These, then, are the songs that appear on CDs for retailers such as Pottery Barn and Old Navy. Programmers at Muzak and DMX Music Inc., which arrange music programs for hundreds of retailers, say they also plan to use the remixes this year.
"There is a real shortage of new holiday music," said Muzak's Campion. "This is a breath of fresh air."
Dan the Automator remixed a Dean Martin rendition of "Jingle Bells."
(Courtesy Of Rock River Communications Inc.)
|
|
But will remixing succeed for holidays that thrive on tradition?
So far, remixing has proven popular when applied to plenty of other kinds of music. The practice has been around since at least the early 1970s, when studios began taking songs produced for the radio and extending them for use inside clubs.
Today, music groups -- from rock to rap -- routinely borrow bits and pieces of older recording for use in songs updated for their contemporary audience. There is even a Grammy category for best remix. Remixers "pay tribute to the original material" while "giving it a new market," said Anthony Kelley, a Duke University music professor.
Dan Nakamura, the Grammy-nominated hip-hop producer who works under the name Dan the Automator, said traditional holiday music "doesn't suit the attitude of what young people are listening to right now -- Latin jazz, club friendly, dance music."
Nakamura remixed a Dean Martin rendition of "Jingle Bells" for retailers this year. In the song, Nakamura dices up the lyrics so that word "jingle" often floats through an unfamiliar sea of thumping drums, electronic pulses and the occasional trumpet note.
"I don't ever expect to hear that on the radio or to sit around the fireplace listening to it," he said. "But if I walk into Urban Outfitters and people are bopping around to it, that's great."
Plenty of retailers are sticking with traditional holiday fare this year. May Department Stores Co., which owns Hecht's, Lord & Taylor and Foley's, will offer a "conservative sound" consisting of artists such as singer Norah Jones and composer George Winston, said Muzak's Campion, who has helped arrange in-store programming for the St. Louis-based chain.
Then there is Wal-Mart. The nation's largest retailer, whose holiday tunes ring across more than 3,000 stores, will play Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Macy Gray and Alvin and the Chipmunks, said spokeswoman Karen Burke. But don't expect to hear Dan the Automator or any other remixers in the toy aisle of the local Wal-Mart.
"We have no plans to play those selections," Burke said.
