inspired by, yes, another Impressions song. Which in turn was used by the Beastie Boys on Paul’s Boutique. “They sampled this and I loved it,” Aaron says, “so I just went to the source on this one.”
Back to more skate-related concerns, though: Guy Mariano’s come back. About as big as The Isleys’. Hailing from Cincinnati in 1954, they consisted originally of four brothers and lasted only one year with the original line-up, before they disappeared. The reason being, one of them died in an accident. Three years later, using the reliable Phoenix tactic, they rose from their ashes and went on as a trio, briefly using a guitar player named Jimi Hendrix. After elaborating some pretty cool soul/funk singles and LPs, success came when the Isleys somehow looked in their drawers and found two more brothers, plus one brother-in-law. Hence their album’s name, as simple as what they had become : 3+3.
After various disbandings, platinum albums, deaths and add-ons, things became fairly more complicated, so why get into it? All you need to know is that some of the most powerful (sometimes political) soul music came from this band of bros that sang a tune called Fight The Power 25 years before Public Enemy. Also, that once upon a time, a skateboarding montage bared names such as Weston Correa, Pepe Martinez, Robbie Gangemi, Rob Carlyon, Ben Liversedge and... wait, was that photographer Lance Dawes, almost a decade before Chomp? Meza truly invented everything.

Sly and The Family Stone : There’s a Riot Goin’On
Tune used : Family Affair (Montage #2)
Skateboarding’s always loved lyrics that matched the “montage spirit,” for some reason. While the Plan B guys were appreciating “a little help from their friends” in Virtual Reality, FTC saw the whole thing pretty much as “a family affair”. Cute. “I think I picked the people for this section that were actually family,” Meza explains, “like Marcus and Lavar McBride and the Keefe brothers, or people who were really close friends. Pretty corny, huh?”
Anyway, Sly’s little affair wasn’t any less rambunctious, as he stated on his 1971, Rhodes piano-led, synth-drummed mega-hit co-sung with his sister Rose. Family Affair definitely helped propelling the band’s fifth, darker and more conscious album to the very top of the charts. A funny destiny when you keep in mind that the tune itself got recorded in a Wenebago, at least part of it. And also that it was this close to becoming nothing at all: according to the biography Sly and the Family Stone An Oral History, the singer felt that Family Affair wasn't strong enough to be released as a single. Imagine that. What would Aaron Meza have done? Use Thank You For being A Friend by Andrew Gold, of Golden Girls fame?

(*) Disclaimer : Please note that if one of the cleverest-matching tunes of all video-times, Althea and Donna’s Uptown Top Ranking, “Nah pop no style” (on Huf's section), isn’t part of this selection, it’s simply because it is drowned in one of these disappointing reggae albums (jut re-listened to it, I confirm) –and we’re all about fully classic LPs over here, sorry. What do you mean, what’s a LP?

Re:music | Adventures in chill with Nicolas Malinowsky

Ever heard of Rémy Bricka, l’homme-orchestre? Nicolas Malinowsky would be his skate counterpart, collecting slashes the way your grandpa accumulated war medals. For those who don’t know, "Mémé" happens to be a really good skater straight outta the ‘90s school of Shell-toeing (see pic), a DJ/producer –he did among others the music for JJ’s part in Cliché's Europa-, a video animator, and also quite a stunning, meticulous graphic designer whose hand-drawn fonts always leave crowds of humid fans in awe, as his adventures with Chill mag, and now with his Ill Studio buddies, attest.
To sum it all up, a musician who skates, a skater who makes music, the link to A Visual Sound was almost too obvious. Here are French Skateboarding’s own Rémy Bricka (minus the fireworks)’s picks when it comes to his 5 favorite tunes, ever, on video parts.

