I am quite the fan of Mirror’s Edge, so I naturally lost my shit when EA announced the sequel at this year’s E3. EA’s going for a similar sound with regards to the sequel’s headline song as well (the predecessor I’ll post about soon): a kind of ambient-y, beat driven blend of piano and electronica. Thankfully, this remix is far better than the original, as it does away with the horrible vocals and the general campy feel.

It has been, I think, far too long since I found some bitchin’ downtempo beats to groove along to. Sacrilege, I know. So here are some beats from 1998, to keep you on top of the times.

I’m always pleasantly surprised when music doesn’t convey what era it was made in, this song being a fine example. Granted, it’s plenty simple as a composition, but it’s also damn fine.

We haven’t had anything from Pogo on here for a while, so here’s some Pogo! I am nothing if obvious.

If there’s such a thing as sentimental drum and bass, then this is it. Here is a very lovely composition constructed entirely from sounds in the film Monsters Inc., backed by a rather excellent spot of drum and bass. Of course, the real stars are Mike, Sulley and little Boo: I could watch her antics all day!

Funktacular! Sure, that might not actually be a word, but how does would you describe this sumptuous bit of electronic bebop? Swingalicious? Groovapalooza? Whichever way you decide is best, you are still describing a song that effortlessly inspires much rigorous movement. Undoubtedly cool, unlike the moves I pull.

Boards of Canada have a new album out now, so I promptly went and… listened to an old one. Their output tends to be a bit hit and miss for me, but this is certainly one of my favourites by them: a haunting, downtempo tune. Turns out this week is the week of ethereal tunes! It has a bit of a slow burn intro, but keep with it because when that beat kicks in… mmm, heavenly.

I usually don’t go for the techno-type stuff but I love the beat of this one. The violin parts make it a winner for me! – Dan

Hey, look at that: turns out not all my friends are women. Dan is the person I do serious writings with: world’s collide! Suitably, he’s picked music from a game I’ve never heard of, but what a tune it is. Something that’s always delightful about Japanese techno for video games is that they tend to throw in a lot of stringed instruments like violins, so you get a lovely, somewhat classical feel combined with a thumping electronic beat. Fans of Anamanaguchi, take note.

Not a fan of the video clip but this song is great. – Kim

Once upon a time, I was not the biggest fan of rap and hip-hop. Well, I’m still not the biggest fan, but I’ve certainly found a whole bunch goodness in those genres over the years. Perhaps that will be the case with dubstep for me one day, because at the moment it mostly sounds like a microphone being dragged over concrete while a baby yells into it. I guess this one does have a bit of a melody and OMG THERE’S PUPPETS IN THE MUSIC VIDEO THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER.

Ultraista are a group who make music. That is about all I know about them, but any group that has had a Zero 7 remix performed on one of their songs has to be potentially worthy of listening. Also, Nigel Godrich is behind their exploits, so there’s that.

While the original version of this song isn’t quite my cup of tea, this remixed version really hits its stride at about the 3 minute mark. Certainly not what I’d normally associated with Zero 7, but damn it is smooooooth.

So it seems that Jimmy Fallon took a leaf out of our book and had his own video game week. Kudos to him! It did inform me that Anamanaguchi have a new album out, as they played this song on his show.

This is insanely catchy, and it wears its video game origins on its sleeve. It’s also a remarkably hopeful tune, which is more than I can say for most electronic music these days: nothing but a big ‘ol smile over here!

Time for a blast from the not so recent past. Though research tells me it came out in 2001, which doesn’t seem all too long ago, but I guess it depends on who you ask!

This was always a bit of a fun, dance-y tune, but I remember it most for its crazy music video. Certainly one of the first instances of CGI used to make slightly creepy looking visuals that I can remember, but the tune is still kickin’.