It was the best of times, it was the most savage of times. So could be said with these times of ours, what with the political savagery that chews through long-fought ideals like scraps of meat, or of a populace that savagely takes and takes of its Earth in the name of GDP, but goddamn if we aren’t having a selfie-good time sinking on this ship together, rocking our heads off in a sweat-drenched venue or garage.
These times are indeed ripe, too, for a savagely wild amount of creativity fueled by the good old-fashioned inner upset that comes from a distressing world. The bad times, after all, are the best time to have a good time. Case in point: Savage Times, the new collected works of Hanni El Khatib, the happily noisy L.A. indie rocker who will wash SOhO Restaurant & Music Club down with a healthy amount of frothy guitar distortion this Thursday, February 23, joined by The Buttertones and S.B.’s very own Clean Spill.
With fuzzed-out vocals and all manner of rock styling, from more traditionalist blues rock to almost glammy disco-driven ditties or arena-rock-like stompers, his new work is a diverse set of different directions boosted by bold lyrical confessions. “I think that during the process of making this body of work, I unlocked something new in my songwriting,” El Khatib said, who takes on subjects like gentrification and immigration without hesitation in his Black Keys–esque tunes. “I’ve always loved storytelling and blurring the lines between fiction and personal antidotes in my own music. But it seems now I’m truly able to really dig deep and explore topics that are directly related to my life.”