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Feature: Future Philly Funk - Vikter Duplaix
Interviewer: Ike Ikwuemesi
The evolution of Vikter Duplaix’s music creativity has gained him a wider following than even he envisioned.
And, at last, all his amazing future sounds that had us clamouring for the dancefloors are tracklisted on one album:
Singles (Prelude to the Future). Not one to be easily categorized, the singer/songwriter/producer/DJ talks
refreshingly about his musical direction and audience anticipation.
I believe your musical career took off when you hooked up with Jazzy Jeff. How did that come about?
Kinda like that. I was an engineer at a local studio in Philly, as well as a hip hop DJ. Jazzy and I have been friends
since childhood. When he became successful, I had the opportunity to work with him.
Then you moved on to Kenny Gamble’s stable who, along with Leon Huff, was instrumental in shaping the 'Philly Soul'
sound. What was that experience like?
It wasn’t as much about music as much as learning about life: handling certain situations, being professional, managing
money. Gamble was like an older brother or father figure to me. It was really a chance to be in their presence and enjoy
the knowledge they shared.
Your style is pretty much your own. Who have been your musical influences?
I’m inspired by everything. I’ve never really wanted to be like a particular artist or had a sound that is my favourite;
I don’t really think that way. My influences are whatever I’ve heard from classical to jazz, funk, pop, hip hop, rare
groove.
There have been so many labels thrown at you. Which are the ones that stick when describing your musical style?
None! That’s one of the difficulties I’ve had since my career launch; people trying to figure out a place to put me in,
so to speak. Truth is, I don’t really fit into a certain category. I’d rather be accepted for what I am, kinda like a
Andre 3000. Hopefully that’s where music is going - where artists can do what they wanna do and as long as it’s good they
will be heard.
The Vikter Duplaix sound is intentionally otherworldly. Discuss.
Well, I don’t wanna scare people away! [laughs]. What I would say is that the intention with the music is to be fresh and
new and not rely so much on what has been done before. With the introduction of sampled music, pretty much everything had
to be familiar in order for people to like it. And that kinda mentality expanded to the point where if you didn’t have a
timbaland beat or if it didn’t remind you of the Neptunes or Rocwilder then it wasn’t any good as far as radio was
concerned.
You are from Philadelphia, a city that has been at the vanguard of much musical creativity. Of late, it has been seen
as the hub of the so-called neo soul movement but your sound seems more diverse to be contained with that term. Care to
comment on that?
Well nobody in Philly likes that term. It’s seen as being so limiting; like the concept of Philly music not being worthy
just kind of abstract and groovy. All people really want is to be successful and be heard. They don’t want labels that
create a situation where your music can’t be heard if you turn off the listener. Also, I think people are so caught up
in the concept of revitalising the Philly international soul thing that it kinda overlooks hugely successful artists from
Philly like Pink, Eve, Beanie Siegel and other artists who are selling over five million albums. I think if you look at the
Philadelphia movement, you gotta look at the whole picture. You can’t just think that when you come to Philly you are
gonna see people in head-wraps and dashikis, it’s not really like that. Philly is a very different town - it’s not as
international as say, New York or London. If anything it’s more like the Beanie Siegels and the Eves.
You started off as a DJ, then a producer, and now a solo recording artist in your own right. Has that all been by
design or development?
By development. It just kinda happened.
So the singing came after?
I never really started out to be the star of the show; that wasn’t my goal. Most of my career developed in production but
I was always a DJ. The DJ thing kinda continued because I needed money to survive in the midst of the production and
writing - it was like my job. And it’s been a blessing; it’s an alternative career that also works with your main career.
The production side took me to a point where I was around so many good artists that I felt I could be like them, in the
sense of being oneself and experimenting.
Would you say you excelled in one arena or are all these avenues a sum of the parts of who you are?
They are all a part of me at one time but you have to develop something and you have to establish that something. I have
been establishing myself in three things at the same time. It’s a longer grind but the combined Artist/DJ/Producer
concept is now becoming a reality for me. It’s not so easy because I’d rather just be a performer going on the road
and enjoying the contact of the people.
Tell me about the release of Singles (Prelude To The Future) - it’s a catalogue of previous recordings that are now
contained in one album, right?.
Basically. My recording career as a soloist artist started accidentally around 1996. At that time not much in the US was
being released outside the realm of modern RnB. I wanted to do some new sounds and some different beats to kinda break
the monotony of what the music industry was doing. I decided to release independent records and, surprisingly, people
really liked them. Through the DJ culture I was connected to people in London, Germany, and other parts of the US. Some of
those records became really popular to the point were I was being sent around the world. I found the contact with other
different cultures very inspiring. The records were really popular even in mainstream circles. But because it was only
on 12 inch the average person couldn’t get it, so we decided to put out an album to get the tracks out.
On the compilation, the body of work is much different from your debut album release, International Affairs, in
the sense that it’s much more electronic than soulful.
Well, for me it’s really all the same. I mean, I didn’t really set out to make out some kind of specific electronic sound.
So when people tell me that they think this album is like what they expected from me that’s interesting. But it’s also
interesting that people might think that it sounds different. Because while International Affairs had more musicians
and therefore more of a human feel, it was done pretty much the same way: I’d used the drum machines and everything was
pretty much programmed.
Was Manhood your first solo effort?
No, I had done two other songs before: Swell with Scuba and Messages with Masters At Work, which was
pretty big. Then Manhood took it to another level.
How come King Britt’s mix of City Spirits doesn’t feature on the album?
Basically, because we wanted to keep the album to a manageable length.
A couple of tracks on the album are with Jazzanova. How did you get together with them?
They’re really big fans of the song Messages, and when they were making their album they decided that I was the
perfect voice for what they were trying to do. They had never worked with a vocalist before, only sampled or pre recorded
voices. The exchange was interesting as our collaboration kinda set the precedent for all the other things they did after
that. And what I learnt from them was the power of simplicity: I was coming from a US perspective, where you spend tons
of money on studios, engineers, extra songwriters, and all that kind of stuff, and they were basically in one tiny little
room making that music on a computer. It was a fascinating experience.
You spent a lot of time in Europe. Do you feel the sounds emanating from the UK more in keeping with your artistic
direction?
It’s hard to say. I think that in Europe the media still supports independent music whereas in the US they are more
focused on celebrity. In the US you have to make a lot more noise to be deemed worthy. In the UK, they have pirate radios.
We don’t have anything like that in the US.
Where are you based now?
My hometown, Philadelphia.
What are your plans for 2004?
A lot of different things. Right now, talking with Roni Size and Louie Vega. Also, coming back to Europe to do some live
dates.
More future sounds?
More good music!
Note: Read the Know The Ledge review of Vikter Duplaix's Singles (A Prelude To the Future)
here.
RELATED LINKS:
Singles (A Prelude To the Future)
- the Know The Ledge review
Vikter Duplaix -
official site
Discography
Buy Singles (Prelude To The Future) at Amazon
UK
(CD /
Vinyl)
| US (CD)
Buy International Affairs at Amazon
UK
(CD /
Vinyl)
| US (CD)
Buy DJ Kicks at Amazon
UK
(CD /
Vinyl)
|
US
(CD)
PUBLISHED: Monday 19 April
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::: RELATED LINKS
Singles (A Prelude To the Future)
- the Know The Ledge review
Vikter Duplaix -
official site
Discography
More Features
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