There are several definitions for "remix," including some scathingly funny ones.

According to the online Urban Dictionary, to remix is to "recombine an audio track to produce a new or modified audio recording." That's a good analytical definition.

But, and maybe most realistically: "(A remix is) something that makes bad songs longer (and on rare occasions, better)." Or "remixing is mostly done in the rap and hip-hop category" and is "a good way for rappers to make more money."

For years, pop acts have been soliciting rap, hip hop and dance producers for remixes to facilitate that ever-elusive crossover appeal. In order to accomplish that, producers will often strip away and rebuild a track so much that it becomes almost unrecognizable.

However, Lenny Kravitz has made the remixer's job pretty easy on Absolut Kravitz, a dance project the "rock star" has undertaken with the vodka giant.

Offhand, and before you say "sellout," a track like Kravitz's Breathe does sort of see him coming full circle musically.

Well before the vastly overplayed Are You Gonna Go My Way and the dreadful cover of the Guess Who's American Woman, Kravitz's voice was always an ideal fit for floor-fillin' jams.

His sophomore album, 1991's Mama Said, had healthy doses of funk in tunes like Stop Dragging Around and Always on the Run. A well-publicized breakup with the Cosby Show's Lisa Bonet also saw Kravitz penning an achey R&B-like ballad with It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over.

And as far as pimping a product like vodka, nowadays such synergies are fairly commonplace, if not altogether inescapable. Look no further than Iggy Pop selling Motorola's crappy Rokr cellphone, Academy-Award winner Robert De Niro shilling American Express cards or the legions of stars from the West doing TV commercials in Asia. Like it or not, the corporate whores are all around us.

According to the press release, Kravitz was inspired to write Breathe by Absolut itself. After hearing it, I can't discern any connection between the lyrics and vodka, but artistic interpretation must allow for that kind of deceit. Regardless, Breathe is no mere gasp; it's actually a decent dance track, soulful and groovy.

What makes the overall project interesting is the calibre and diversity of international talent Absolut has solicited for remixes of the song. All the songs can be downloaded for free at www.absoluttracks.com. There are also videos for each remix available for download.

Montreal-based Chromeo, the duo of Pee Thug (Patrick Gemayel) and Dave 1 (Dave Macklovitch), were enlisted for such a remix, even playing an Absolut Kravitz launch party in Toronto last month. Drawing raves for their live shows and productions, Chromeo's sound is all about the '80s, lover's funk and disco tinges updated for the 21st century. Their remix of Breathe evokes both Prince and Michael Jackson.

"It's definitely a remix-friendly song," says Gemayel. "Our take is that we basically tried to speed it up and make it a little bit more Chromeo-friendly. We added an array of vintage keyboards, which is always the foundation of what we're doing. And his song basically uses one bass note, so we decided to add a fuller, disco-like bass line."

Amongst the other nine producers enlisted for remixes are Ashley Beedle (of U.K.-based dance production outfit X-Press 2), Erro (Eric Roberson), Germany's Jazzanova, Luny Tunes' Francisco Saldana and Victor Cabrera (who are at the forefront of reggaeton, a fusion of Jamaican dancehall and Panamanian reggae), Greece's Nikko Patrelakis (whose production style sounds a lot like Underworld), the Presets from Australia and China's Wang Lei, who delivers the most experimental twist of the original.

Legendary New York house producer and DJ Little Louie Vega (one half of the Masters at Work alongside Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez) also delivers a bumping house remix targeted directly at dance floors.

All the remixes are actually pretty good. Better than that, if a high-profile project like this can spur people's interest in deserving acts like Jazzanova - who has been at the forefront of Europe's nu jazz and broken-beat movement for years - then maybe there's a silver lining, after all.