Wilcox Sessions – Hanni El Khatib (You Rascal You) from Wilcox Sessions on Vimeo.
Humor the link to the outside writing. Hanni El Khatib is legitimate enough to warrant the double jeopardy. I’ve been riding for the garage-punk blues-inflected skateboarder since before his first hyphenate — or at least since April. A long enough period to get quoted with and without attribution in his press materials. The comments in question are my description of him as “suggestive of Jack White if he was a spiritual disciple of Sam Cooke rather than Son House,” and also a creator of “malt shop music for those who drink them spiked with bourbon.” I did not describe his guitars as “sinewy.” I never liked that word (for those keeping score at home, I prefer “taut.”)
It’s good to see Khatib getting the limelight reflecting off the 10,000-watt spotlight of Mercury Prize nominee, Florence & The Machine, who have tabbed him to be the opening act on their Fall tour. Pretty pretty pretty good (word to L.D.) for a guy who has only released a handful of 7-inch singles. Up until now, I had been unable to convince Stones Throw and Innovative Leisure to let me post up an MP3, lest I be subjected to the wrath of the imprint’s copyright infringement death row (it involves Jeff Jank, several ounces of marijuana, and some of Dam-Funk’s funk consiglieres from North Pasadena). The MP3 of “You Rascal You” is below. Dare I go out on a limb and say that this is the best use of a rascal since the late great Delicious Vinyl crew, The Wascals. Videos are below the jump. It’s your job to decide who holds the Intercontinental Wascal belt.
Download:
MP3: Hanni El Khatib-“You Rascal You”
MP3: The Wascals-“Class Clown”
