Since the mid-90s, when the Hardkiss clan was particularly prodigious in terms of hype and musical output, the glow of that eclectic west coast tribal thing has dulled. However, the hardcore shall prevail, especially the talented and Scott Hardkiss has shown his ability to survive any permutation of electronic music. He made the jump to New York a while ago, but his ethos remains decidedly left coast and on his last God Within full-length it shows. He has also shown his continued relevance by enjoining a bevvy of remixers…

If you’ve ever lived in what is now the hipster enclave that is Silverlake, or even taken a late afternoon drive around the reservoir you’ve probably seen a shirtless, overly tanned middle-aged man walking… very quickly.

Oakland is the birthplace of the Scraper Bike, a phenomenon that blew up a few years ago with kids using their bikes as canvases for expression. They were aping the tradition of customized cars, or “scrapers” that have flossed out rims, colorful paint jobs. Tyrone Stevenson, aka Baby Champ, couldn’t afford his own car so he took to his bike’s frame. Now, its a bona fide internet craze. The idea didn’t catch on until he made a song about Scraper Bikes and added it to Youtube and now it’s a craze that’s spread from Oakland to Oregon and as far as Australia and Jamaica.

Woolrich Woolen Mills has become synonymous with retro woodsman style under the guidance of creative director Daiki Suzuki, and became a buzz name amongst sneaker heads and design geeks. Known for their flannel and wool utility outer wear, Suzuki brought the legendary American brand into modern design through his trademark “imperfect” style, while maintaining a balance with the tradition that Woolrich is known for.

Mr. Brainwash is either a genius or the luckiest art-world hustler on the planet. Either way, his story is an interesting paradox of streetwiseness and seeming mental illness. Turns out he is the main character of ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop,’ the Banksy documentary that has been buzzing since Sundance. While most folks, including me, thought it unusual for the most notorious clandestine artist would be appearing on camera…

We’ve recounted a number of our experiences from SXSW last month, but we’ve only been able to share a portion of the video until now. There’s far more to the real thing than can be captured here, but you can probably get the essence of what happens to a small town when it explodes in population and decibel levels for a few weeks, rammed with bands, musicians, film and tech enthusiasts from around the globe.

Seemingly randomly, DJ Manny came into our lives on the front of a pedicab, the ubiquitous mode of transportation in Austin, especially while trying to get from end to end of town with the streets blocked off to 4-wheel traffic and filled with revelers. Sometimes the pedicab drivers are just trying to make a buck, and others are more enterprising.

Floating around the internets today is a seemingly genuine story about how a band called Fucked Up is being sued by an energy drink company for talking smack about them. You might even, if you didn’t know better, try to interpolate from the audio of their ’surprise’ tribute to fallen Jay Reatard on the street during SXSW some sort of corporate malignancy.

California music, or music bred in California as a historic phenomenon, connotes something so specific and so varied at the same time that music itself wouldn’t be the same without the Golden State. It should be noted that California isn’t actually a word in Spanish but a word used to describe a place (a state of mind) in song.

If you were following a few weeks back, we ventured out to Austin, TX for South by Southwest Music Festival, which is more of an industry confab than a festival but a party nevertheless. We saw tons of music and met loads of folks, and there were a few highlights or as we called them “highlights of hype” which were seen daily through the portals of Twitter, Facebook and many many blogs (including this one). One moment was central to the SXSW experience of late…

You may have heard the term before on these pages, or on a myriad of new media outlets, but “Chillwave” a kind of snarky term that describes (loosely) a large collection of indie artists from all over that share a common sensibility. The New York Times even used it surrounding last week’s SXSW…

Shepard Fairey, although born of eastern blood, has become somewhat synonymous with the LA urban art scene. So it was fitting that when the new owners of the LA Marathon were looking for someone to design the 25th anniversary commemorative poster, they turned to his Studio Number One. Cleon Peterson designed the commemorative poster, which not only includes three L.A.- area icons, but also the start of one of the largest marathons in the world and 2009 women’s champion Tatiana Petrova of Russia.

Like my high school basketball coach implored, “Quit looking at your feet, you’ll never get anywhere!” This is true of almost anything, especially when it comes to running. Marathon’s are a competition, but they are also a celebration of city life, and in the case of the LA Marathon “urban life.” For Los Angelenos, it’s really one of the few days that makes for a good excuse to get out of your car and explore on two feet this wildly complex and eclectic city.

As announced on Anthem magazine’s website last week, Vampire Weekend dropped a new single and video from the album Contra, “Giving Up the Gun.” While the band has been steadily crossing over (#1 on the charts), the band still hangs on to their more alternative roots. In the video, helmed by The Malloys (N.E.R.D., White Stripes, Silversun Pickups, etc.)…

Brakeless polo isn’t just for fixies. These kids take to the polo pit on BMX bikes and obviously not a care about the so-called elitism in bike polo. Obviously there’s no love loss between BMXers and Fixies, but this looks to be indication of common values. Here they take over the court and run shit.

J. Dilla is an LA institution, even though he heralded from Detroit (rock city). His fans might know him from early Tribe Called Quest, or even his contribution to neo-soul, but his champions who still tout his name and speak on the anniversary of his birth/death really seem to remembered when his skills bloomed. His last days were largely spent in Los Angeles …

Core to the Sundance festivities last month, was the first ever K-Swiss Ping Pong Challenge, where four filmmakers squared off at the net, as well as on screen. K-Swiss used the opportunity to enlist a videographer that offer a bit of Ping Pong history. Apparently the sport was born the Victorian era, when dinner was followed by clearing the table for a game with books stacked up to be used as a net.

We knew our friends at Palladium had it going on, but we didn’t know they were rocking runways… as in fashion runways. Seems that in their arsenal of canvas and rubber boots, a storied French history and hip kids, Palladium has been holding their secret weapon for next fall’s style avalanche. Seems that Neil Barrett, the famed menswear designer has collaborated…

ESPN skate coverage is usually right on the money (no pun), especially when it comes to the comings and goings of the skate kings, the folks that drive the industry and all of its innovations. Yesterday, they published a pretty timely piece, one that many other skate publications would rather avoid, about the state of the skate biz and the effects of the recession. Our boy Greg Lutzka, who is in many ways a leader in the industry (both the skills and the biz), goes on record…

Video games have come a long way, and even the iPhone app games rival anything you’d see in an arcade back in the day. So it was a matter of time before skating became a game sector of its own, and our local, Greg Lutzka is the main character of this new one called S.K.A.T.E. which is the skate version of H.O.R.S.E. You challenge the virtual Lutzka to a head-to-head game of S.K.A.T.E…