Here in Colombia it was a long weekend and I still have this song burning on my skin — literally. It had been so long since I soaked up the sun that I kinda overdid it, and it hurts so good. It was my overconfident self the one to blame for the careless sunbathing sans protection and the pain I am in right now. We must’ve played this song at least a dozen times from Friday until Monday and it always sounded as fresh. In fact, I think at least 1/4 of this weekend’s playlist was made up of Viceroy remixes. And while some think that most of his remixes sound the same it is also true that very few do “Summertime, all the time” the way he does. In my book, he’s delivering. Finding a sonic niche and exploiting it every way that he can. You gotta give it to him.
This time he remixes DC-based band Brett which have their debut album coming out in 15 days or so. It is with this classic happy piano work, marimba-infused sounds with tropical percussions and nu disco vibe that he transforms the funky original into the perfect soundtrack to this past sunny weekend. In only 7 days it has garnered almost 50,000 plays on Soundcloud and went Top 20 on Hype Machine. All this doesn’t mean much if music can’t connect on different levels with the people who listen to it. A couple of weeks ago I got to witness first hand what Austen Afridi aka Viceroy accomplished when he took over a virgin beach in the real island of summertime, all the time, the Dominican Republic and had everyone asking each other: “Is this for real!?”. It wasn’t because of the fact that everyone went crazy when he put his most acclaimed remixes out of the Jet Life Series of classics redone. It was his carefully crafted diverse set that really made that sunset-party-turned-night-debauchery real special. I could really tell what this guy is made of after speaking for hours with him from what’s good with music right now, his story and how culture and the crowd make huge differences here and there. He doesn’t take any of what’s been happening to him for granted and I think somehow it reflects in his music. Because it doesn’t sound complex at all yet it just feels right.
He’s got a bag full of surprises for the last part of 2012 and beginning of 2013 and I can’t wait to hear it. Until then, enjoy this.
