Christmas in July

In the last few years I can at least say that I have noticed an increase in the presence of the pseudo satirical holiday of ‘Christmas in July’, primarily focused on spreading “Christmas spirit” and held on the 25th of July, the southern hemisphere seasonal equivalent of Christmas day. I have to say this is a brave goal considering, speaking from experience, current and former retail workers can enter a shining-esque fugue state on contact with Mariah Carey’s discography.

While ‘Christmas in July’ has been something that I have been aware of for a long time, that awareness has primarily been in relation to an instance of an advert made for it and the impact it has had.

As a start it may be worth touching on the musical genre of Plunderphonics, the name comes from the word ‘plunder’ in reference to the audio piracy that the genre ostensibly relies upon. Sampling is used heavily, but while sampling was nothing new being already present within many genres in the 1980s, Plunderphonics often has tracks that are composed exclusively of samples. Many use and view the genre as a form of protest against copyright laws as they exist, but I think they really can have a gestalt quality, something more has been created from an existing whole. Even if it does not transcend into a form of art you could think of it as a sort of audio collage, and in that form it still has a creative utility that I think that it layed part of the foundation of modern mashup culture, even if indirectly. In its pure form this kind of music still has a presence under the names ‘Hauntology’ with the likes of the Caretaker, and ‘Vaporwave’.

It is worth mentioning the Amiga’s early presence in modern multimedia, being effectively the first successfully widespread home computers capable of this kind of work, while people have touched on it before, I think more could be said on the topic.

It was with the start of internet websites, like with many things, that heavily sample focused remix culture was able to not only get out of its niche but gain more humourous qualities.

As video handling on the internet started to become slightly viable and video editing software got good and available enough for formerly professional software to start being used unprofessionally. Early on technique and sensibilities were both crude, it reminds me of something I would do in Windows Movie Maker, I suspect because the production process for many likely operated under a similar set of sensibilities and limitations as my own, namely being a dumb kid.

I would say for the most part that the non musical end of YTP does still exist as and within other things, but as a genre it started to die out along with the MLG parodies. The musical focused subgenre of YTPMV survived, perhaps it was the higher bar of entry that necessitated some level of competency and therefore quality to exist, and perhaps the entertainment value of music was yet another draw.

What I would consider to be one of the first substantially known and quality ‘YTPMV’ would be ‘Big Beat Mario’ by Triple_sSs uploaded to YouTube 2009 December 8th.

This example primarily makes use of samples from the early YTP staple ‘Hotel Mario’ from 1994 on the Phillips CD-i, a source funny for existing at all.

The skill aspect is commonly where I personally tend to gravitate towards. I like ‘No BGM’ a.k.a. no background music instances, where the creator does not have the backing track masking imperfections or missing elements, everything has to have been recreated, and functionally accurate.

In the winter of 2009 the now defunct electronics company ‘hhgregg’ released a fairly standard advert for the festive season, complete with a carol which’s lyrics have been replaced with a list of things you can buy.

In the following summer of 2010 this ad was repurposed and reedited. The furthest point away from Christmas in a year may have been chosen for the perceived absurdism or this could have been an acknowledgement of the Southern Hemisphere earnest winter festivity, it is unclear which direction ‘hhgregg’ was aiming, but the contextual obtuseness did seem to capture people’s attention.

The already musical but somewhat amateurish, or possibly even “cringe”, nature of it meant that the ‘hhgregg’ commercial was prime for an auditory lampooning, even if needed to wait for the right type of eye to recognise it. A mashup/remix with “Doin’ it Right” by Daft Punk and featuring Panda Bear called ‘doin’ by HydroDalek was uploaded to YouTube 2015 March 27th.

The genre certainly had some development in this direction at this time, but I think that in a post SiIvagunner internet it can be easy to overlook that this had notable reach and impact while also having some semblance of being a very listenable work in its own right. Prior hits were not only inevitably very rough in a technical sense but also were often focused on crass or random humour, not straying too far from their YTP roots.

This would later be expanded upon in ‘redoin’ by JerryTerry, uploaded 2017 August 10th. Here we have a rebuild of the concept, in some sense a polish of an already worthwhile piece, but in another it is also an expansion of the tastes of the authors into a collaborative work. The visuals may be the most obvious point of development, themed typography, as well as the addition of many split second appearances of Joey from ‘Friends’ are the least I can mention.

In the added graphics; the pegging of the price being moved 2 digits to the left without contradicting they are saying, I like the level that it is going for, for $2.99 is neither subtle nor lampshaded, it stands as a pedantic interpretation of what is said, this alone is the bloodstained lifeforce of a chiptune nerd’s teenage punk mood.

I have found that it is never exactly clear why these got the traction that others did not, but their relative quality and novelty doesn’t seem to have hurt.

These are far from the be all and end all of the culture, but they feel almost archetypal, a reference point for the outsider.

The sample focused musical cover aspect of the community in some parts evolved into the ‘Mashup’ genre, the YTP lineage remains apparent in the editing of how mashups are often presented visually.

With the company since going under and the association with the new context the mascot ‘HH’ has ceased to exist as a corporate asset, rather it has become a minor figure within the culture’s pantheon above anything else, used as a character by the likes of SiIvagunner and their cohorts, where they are equal parts creative catalyst and subject of humour.

I appreciate this direction for the character, I prefer something being transformed completely to being lost in the annals of time.

Addendum; to the person for whom ‘HH’ gets their motor running; shine on you crazy diamond.