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Hanni El Khatib: Head in the Dirt

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Innovative Leisure
Released: 2013.04.30
Time:
 33:10
Category: Rock
Producer(s): Dan Auerbach
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.hannielkhatib.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2014
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Head in the Dirt (D.Auerbach/P.Keeler/H.E.Khatib) - 3:18
[2] Family (D.Auerbach/H.E.Khatib) - 2:27
[3] Skinny Little Girl (D.Auerbach/P.Keeler/H.E.Khatib) - 3:55
[4] Penny (D.Auerbach/B.Emmett/P.Keeler/H.E.Khatib) - 3:17
[5] Nobody Move (D.Auerbach/B.Emmett/P.Keeler/H.E.Khatib) - 2:31
[6] Can't Win 'Em All (D.Auerbach/H.E.Khatib) - 3:03
[7] Pay No Mind (D.Auerbach/P.Keeler/H.E.Khatib) - 3:05
[8] Save Me (D.Auerbach/H.E.Khatib) - 2:49
[9] Low (D.Auerbach/P.Keeler/H.E.Khatib) - 2:31
[10] Sinking in the Sand (H.E.Khatib) - 2:29
[11] House on Fire (D.Auerbach/H.E.Khatib) - 3:45

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Hanni El Khatib - Guitar, Vocals, Farfisa Organ, Percussion, Layout, Art Direction, Design

Dan Auerbach - Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Background Vocals, Producer
Bobby Emmett - Keyboards, Hammond Organ, Piano, Electric Sitar
Patrick Keeler - Drums, Percussion

Jessi Darlin - Background Vocals
Nikki Lane - Background Vocals

Collin Dupuis - Engineer
Tchad Blake - Mixing
Brian Lucey - Mastering
Nathan Cabrera - Art Direction, Photography
Keith Stone - Poster Illustration
Danny Tomczak - Studio Assistant

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Head In The Dirt, produced by Dan Auerbach, is the second album by Hanni El Khatib, where he takes a lucky 11 songs and makes the entire history of rebel music something all his own. He's got cut-to-the-bone Rhythm 'n' Blues and over-cranked Stooges-style stompers. He's got bottomless Black Sabbath riff-outs and Dub-a-delic garageland rockers that call up the spirits of the Clash and the Equals both. By the end of Head In The Dirt, you'll realize that El Khatib actually made something out of everything.




Hanni El Khatib is back with his second album Head In The Dirt produced by Dan Auerbach of the Grammy Award-winning band The Black Keys. Hanni El Khatib s breakout debut Will The Guns Come Out led to all kinds of success not least having his music licensed to HBO and Showtime television series, and adverts for Nike and Captain Morgan. In 2012, however, he showed up to record his second album with just the clothes on his back no guitar, no fancy almost-finished demos, and only about three weeks time to get from start to finish. While on tour, he'd met Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys in a Paris bar. After some whisky, they decided to partner up in Auerbach s Nashville studio. The idea was to erase everything Hanni had become comfortable with and to make an album out of only raw instinct and inspiration. The result is Head In The Dirt , in which Hanni El Khatib makes the entire history of rebel music his own over eleven tracks. There are cut-to-the-bone rhythm n blues songs (Save Me) and overcranked Stooges-style stompers (Family). There are bottomless Black Sabbath riff-outs (the back half of Pay No Mind) and dubbed-out garage rock tunes (obody Move) that call up the spirits of the Clash and the Equals. His Low is just one Andre 3000 remix away from a club anthem, Penny is a stick-in-your-head pop hit, and Sinking In The Sand is a freak-out headbanger

Amazon.com



Like hundred-dollar sandblasted jeans, the grit and grain on Hanni El Khatib's second LP feels less like the product of time and more like careful craftsmanship. Produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, this is desert-burned blues rock boosted by punk, soul and hip-hop – music that has a retro heart but couldn't have been made before 2013. He's less convincing as a badass ("Family") than as a guy who fights desperation by partying ("Low"). The Motown-esque "Penny" is full of sweet nothings, most charmingly off-key. The effect? You believe him. A former creative director for a skateboard fashion line, he knows how to package a look.

