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Seatbelts

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Seatbelts is a Japanese band led by the composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno. She put the ensemble together in 1998 to play the music for the anime series Cowboy Bebop. The group is international in make-up and consists of a fixed core with many guest musicians. According to the fictional description on the first album, the name comes from the fact that the musicians wear a seat belt during their vigorous jam sessions.

Music and breakthrough

The group played the entire soundtrack of the series and released seven albums and a live DVD in total, beginning with Cowboy Bebop in 1998. The opening track Tank! became the best-known piece. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the band recorded a new version of The Real Folk Blues virtually to raise money for relief. On a new YouTube channel the project Session Starducks also began, with new performances of, among others, music from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Macross Frontier. For the Netflix live-action series Kanno returned as composer and the Seatbelts played the music.

Influence

The repertoire is mainly jazz, but rock, electronic music, funk, blues and orchestral pop also pass by. In this way every episode of the series got its own musical colour. The Seatbelts show that the music for an anime series can be an independent jazz group that is also appreciated outside the picture, and in doing so they reached an audience that otherwise hears little jazz.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Tank! and notice the horns, which from the first second come in like a big band full of energy. Note how the rhythm keeps driving and how the solos alternate.

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsAnime