‘Welk Uncorked’ remixes champagne

Strange things are happening in the Citadel of Square.

Inside the Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters of the Welk Music Group, the champagne music that bubbled in the blood of mainstream America for four decades has been turned into a high-energy, down-tempo soundtrack for the designer-martini generation.

In “Upstairs at Larry’s: Lawrence Welk Uncorked,” 15 of the middle-of-the-road maestro’s recordings, mostly from the 1960s and ‘70s, have been refitted with house grooves and hip-hop shuffles, augmented with electronic squeals and echo.

The album comes out Tuesday on Vanguard Records.

The idea gave Welk Music Group President Kevin Welk (Lawrence’s grandson) momentary pause when the project was suggested by the company’s head of new media.

“My grandpa, whether you liked him or not, what he did back then holds a lot of value to all types of people,” says the younger Welk, 33.

“But I don’t think what you hear is any disrespect to what he did. We just didn’t want it to be a circus. We wanted it to be legitimate and have great remixers on the project.”

“I had a lot of fun doing ‘Blue Velvet,’ ” says L.A.-based DJ Smitty, part of a remixers roster that includes Greens Keepers, Q-Burns Abstract Message, Monkey Bars and Groove Junkies. “It was a real challenge to try to figure out a way to do it justice.”

Smitty, 34, remembers watching Welk’s TV show as a child with his grandmother, and he appreciates the oddness of the whole concept.

“People would ask, ‘What are you working on?’ and I’d say, ‘I’m working on this Lawrence Welk project,’ and everyone does a double-take. I love that reaction. … But all these hip producers and underground dance guys, everyone had a great time.”

What would Welk, who died in 1992, think if he were around to hear “Upstairs at Larry’s”?

“He’d probably tell me, ‘Kevin, I don’t understand young kids today and what they’re doing,’ ” says his grandson. “But he would appreciate that people are being exposed to him.”