SOUNDTRACK: HANNI EL KHATIB-“Save Me” (Field Recordings, August 7, 2013).
I love when Field Recordings like this one [Hanni El Khatib Gets Saved In The Desert] are filmed outside. For this one Hanni El Khatib and his bandmates head to the Mojave Desert where it is getting cold pretty quickly.
I’ve never heard of Hanni before, and his music is generic enough that I don’t imagine I ever will. The acoustic guitar plays a simple back and forth chord structure to the rhythm of hand jive. Hanni plays a series of solos on the electric guitar in between simple verses (although the line about boys in the desert seems apt).
After a misfire with the maraca–it is so loud that Hanni can’t hear himself–the other guitarist suggests he should play it more nonchalantly–like business casual.
There’s nothing bad about the song, it’s just , well, bluesy garage rock, a fairly uninteresting style. But the setting is sure pretty
The Los Angeles singer-songwriter, on a break from touring in support of his latest album In the Dirt, gamely stripped down his loud, bluesy garage-rock sound and let the stunning backdrop of Joshua Tree National Park provide the drama.
[READ: January 9, 2017] “The Gospel According to García”
This story was short and was packed full of so much. Especially since Garcia wasn’t even present.
The story is told in second person past as a classroom full of kids watch a man come in. There are 12 students on the verge of failing. Seven are seniors. The man seemed to falter a he walked into the room.
The kids knew this was his first mistake–allowing them to size him up.
He sat down where García used to sit, just like that, as if he had the right to do so.
He tried to get them to speak–maybe we should introduce ourselves–but they said nothing. He tried to make a joke about breaking the ice, but no one responded. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 