Help Hahn Help You
Samuel Barker | Houston, TX | 11/27/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This could very well be my favorite album I've received this year. Palestine is made up of a collection of songs originally meant to be release prior to One Mississippi. It is definitely a step towards the more indie rock based sounds that made me fall in love with J-Church and a step from the poppier punk style that left me hitting the next track button on One Mississippi a few times. The songs on this album are edgy and poorly produced at times, but Lance Hahn's songwriting brings everything together nicely. Encased in 3 Underground tracks, which feature various people giving recounts of being a part of revolutionary movements, the album's political tone is set and the groove oriented, somber musical backdrop instantly pulls you into the feeling of the album. Hahn's monotone vocals give the songs that college radio sound of the late 80s made famous by bands like REM. Even on the three-chord melody of Sam Rivers, a tale of meeting a hero and trying to come off as a cool person, Hahn weaves in between the song with words that will have you enthralled and looking for a dictionary. The cover of Bill Fox's Not Proud of the USA will hit that patriotic string from the whole war on terrorism propaganda, but in the end, it is a song you can relate to and understand. The Legend of Rita is another one of those songs which pulls the listener in with a poppy unbeat sound, only to have a sordid tale of greed entering a revolutionary. Palestine is also a benefit album to help out Lance Hahn, who lost all his inventory for Honey Bear Records and all his personal belongings in a fire that destroyed his apartment in Austin. So, besides picking the album up because it's stellar, pick it up to help out a great musician."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1