Joseph Shabason’s new album Welcome to Hell (released on October 20 via Western Vinyl/Telephone Explosion Records) is a tribute to and reinterpretation of the 1996 skate video from Toy Machine that propelled skaterboarders Mike Maldonado, Elissa Steamer, Brian Anderson and others including Jamie Thomas. In the video for the song named after Thomas we hear the intricate rhythms and dusky atmospheric melodies, wordless voices and lush vibraphone setting a mood like a cosmic after hours jazz session in an IDM mode. It has a cool elegance that pairs well with Thomas’ own series of navigating stair rails, streets and other environs by day and night seemingly able to make those landings with relative ease but not without the element of danger inherent to the sport and the wide variety of landscapes we see Thomas make look like no big deal, no sweat. Many people got introduced to great, cutting edge music through skating culture and skating videos from the 1970s onward and this is an example of that tradition but with not the traditional forms of music often associated with the culture. Watch the video for “Jamie Thomas” on YouTube and follow Joseph Shabason at the links below.
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