all words: Colin Wilhelm
From the second Hanni El Khatib started the show strumming his guitar with attitude, you couldn’t help but think of the early albums of White Stripes or Black Keys. Such comparisons seem inevitable with a two person drum and guitar band, especially given El Khatib’s garage rock influenced sound. This doesn’t make Mr. El Khatib purely derivative, he’s not, but that's the comparison that first came to mind when Khatib started playing guitar and wailing nasally, accompanied only by some bashed in cymbals and snare/bass drums and the occasional old-timey radio voice effect [to use a highly technical music term].
Though his style’s definitely similar, El Khatib’s rockabillyish sound separates him from the Southern-fried, ‘shine-induced sound of the Black Keys and the Nashville-by-way-of-Detroit sound Jack White cultivated over the years. Hailing from San Francisco via L.A., El Khatib sounds like Marty McFly in the ‘50s---if he’d been raised on Jack White and Deep Purple along with Chuck Berry. One song would be diner pop, the next ‘70s biker rock. Khatib’s guitar had one volume, loud, and he displayed great chemistry with his drummer. During the show he was unafraid to showcase his chops, in between an abundance of power chords, but rarely did so in a way that derailed the momentum of the song.
During the brief (less than an hour) show, El Khatib proved why the Red Palace has begun to earn a reputation as one of the top places in town to see up and coming bands---ones with genres that don’t fit the traditional D.C. scene--- before everyone else hears of them [See also: Moon Taxi, Foster the People in the last few months].
Though he doesn’t play anything particularly groundbreaking, El Khatib does what he does well. He acknowledged his San Francisco roots, and that he doesn’t sound like someone from San Francisco, by interposing a the refrain of “Heard it Through the Grapevine” on the song “Come Alive” (much more in the style of fellow San Franciscans CCR than favorite son of D.C. Marvin Gaye), the second of his set.
El Khatib closed his set and inadvertently summed up the spirit of his music with an open invitation: “We’ll be sitting around doing whatever and drinking whiskey, so come say hey.”
Previously in Live DC:
- 5/22: LiveDC: Spirit Animal @ Red Palace
- 5/22: LiveDC: Astra Via @ Black Cat
- 5/22: LiveDC: Father John Misty @ Rock & Roll Hotel
- 5/22: LiveDC: Drive-By Truckers and Lucinda Williams @ Merriweather
- 5/22: Photos: Summer Camp takes the "Ladies of Town" Drag Show
- 5/22: LiveDC: Penguin Prison & Class Actress @ RNR Hotel
- 5/21: LiveDC: James Morrison @ 930 Club
- 5/21: Photos: Que Sera L'Anniversaire @ Napoleon
- 5/21: LiveDC: La Sera/ Beach Week @ Red Palace
- 5/21: LiveDC: The Black Keys & Arctic Monkeys @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
God loves a cheerful giver.
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