Secret Sidewalk is an Oakland/San Francisco, California-based "Organic Electronic" quartet consisting of Alex "Pu22l3" Abalos, Mike Boo, Michael Reed & Marcus Stephens. While they've been a band since about 2010-11, Secret Sidewalk are just now releasing their debut full-length, Primal Dap, on their own imprint, Primal Dap Sound. Their aforementioned album, Primal Dap, will, actually, be released tomorrow, Friday, October 11, 2019. We've already posted about Secret Sidewalk's first album single, "Common Core" and now, the Electro-Acoustic quartet have returned with their next string of pre-album singles: "HARP" and "D E S C R A M B L E R." Secret Sidewalk's "HARP" music video was uploaded a matter of weeks after the "Common Core" preview clips. It appears as though "HARP" was filmed at a Secret Sidewalk gig with videography by Daniel Miramontes & Heroic-Dose.com, live projections by flatspot_., and editing by Alex Abalos, Michael Reed & Fourteen Threes. Secret Sidewalk's subdued harp-accented sounds are put on full display for "HARP" backed by an array of psychedelic imagery and trippy color projections.


Secret Sidewalk's "D E S C R A M B L E R" (or simply, "DESCRAMBLER") music video, on the other hand, was directed/animated by Justin Smith AKA Lil' Zen Ten AKA @thecitizenten, who has been a long-time friend and supporter of the band. "I can safely add that we've all known each other [for] anywhere from 10-15 years, so it was a no-brainer to say "yes," when the band asked me to animate this video," Smith told The Witzard, via email. Lil' Zen Ten says his animations for "DESCRAMBLER" were all meticulously hand-drawn directly onto his iPad Pro using only an Apple Pencil 2, he amassed roughly 2,000 frames and over 500 original drawings, which took about 100 hours to create, to help animate the less than 3-minute video. Michael Reed—who contributes drums/effects to Secret Sidewalk—states that " Primal Dap is the band's official handshake/greeting, which is derived from Planet of The Apes. It seemed only appropriate that we pay tribute to that connection in this video, as well as the evolution of our sound." Primal Dap is, not only, the name of Secret Sidewalk's debut album, but, also, the name of their newly-minted imprint, Primal Dap Sound, on which they'll be self-releasing said album.


"The band wouldn't exist, if it weren't for Justin [Smith]—he helped throw an event in San Francisco in the early 2000's where a bunch of us met. We're really excited about this video, since he's been there for the entire evolution of the band," Reed continued. "DESCRAMBLER," like most of the tracks on Primal Dap, was recorded completely on-the-spot as an improvisation; for example, Michael Reed says saxophone/effects specialist Marcus Stephens "overdubbed [the] flute in one take and that was that!" Lil' Zen Ten's "D E S C R A M B L E R" music video features animated primate versions of Mike Boo, Alex "Pu22l3" Abalos, Michael Reed & Marcus Stephens each behind their accurately-depicted instruments, set-ups, and rigs. Throughout the course of evolution/devolution, we see each member morph back-and-forth between their primate, extraterrestrial, and human(oid) forms. Secret Sidewalk's Primal Dap drops tomorrow, Friday, October 11, 2019 on Primal Dap Sound. Secret Sidewalk will be playing a Primal Dap Album Release Party at Pro Arts Gallery & COMMONS in Oakland, California on Friday, October 18, 2019 with openers Mani Draper, sndtrak, Z E N A N, and Senega B.