Flight

Hanni El Khatib hit a career high in terms of unfiltered creative expression with 2017s Savage Times, a sprawling set of disparate but highly entertaining cuts that when bundled together represented the final fruit of an experimental multi-volume EP project from the previous year. The Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist has come a long way from the raunchy guitar-and-drums rock & roll of his 2011 debut, branching out over subsequent years into veins of icy synth-rock, hip-hop, folk, post-punk, and whatever else seemed to catch his interest at the time. His fifth full-length, Flight, manages to recall some of the brash lo-fi attitude of his early days while still moving gamely ahead into his next phase. With the help of producer Leon Michels -- known both for his studio partnership with Mark Ronson and his production work with A$AP Rocky, Lana Del Rey, and Eminem -- El Khatib initially set out to amass a catalog of weird riffs and beats that could be sampled by others. Pleased with the results of their spontaneous jams, he and Michels decided to keep the parts to themselves and build up a set of songs around them. The resulting album plays like a contemporary bedroom pop update of the Dust Brothers sample-heavy classics of the 90s, where rap, rock, electronic, folk, and the kitchen sink collide in a panoply of pop color. Loaded with brief tracks under the two-minute mark, Flight scoots along at a breezy and entertaining pace, with El Khatib sounding confident and spunky in his role as captain/emcee. Comparisons to Beck and the Beastie Boys are apt, but El Khatib -- a lifetime skate rat and designer with his own skateboard line -- brings his own personal West Coast stamp, and the traces of his more straightforward blues-stomp rock still rear their head now and again. Songs like Alive and Colors are bursting with infectious hooks and beats, and the political takedown Leader feels almost incendiary. At times the songwriting just doesnt hold up to the inventive production, but theres plenty of ear candy to fill the gaps on this extremely fun LP. ~ Timothy Monger