Mike Powell - May 8, 2013
RollingStone.com



Building off of the sound of his reckless and grimy debut, Hanni El Khatib returns with a somewhat more polished sound for his sophomore effort, Head in the Dirt. While the music retains the same eclectic quality El Khatib brought to Will the Guns Come Out, the practiced hand of the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach can be felt all over the production, with Auerbach reigning in El Khatib's sound without necessarily snuffing out his creativity. Like a garage punk version of Devendra Banhart, Hanni El Khatib freely drifts from style to style, taking what he likes and discarding the rest to build songs like "Nobody Move," where a wall of blown-out, bluesy fuzz gives way to an atmospheric reggae vibe. Head in the Dirt can feel a bit scattered at times, but in a way, that seems to be the point. This album isn't some kind of carefully planned cross-cultural experiment that one would expect from Vampire Weekend, but rather it feels like El Khatib is just smashing together the things he likes while barely holding the whole thing together with his own intensity and enthusiasm. That said, for all of its weirdness, this album feels more like a pop record than his debut, and while Auerbach certainly didn't scrub all of the dirt and grime off of the album, it feels a lot more put together, bearing a lot of resemblance to the Black Keys' later work. Fortunately for listeners, it takes a lot more than a little studio magic to snuff out a flame as bright and weird as El Khatib's.

Gregory Heaney - All Music Guide



Reining Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys in to produce is generally perceived as a wise move. Indeed, San Franciscan Hanni El Khatib ushers in a blistering deluge of blues-infused garage-y rock and punk-flecked soul on his second record, Head In The Dirt, with Auerbach in his camp. It's got that grazed-knee skater grit and the pop eloquence of contemporary R&B; it's designed to sound raw. It could be interpreted as El Khatib's love letter to the 60s on this LP, with bountiful nods to Motown, jangly 60s pop-rock and soul.

Gristly summer strummer 'Low' wields psychedelia twangs proudly. Everything's a bit acid-tinged and surreal. The drums rattle with abandon, there's swirling reggae synths and Middle Eastern instrumentation; rolling bass gallops fearlessly. 'Save Me' is much more back-to-basics rock. Bouts of distortion battle with noodly solo passages, all the while backed by convivial handclaps and soul percussion. There's a bit of a garage-gospel feel to it. 'Skinny Little Girl' is home to fret buzz the kind of crackling, warped vocals you'd get from an old radio. The organs and guitars construct a low-key sinisterness (that ultimately includes haunting backing vocals) behind drums that feel unusually high in the mix and El Khatib's blissfully unaware voice.

Working the creative director for skate brand HUF, as well as his general love for the wheeled board, helped shape his debut tone (he described it as being for "anyone who has ever been shot or hit by a train"). El Khatib drew from this side of his life and slotted nicely into place as a spokesperson for the cast out and the belittled; it was a marvellous combination of grassroots rock and precise songwriting. However, on this follow-up two years later, we're not seeing the same rugged underdog, we're seeing someone more assured and more refined. The tone of the whole record isn't too different - it's more confident, perhaps - it's just more burnished. Sleeker. Slicker. No doubt Auerbach's expertise has been crucial in orchestrating this smoothification.

Motown ditty 'Penny' is syrup-encrusted tweeness. Jaunty keys wriggle beside whistles, organs and El Khatib as he coos: "You're my perfect little Penny," like some obsessed Big Bang Theory fanatic. 'House On Fire' is a naked track - just El Khatib and his quivering electric guitar for the most part - with Pixies tendencies. It's not as obtuse or provocative as Frank Black et al., but it's got that threadbare imperfection and coarse melodies. Beginning as psych-funk, 'Can't Win 'Em All''s biggest lures are the massive modern alt rock chorus and grooving, earthy bass licks. Chimes and effect-sodden axes riffs pepper the cut. At about 1:45, Talking Head's 'Psycho Killer' shines through unmistakably. Only briefly, mind, as the song digresses into a meaty solo-wail/chaos shortly after.

El Khatib's second effort is good. Like GRMLN earlier this year, his take on nostalgic styles and noises of a bygone era are both effortless and poised for the sunshine. It's polished, yet still retains a bite, an edge and a vital essence that keeps you coming back for more, time after time.

Larry Day, 19 August 2013
© 2015 Thefourohfive.com



With Grammy-festooned producer and Black Keys man Dan Auerbach riding sidecar, it comes as no surprise that Los Angeles art-greaser Hanni El Khatib's second album is an engine-revving dose of filthy, leather-clad blues. For the most part, his rasping punk is a sexy but grotty treat, with the album's strutting title track and 'Pay No Mind' driving you to the woods for some aural dogging while The Sonics blast on the car stereo. Yet when stacked against the corrosive 'Psycho Killer' stomp of 'Can't Win 'Em All' and slow-sizzling Southern groover 'House On Fire', the trite 'Penny' is disappointingly anaemic.

