Listen to this hour-long DJ set of Soichi Terada’s music from ‘Ape Escape’

Video game music DJ Dedeco, has released a new DJ set featuring an hour-long mix of music from PlayStation’s Ape Escape series, composed by the electronic music producer and DJ, Soichi Terada.

The video also features an exclusive interview with Terada, who talks about the difficulty of making 130 tracks in one year for the first Ape Escape game, how video games have influenced his work as a DJ and producer of house and jungle music, and his plans to reissue his 1996 album, ‘Sumo Jungle’.

Terada says his favourite video game composer Yuriko Keino, responsible for the music in Namco games such as Dig Dug and Super Xevious. These are also referenced as two of his favourite games, alongside Final Fantasy 7, Ape Escape, Ico, Arc The Lad, Pac-Man, Galaga and Galaxian.

“I spent a lot of time in arcades and was fascinated by their primitive blip tones just as much as playing the games themselves,” Terada tells Dedeco.

While many will recognise Terada for his work on Ape Escape and other PlayStation games such as FantaVision and Wangan Trial, he’s best known for his pioneering work as a producer and DJ of Japanese house and jungle music, and is regarded as one of the most influential producers in the scene.

Terada founded the record label Far East Recording 1989 to release his music but his music has since been reissued through Rush Hour Records, a major label which has helped more people discover Terada’s music.

He’s played at some of the biggest clubs and electronic music festivals in the world, with recent appearances at Paradise City Festival, Gottwood, Melt Festival and more.

Terada also produces music under the alias Omokada, which often sees him creating music using a Nintendo DS, PSP and Korg Kaoss Pad while dressed as a shrine maiden, as seen in the above Boiler Room set.

“Games are about having interactions all the time, so when the audience joins the performance the performance becomes a game,” he tells Dedeco.

Terada’s latest album, Asakusa Light, was released in January this year. You can listen to it here.

In other gaming news, Baldur’s Gate 3 has added Gnomes and Bards in Patch #8.