1. Steely Dan: Peg
As used in: Let The Horns Blow
(Scott Johnston’s part)
“I watched this video a lot, and particularly Mr Johnston’s part. This came out when skating was becoming stylish again, i.e. when the whole thing was about doing lines (preferably in SF event though in my case it was more in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, but it worked too) based on well-selected, basic tricks to be landed in the cleanest possible way. A whole different approach than trying a new late-underflip combo a la Damon Byrd.
Anyway, this song fits perfectly Scott Johnston’s part, it’s catchy and sums up for me a certain spirit in skateboarding : going downhill in half cabs, wearing a (not-so-baggy) Droors jeans and a (mad Circle in this case) white t-shirt.”

2. Royal Flush: Worldwide inst.
As used in: Mouse
(Gino & Keenan’s part)
“OK, so this one has been my party hit for the past ten years. You know the four skaters present will always go off when you play this inter-planetary hit... For the true nerds [French nerds, he meant -Seb’s note], the must-have on this instrumental is the freestyle by Lunatic, X-men an Oxmo Pucino, recorded live on 88.2 FM in 1996, during the best ever moment in French rap history.
Back to Gino, since he’s pretty much the best skater in the world, any track that would be ran on his parts would become dope anyway, BUT this Royal Flush did have a little something. The little squeaky sample works perfect, not to mention the acapella, which I remixed all over the place. Recently, I reworked it with the instrumental from Rustie's Just For Kicks. By the way, I really love Rustie, the latest add-on to the “new comer from Glasgow” category… It made me think that I can’t wait for the new Chocolate video.”

3. Jacqueline Taieb: Le coeur au bout des doigts
As used in: Stereo promo
“This one, Jason Lee and Dune killed me [the original expression, in French, was “they sawed my anus in two”, which alas doesn’t work that good in English –Seb’s] when they pulled it out of their trenchcoat. Jacqueline Taieb was one of these female “yéyé” singers as we say, she put out an amazing LP in 1967 called The French Mademoiselle. Ca défouraille sec! I think you can find the video for her song La Fac De Lettres on Dailymotion. If you ever find it on vinyl, buy it cause it’s worth gold these days, and not only in Japan.
Le coeur au bout des doigts represents the ultimate class as far as Frenchitude goes. I have to say Stereo already hit a spot with Gainsbourg [and this one], but I give them the Digger’s Award to have dug this one out. Watch out though and stay away from Jacqueline’s ‘80s stuff, it really sucks”.

4. De La Soul: Odle of O’s
As used in: Goldfish
(Mike Carroll’s part)
“One of my favorite Mike Carroll’s parts, because of its tune too. De La Soul’s smoothitude matches really well Mike’s. I thought about it cause I just found the Saturday EP, which was missing in my “emergency party dancefloor hits” collection. It reminded me how I used to listen so much to 3 feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead in these days, and how it was such good hip hop. Hip hop was better before anyway, and if I dared I’d say it’s skateboarding’s case too, but I would sound too much like an old fart. Plus skating still looks cool today, especially when it’s Lucas doing it, or Gino. Still the best, even without skating!”

5. Casual: Lose In The End
As used in: Virtual Reality
(Mike Carroll’s part)
“Allez, another Mike Carroll part that rules, as much as Casual’s album. What was it called? Early hyphy? This one, I bled the cassette dry in my walkman, going to school when it was still dark after having smoked weed with my friend Jimmy til 5 in the morning. It was also a very good office pick when we were doing Chill. Actually, it’s one of these hip hop albums that can be listened to on and on, like a good fusion jazz album. It might be looped and looped, the whole Bay Area/Carroll/Sheffey feeling you get from it just never gets old.”

Also, here are a few random bonuses that Nico wanted to add too:
. Company Flow : 8 Steps To Perfection (Josh Kalis in The Sixth Sense)
. Cream : White Room (Jeremy Wray, Second Hand Smoke)
. Chocolate Milk : Actions Speak Louder Than Words (Richard Mulder, The Chocolate tour)
. Steppenwolf: Born To Be Wild (Chico Brenes, Love Child)

Intermission

... Not dead yet ! Just kinda travelling up and down at the moment. This will be updated sometime this week, I hope and almost swear. It will be about full-on Droorstalgia, as it often occurs. Let the horns blow!