6 / 10

Leonie Cooper, April 26, 2013



On his 2011 debut, Will The Guns Come Out, Filipino/Palestinian skater-turned-rocker Hanni El Khatib firmly aligned himself with society’s outcasts and downtrodden (see that record’s “Fuck It, You Win”; a banjo-folk cover of “Heartbreak Hotel”) and was quoted as saying that he was making music for “anyone who has ever been shot or hit by a train” – two demographics marketers often overlook, but one was that a smart garage punk like El Khatib could turn into a fanbase. Will The Guns… was hardly an original record – indeed nearly every review of it employed the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll pastiche’, and for what it’s worth, he shares a record label with two other successful rock repurposers, the Allah-Las and Nick Waterhouse – but it was fun, with energy and style to burn, to say nothing of the fact that it largely answered the question, What would it sound like if Jon Spencer fronted the White Stripes? In today’s lean rock world, meeting those conditions again on a sophomore disc counts as not breaking something that doesn’t need fixing, and Head In The Dirt successfully picks up where El Khatib’s debut left off.

So yeah, El Khatib’s still chronicling the folks on the other side of the tracks (presumably before they were hit by a train): the self-made criminal of the spy-movie soundtrack-gone-reggae “Nobody Move”; the hard-partying, car-crashing idiot of “Pay No Mind” (“My useless brain is ruined”); the guy who “almost died on the street / but you were quick on your feet” on the Middle Eastern-tinged “Low” and the more general dire situations of “Save Me” and “Sinking In The Sand”. Producer Dan Auerbach, who has done similar work with the retro-minded Hacienda, helps pump up El Khatib’s sound – some keys here, female backing vox there, though maybe a little less of the first record’s rockabilly vibe (“Dead Wrong”) – but it’s safe to say El Khatib’s mastered this shtick. That said, it’s also nice to report that his deviations from the formula are among Dirt‘s highlights and point to a direction for the future: the boogie piano that anchors “Family” (as well as that tune’s Big Guitar Ending), and the just-this-side-of-cute pop gem “Penny” (“You were hiding underneath my soul/sole… please shine on”), that, admittedly, the less generous might peg as Ben Harper Lite.

Questions of authenticity may continue to swirl around El Khatib – and he certainly does nothing to quell them – but he’s a canny musician and one with a day job in marketing/branding, as a skater fashion label creative director, so he knows a thing or three about image. Dude knows what’ll sell, and he’s put it all on Head In The Dirt.

Stephen Haag, 4 June 2013
© 1999-2015 PopMatters.com



Als Hanni El Khatib mit dem Musikmachen begann, war er nur ein Skater Kid, der die schlechteste Gitarre der Welt spielte und sich selbst mit seinem Gesang begleitete. Ebenso inspiriert, als auch ermutigt durch eine endlose Reihe von zu allem entschlossenen Do-It-For-Themselves-Künstlern aus sämtlichen Bereichen - angefangen bei Punk, über Psychedelic, Rock `N´Roll bis hin zu frühem R`N´B und Blues - fing er schließlich an, zwischen seinen Tagesjobs und seinem aufregenden Nightlife erste spartanisch instrumentierte eigene Stücke aufzunehmen. Und zwar einfach nur deshalb, weil es gewisse Dinge gab, über die er unbedingt singen wollte, die dringend aus ihm raus mussten.

2010 erkannte das kleine aber feine Indie-Label Innovative Leisure schließlich das Offensichtliche: Dass es sich bei seinen Songs um ungeschliffene Rohdiamanten handelte, in denen beim genaueren Hinhören eine ganze Menge mehr steckt! Wenig später erschien schon sein kraftstrotzendes Soul `N Rock `N Roll-Debüt.

Es dauerte nicht lange, bis ihn seine Musik komplett vereinnahmte. Nachdem sein 2011er Albumdebüt „Will The Guns Come Out“ erschienen war, kündigte Hanni El Khatib kurzerhand seine Stelle als Creative Director beim Streetwear-Label HUF und verließ seine Heimatstadt San Francisco, um Teilhaber und Inhouse-Art Director beim kalifornischen Innovative Leisure Label in Los Angeles zu werden. Eine wichtige Entscheidung in einem Jahr, in dem alles möglich war. Und in dem auch so einiges passierte...

