A slow synth knitting in and out of a sombre-timbred voice make way for the opening scene of Ben Khan’s 1992 EP. Like an ‘80s Swayze walking onto a wooden gymnasium floor, the opening track Youth starts sparse and ominous until you realise it’s ok to dance. In fact, the whole EP plays like Footloose if it was directed by David Lynch.
When I first came upon the video for Youth I re-watched it three times and I’m not even into flying hipsters, Ben Khan just makes that type of music that captivates you into a woozy head-nod. Essentially a nobody (unless you rate fame on millions of Soundcloud plays), Ben Khan’s relative anonymity is what’s so exciting about him, not having an IRL origin-story or distinct genre to pin him to allows you to become immersed in his music instead. He sings over his tracks in equal parts lyric and expelled vowel sounds, but his strength is from his production. On Savage you’re drawn into a hip-hop style beat with what sounds like brass inside a bubble, on Eden that same brass sounds like it’s shrieking in fright.
These are the Lynchian subtexts that make his happy-sounding songs so much more interesting than the usual. While the guitar isn’t the weapon of choice for most producers, bluesy git licks can be found throughout 1992 like in Drive, Pt. 1 where they fill the blanks of Khan trying to get lucky in the back seat. Comparisons are easy to draw here, but it’s best you approach 1992 with a mind open enough to be blown.
BY EDGAR IVAN
Best Track: Youth
If You Liked This You’ll Like: JAI PAUL, SUNNI COLON, KILO KUSH
In A Word: Flyinghipster$
