See you space cowboy — in the oddity space
Cowboy Bebop has been a huge part of my life since long ago and I even consider it one of the greatest animes to come out in the 90’s. Or to ever come out actually. Not only it had a huge impact on me but the entire animation scene and pop culture; it crossed borders, genres, and audiences in ways few series had before. Just the phrase “see you, space cowboy” evokes something in me that i cant even decipher and has been widely used across many cultures and fandoms and as I have the habit to interconnect my favorite hobbies and interests I decided to share my thoughts on why the album ‘Anomalies in the oddity space’ reminds me of cowboy bebop so much. This album also came out at a very specific period of my life when I was dealing either with insane lows or insane highs and it helped me overcome it just like Cowboy Bebop did in the earlier stages of my teens.
this is just a subjective opinion and doesn’t have to apply to reality even tho I’ve peeped daniel, the songwriter and producer, owning the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack vinyl lol
Anomalies in the oddity space (atos) feels like a cosmic cousin to Cowboy Bebop to me. Both drift through huge and unpredictable spaces with a mismatched crew of outcasts who stay true to themselves - laughing through mishaps and finding beauty in the in between moments of their lives. Every track is like a mini episode; a journey through joy, sadness, and absurdity, kinda like Bebop’s space adventures. Both live in liminal spaces; the quiet between gunfights and the loud between silences - just like The Poles’ tracklist on this EP. Bebop’s jazzy, ‘noir’ space western vibes and Atos’ textured rather punchier rock meet in their themes of wandering, togetherness and the bittersweet pull of the unknown spaces.
Music in media isn’t just -in the background-, it’s always part of the story, and in my opinion if Yoko Kanno paints Bebop with jazz, funk, and blues, The band does it with a rock like parallel universe,
in short, it’s like as if you were to flip the Bebop vinyl onto it’s b-side.
The first kicker of the idea that the EP and the series could be connected in my mind was the spacey aesthetic and vibe the visuals gave off and also the song titles…at first I thought the album was a little tribute to Bowie (ref. to his song space oddity/daniel’s flash tattoo, the british slang-ey lyrics), but Niel debunked that so I thought…you know what….why not just come up with my own interpretation of the album to shake off the embarrassment of getting something related to my favorite band (that I’ve studied so hard) wrong…and so here I ended up lol.
The official visualizer has crowns, which also reminded me of Jean M. Basquiat after peeping Niel’s Basquiat tattoo on his arm. His work’s all about identity, rebellion, and fragmented worlds, and it fits Atos and Bebop perfectly: the album is all about messy, playful, defiant mischievous maybe even naive energy while drifting through chaos, in both – highs or lows. Life in Atos, like Basquiat’s art is a bunch of improvised moments, holding onto small joys even when everything’s unpredictable…like all trials are already behind the characters, so future setbacks feel almost insignificant as long as they remain united and true to themselves and their identity.
Bebop’s vibe is kind of gritty and lived in with smoky bars, neon lights, and all the leftover human drama and stories. basquiat’s messy, chaotic style just fits with that world, it’s wild but also kinda just makes sense. putting crowns in the visualizer, it gave me a message that the poles might be connecting their music to that same energy and rebelliousness and confidence, like how the bebop crew does their own thing and sticks to their own codes while floating through a crazy, unpredictable universe.
Underneath the cool exterior, both Atos and Bebop are about fleeting, connections and shared adventures. the poles’ chemistry is like bebop’s crew: playful, tight, resilient and sometimes it reminds me of that kind of energy that spike spiegel, the main face of the show has, very cool and relentless.
Life in both is drifting, moving through the unknown, making the best of it, and keeping it all crowned.
Not just the visuals, but the lyrics really hit that bounty hunter vibe of cowboy bebop for me. Tue song space kids grabbed my attention before I even fully listened to it or got all the lyrics. Lines like “countless planets unknown,” “fuel might run out,” and “universe became ours” feel like the Bebop crew hopping from one weird journey to the next, never really safe, always chasing the next adventure, encountering danger and chaos and just rolling with it because well, as long as they’re together, they can overcome anything.
“in a flash, we’re surrounded, but fear not… we’ll persevere” feels exactly like Spike, Jet, and Faye getting ambushed mid job and somehow rocking with it. There’s also this weirdly romanticized, resilient attitude: “that’s just our way of life” is basically living on the edge, dealing with crap, but somehow finding freedom in it. Underneath all the humor there’s this melancholy vibe too, not knowing when fuel’s gonna run out or when life might just hit you, accepting the lows in your life and living through them, it’s so similar to Bebop’s bittersweet tone, where everyone carries their past and story with them, which isn’t always the most happiest one. some of the lyrics also capture joy in chaos: “doesn’t matter, let’s sing and dance until we’re spent” is basically just spike spiegel philosophy “whatever happens, happens”.
Little everyday mishaps like “blimey, woke up, bumped me noggin” feel exactly like life on the Bebop, cool but humorous at the same time. Even tho this was rather daniel’s effort of coming up with brit-like slang-ish lyrics since he’s mentioned taking a lot of inspiration from british bands in the past lol…and another example of what just really cemented this album as very cowboy bebop esque in my mind is the “countless planets unknown” line, which hit that classic imagery and plot of the show: a crew wandering the galaxy, laughing, struggling, chasing bounties, and somehow finding warmth and connection in all the chaos because they’re together.
Basically if Spike, Basquiat’s painting and this album all got stuck in the same spaceship and timeline, this is what it would feel like - to me at least…what ultimately ties them all together is this weird, spacey, kinda bittersweet vibe?…the way they just roll with chaos, find little bits of joy, and somehow remind you that even in the weirdest, most unpredictable places, life can still be pretty beautiful and worthy of withstanding all the hardships that get thrown at you as long as you accept that being surrounded by those who you love and those who love you back, are your ultimate power.
Did I just win the niche olympics?