2012 enterte man erneut das Studio für die Aufnahmen zu seinem Zweitling. Doch diesmal war alles anders: Keine Gitarre im Gepäck, keine halbfertigen Demos in der Tasche, nichts… und das, obwohl man für die Aufnahmen gerade mal drei Wochen eingeplant hatte. Sportlich! Während er mit seinem ersten Album auf Tour war, kam Hanni in Kontakt mit dem Producer und The Black Keys-Sänger Dan Auerbach, den er in einer Bar in Paris traf. Nach ein paar Schnäpsen entschied man sich, zusammen in Auerbachs Studio in Nashville am nächsten Release zu arbeiten. Der Plan war einfach alles über Bord zu werfen, mit dem sich Hanni auch nur entfernt auskannte und stattdessen ein Album aus purem Instinkt und der Inspiration des Moments heraus zu machen.

Eine Vision, die in „Head In The Dirt“ aufging: Eine 11 Songs lange Reise durch die Geschichte der Rebel Music, die El Khatib auf seine ganz eigene Weise interpretiert. Angefangen beim Rhythm `n´Bluesigem „Save Me“ bis zu Dampframmen im Iggy & The Stooges-Stil à la „Family“. Schier unerschöpfliche Black Sabbath-Riffs („Pay No Mind“) treffen auf dub-ige Garageland-Rocker („Nobody Move“), die den Geist von Bands wie The Clash oder den Equals heraufbeschwören. Mit „Low“ ist man nur einen winzigen André 3000-Remix von einem echten Clubhit entfernt, mit „Penny“ ist ihm ein waschechter Pophit gelungen und zu „Sinking In The Sand“ lässt es sich hervorragend headbangen. Die Magie der Musik, aus dem Nichts etwas ganz Großes entstehen zu lassen. So wie auf „Head In The Dirt“!

Amazon.de



Eigentlich klingt Hanni El Khatib schon immer ein bisschen nach den Black Keys, seine Stimme ähnelt der Dan Auerbachs teils ganz gewaltig. Eine glückliche Fügung also, dass Khatib genau diesen Auerbach vor einiger Zeit in einer Pariser Bar kennen lernte. An den Black Keys muss sich Khatibs Zweitling "Head In The Dirt" somit wohl messen lassen.

Doch die meiste Zeit klingt er überhaupt nicht nach dem US-Duo. Vielleicht liegt es an Hanni El Khatibs Passion, dem Skaten, dass er sich auch musikalisch bevorzugt direkt und geradlinig ausdrückt. Keine mehrminütigen, psychedelischen Gitarren-Ausbrüche, dann schon eher dieser etwas oberflächliche Bluesrock, den Mitsing-Refrain fest im Kern verankert. Das Ganze verpackt unter einer dicken Schicht Verzerrer und Effekte, Lederjacke und Tattoos, hier und da ins Mic gerotzt - fertig.

Am überzeugenden wälzt sich "Head In The Dirt" mit seinem fulminanten, erdigen Riff im Dreck. Spielen dort tatsächlich gerade die Black Keys auf? Im Gegensatz zu deren Alben geht "Head In The Dirt" eines ab: der letzte Wille, diese "Don't let Rock die"-Mentalität, wie sie sonst nur die White Stripes umsetzten. Stets wirkt der Vintage-Faktor zu provoziert, die Drums wühlen nicht, Khatibs Gesang kommt meist wenig hingebungsvoll und etwas aufgesetzt daher.

Auch wenn er dann versucht, rührende Sehnsüchte in die Texte einfließen zu lassen ("Nobody Move"): Der Funke springt oftmals einfach nicht über. Zu ausgetreten die Melodie, zu abgegriffen die Oktav-Akkorde, zu klar das Ziel trotz verkrustetem Lo-Fi-Saitenklang. Khatib rettet seinen Songs dennoch Charakter: Die ins Mark gedrückten Melodien, seine repetitiven Textpassagen, seine Gitarrensoli knüpfen schnell eine freundschaftliche Verbindung mitten ins Ohr: alles, das "Pay No Mind" braucht. Viele Songs preschen auf diese Art nach vorn, messen sich mit ihren simplen Chord-Abfolgen an Iggy Pop, ebenso "Sinking In The Sand" und das anfängliche "Family".

"House On Fire", ein ruhiges Folk-Stück, nimmt sich dann wieder seinen Platz, drückt das Tempo auf ein Minimum. Mit Orgel und reichlich Soul-Overdubs garniert, ganz im Stile einer Black Keys-Produktion eben. Gut, dass "Head In The Dirt" keine Kopie einer derer Platten geworden ist. Denn eines muss man dem Ex-Designer aus San Francisco lassen: Kurzweilig sind seine Songs allemal.

David Hutzel - laut.de
 

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