It’s always a buzz when you find that you have a connection with an artist you admire; it somehow feels like it brings you a little bit closer to understanding them and their work.

I’ve been a fan of anime screenwriter Dai Sato ever since his work on Cowboy Bebop, and more recently enjoyed his writing on the OVA Freedom. Those of you that follow my ramblings on Twitter will probably remember me flipping out recently when I stumbled across the list of episode titles for his series Eureka 7, and wondered what the hell I was going on about. So Sato-san had named the episodes after some songs? Big deal. Not the first time it’s happened in anime, and it almost certainly won’t be the last.

The thing was, Sato hadn’t picked a bunch of well known pop songs, the majority of the tracks he’d chosen were underground house and techno classics from the 1990s – and more to the point, some of my favourite records of all time. Looking at that list triggered an instant flashback to my younger years, times when I would go partying for days on end, memories of long summer beat-filled nights and dreams of being a superstar DJ. These are records I own, still, on vinyl – and although there are never played anymore they sit next to me right now – as parting with them would be like letting go of part of my past. And with Sato-san being only a few years older than me, I can only assume the same music is part of his past too.

I only just started to actually watch Eureka 7 this weekend, and was thrilled to find the musical references weren’t limited to just the titles, but are littered throughout the script. I’ll post my views on the show when I’ve watched more – but so far based on the opening episodes it seems like an interesting, but fairly standard coming-of-age mecha-drama – which is just fine by me, seeing as the music he references was pretty much the soundtrack of my own coming-of-age story. Sadly the music itself didn’t make it into the show – whether for licensing reasons or that the studio didn’t feel it was appropriate – so for those of you who have no idea what I’m going on about, below is a selection of the tunes that we apparently both love.

Maybe one day I’ll get to meet Sato-san and we can talk about music. Maybe one day he’ll come round here and we can flick through my vinyl collection together. It’s pretty damn unlikely. Not that it really matters though, I’m happy enough right now just knowing the connection is there.

808 State – ‘Pacific State’

Hardfloor – ‘Aceperience 1′

F.U.S.E – ‘Substance Abuse’

Jeff Mills – ‘Changes of Life’

Tuff Little Unit – ‘Join the Future’

Red Planet – ‘Star Dancer’

Primal Scream – ‘Higher than the Sun’

Rhythim is Rhythim – ‘The Beginning’

LFO – ‘We Are Back’

The Beastie Boys – ‘Sure Shot’