Looking at the lineup of Bass Drum of Death and Hanni el Khatib, some could be a little confused at the pairing. The crowd sure was. The brain child of John Barrett from Mississippi, Bass Drum of Death is a rowdy garage rock band that brought in a crowd with rough edges, people who might have been thrown out mid-set due to excessively violent moshing, whereas Hanni’s crowd stood literally on the edges, barely moving to the opening act. An über hipster couple with “his and her” glasses caught my eye multiple times during Bass Drum’s set due to the fact that, had they not been drinking cans of PBR, I would have thought they were actually just statues. No joke, they had no movements to any sort of beat. True, Bass Drum of Death’s set was incredibly guitar driven and lacked the addition of a bass guitar except for one song, but they lived up to their name of Bass Drum of Death. I could feel the bass drum in my insides, making it impossible not to at the very least bob my head along.

The majority of the crowd, who was eating up the reverb, yips being yelled out, and bending guitar riffs that make Bass Drum of Death’s sound have a bit of a blues edge to it rather than straight up garage rock. Because of this subtle edge, it was easier to see the connection between the opener and headlining act, Hanni el Khatib. Both of them also released their second albums this year: Bass Drum of Death’s “Bass Drum of Death” and Khatib’s “Head in the Dirt.”

Hanni el Khatib, also a one man creation that tours with a band, started out rough. A mixture of feedback and reverb echoed throughout the first song, and this is when I should have known. What should I have known? Well, dare I say it was… nothing all that special? There, I said it. Please don’t stone me. As a fan of the Los Angeles based gritty blues rocker, I expected a lot. Standing in the Middle East Downstairs in close proximity to the man behind the music, I expected the intensity of the albums, the grit, and the Black Keys sounding roughness seeing as Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys produced Khatib’s most recent album. Instead the first forty minutes of the set can only be described as the saying of “resting on their laurels.” Each band member looked disinterested and tired, but none more so than Khatib himself, who looked like he would rather be playing with knives than playing music. That being said, it says a lot about their talent level when they can look like they are watching a foreign film and still sound pretty fucking phenomenal.

I’d love to write it off like this is how they finished the show, but around forty minutes into the set, something shifted with Khatib.

As the band launched into “Loved One,” Khatib seemed to become more engaged; with this came more growling, emotional vocals and more of the bluesy, swinging guitar sound that makes his albums so unique.  The guys followed with double timed, drum heavy “Pay No Mind” and a set saving rendition of “House on Fire” for the encore, which Khatib played by himself before having the rest of the band join him.

“Alls well that ends well” is what Pa Ingalls used to say in every single Little House on the Prairie book, and as a child who read a lot of Little House books, I believe I have been brainwashed to believe this. While the show didn’t blow my mind, I got to see some really talented musicians play, lead by two super talented guys, in a basement where a fifty year old guy standing in front of me was doing some sort of weird Elvis leg motions to deafening guitar solos. But clearly the highlight for everyone in the vicinity was Bass Drum of Death’s walkout jam being Rich Boy’s 2007 hit of all hits “Throw some D’s.” Need I say more?