Innovative Leisure is a Los-Angeles based record Label founded in 2010 by Nate Nelson, Jamie Strong & Hanni El Khatib
Innovative Leisure is a Los-Angeles based record Label founded in 2010 by Nate Nelson, Jamie Strong & Hanni El Khatib. Alongside their breakout artist, creative director, and partner Hanni El Khatib, Innovative Leisure upended the old notions of what a label could be. Suddenly, the idea of releasing soul and funk, jazz and hip-hop, garage rock and house, disco and punk and a little psychedelic Thai rock, no longer seemed strange. The only sonic principle that mattered was quality.
Innovative Leisure was on the map as one of the labels that would help define the coming decade. It helped that they had already brought on El Khatib as creative director and a full partner, one who helped design a brilliant artistic sensibility for the label
IL released the first two records by the Allah-Las, who became one of the most important bands of the garage rock revival
The label’s list of classic albums is long and includes the likes of Nick Waterhouse, Claude Fontaine, Tijuana Panthers, and Jonah Yano.