What was it like to write the Super Mario Bros. theme song or the Tetris soundtrack? Millions of kids across generations growing up listening to your music and associating it with some of the easiest and rosiest moments of their childhood? Berlin-based producer C418, a.k.a. Daniel Rosenfeld, has some semblance of an idea.

"Being the composer of Minecraft is basically like imagining the distance between earth and moon," he is quoted in a press release. "I can imagine the number in it’s pure mathematical form, but I cannot ever imagine how big that distance actually is. Similarly to the popularity of the game and how common it has become on this planet, I seriously can’t fathom the influence I’ve had on young gamers everywhere."

Of course, he was a producer before Minecraft hired him, and he's continued to express himself creatively outside its cubic dimensions. C418 has released everything from melodic dance-pop to ambient moods via Bandcamp, and an inspired-by his day job piece called Minecraft Volume Alpha through Ghostly International. Today, he explores a wide range of influences and atmospheres on "Beton," the first single from a forthcoming album called Excursions, slated for digital release on Sept. 7.

"Beton" is a beautiful piece of music, as exploratory and boundless as the game he's helped to score. It begins soft and gentle with breezy bleeps and seagull sounds, but slowly builds into soft-edged synth pop groove that should excite anyone who's a fan of more progressive pieces from deadmau5, ambient works of Aphex Twin, or the retro-revival style of the Drive soundtrack.

"This new project, Excursions, has been a trip down my own memory lane before Minecraft, when I aspired to create music I could hear on a commute to dance to," the producer adds. "I’ve tried a few weird tricks for the entire record. For one, I’ve recorded the entire finished product through speakers to give it a roomy feel. Or, the mindset I’ve tried to have making each song. I started with 'Beton' as my first song, and then tried to recreate this very song over and over again, but in different locations and with wildly different mood sets. Angry, sad or happy. Turns out that creates completely different songs."

"Beton" unfolds like a well-told story across more than seven minutes, and while it's good for the background as well as the fore, you won't ever lose interest. It's out everywhere Friday, July 20, but you can get a first listen below, exclusively on Billboard Dance.