With the holidays upon us once again, once again we collectively face retail propositions—thinly veiled as holiday spirit, if at all—at every turn as consumerism surges towards its perennial peak in one week. So too are flesh-and-bone shoppers invariably subject to a brick-and-mortar experience that predates the web-enabled phenomenon of ‘showrooming’ (which has now met its match with neologisms such as ‘webrooming,’ ‘e-rooming,’ and ‘RoBo’; look ’em up if you’re curious): the ineluctable IRL soundtrack to the season, piping through the internal airwaves of stores as though preordained—paeans to Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, et al part and parcel to unflattering fluorescent lights and cranked-up HVAC. Hackneyed holiday classics and the ever-lengthening tail of covers, remixes, etc. alike serve as foregone background music that falls like light flurries on one’s ears; sure, it melts instantly, but it also has a weird way of seeping into your cerebellum. Tis the season indeed.
Here’s one that you won’t be hearing at your local Best Buy or [insert big box electronics store here]: James Houston‘s take on “Carol of the Bells.” The director / animator / graphic designer tuned his obsolete-device orchestra—which include an iMac, a Commodore 64 and a SEGA Mega Drive, among others—to the telltale motif of the Ukrainian folk chant. Check out “Season’s Greetings from The Glasgow School of Art” (Houston’s Alma Mater):
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