Cassette Review: Sekuin "Palestine In Love" (Crass Lips Records)

It is rare for me to hear something as true to the old school as it is modern as Sekuin.   But the thing about this cassette is that when I first listened to it, I only heard those old school sounds coming out.   I didn't feel like it had as much modern influence until I listened to it again and again.    But I suppose if you're going to hear something new wave with synth your mind should automatically take you back to a time when cassettes were the best technology available (Though, some would argue that they still are)

Somewhere between "Freeze Frame" and "Weird Science", Sekuin makes music that on the surface sounds like it could be from the soundtrack to a 1980's movie.   I particularly remember the dance scene in the movie "Better Off Dead" (Which I always thought was from the early 1990's but is actually from 1985) where they go outside and the titular song is echoing from inside.   Not just because I watched that movie for Christmas recently but because I've seen it so many times, I feel like this music has that feel where you want to give it a movie all its own, something to sing about.

Through drum machines and dance synth there are both male and female lead vocals on these songs, which isn't sexist to say it's just a statement of fact.   It can slow down and have a Double Dragon type of video game feel to it as well.   Knight Rider comes out at one point and I think of it as being New Order as much as I do the Illegal Wiretaps.   And that's the thing: on one hand, you want this to be a soundtrack like "The Breakfast Club", but at the same time you think of it like something more modern and my modern influences, unfortunately, only really can bring up Ladytron.

With punk undertones, the more that I listen to this cassette the more I think that perhaps I am wrong about my initial impression about it being like something from the 1980's.     While that might have been my first thought, it's refreshing to know that as you listen to this it sort of molds and takes shape into something all its own.   I've never heard music transform quite like this before but I must say you should give this more than one listen if you wish to fully hear it.


$5 //
https://sekuin.bandcamp.com/album/palestine-in-love