Oh, the Humanity

LUST FOR LIVE: ãI began to feel trapped by pure electronic music,ä says Duplaix. ãThe energy of hands beating naked drums has a special quality that canât be replaced by machines.ä

International male Vikter Duplaix says no way, computer.

by A.D. Amorosi

Vikter Duplaix is smooth. Check those Armani suits and shades and buttery leathers on the blaxploitative tip. He's also soulful, what with a singing voice and musical sensibility weaned on Philadelphia Boys Choir practices, a childhood hanging with soul-slinger DJ Jazzy Jeff in Southwest Philly and an apprenticeship with Gamble & Huff.

But Vikter Duplaix is not -- especially not on his Hollywood label debut CD, International Affairs v1.0 -- a "smooth soul singer" as we know it. Not Babyface. Not Benet. Duplaix is, rather, like Ryuichi Sakamoto laced with Dexter Wansel with a whisper of Marvin Gaye. He's an emotional electronic maven whose voice conjures worlds within (hints of Afro-Cubano) and beyond. Like the liquidy ambient jazz he's made with Scuba and Jazzanova, this Affair is flesh and blood.

"I wanted to do an album with a bit more humanity, as opposed to a computerized and strictly machine-based recording," says Duplaix from the Axis offices he shares with James Poyser and Chauncey Childs. (In recent years, Axis has produced the likes of Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Common and Erykah Badu.)

While initial recordings for the CD (I was lucky enough to hear Bambaattaa-like electro tracks "City Spirits, "Manhood" and "Messages" back in 2000) were more experimental -- "more about sound and vibe" -- IA is more focused on feeling.

"I began to feel trapped by pure electronic music. The energy of hands beating naked drums has a special quality that can't be replaced by machines." Feeling may not be, in the electronic/DJ world, a commodity. Duplaix wasn't prepared for the successes he had through singing.

"King Britt heard some demos I was working on and asked me to put vocals on a track he had. I was sick with a head cold but he convinced me to do it anyway. He's the eternal optimist." The result was "Swell," a first hit for their duo, Scuba. The response was immediate, complimentary.

"I assumed it was because of the track. My vocals weren't top-notch. I found out later people were asking who the singer was. That felt good." Rather than feeling in league with traditional R&B, Duplaix hears more of a Brit alterna-soul feel -- Seal, Sade -- in his insistently sensual sound, a gentle immediacy and a world-weariness that comes from a harried recording pace and constant travel.

"I'm always discovering new cultures and redefining my understanding of ones I knew. My goal was to convey that." Duplaix points to the moody "Morena" as a merging of decadent electronic with the energy of Puerto Rican bomba. While "Morena" seems an ultrasexy love song about a woman, it's really a semi-political statement about the lack of colorful female faces in the media. "Everyone wants a tan to look Œhealthy,' but the gorgeous and naturally breathtaking women of the world get skipped over for the bleach-blonde silicone dolls when it comes time to roll the presses."

IA's acoustic-electronic, multicultural hybrid may guide the way for Duplaix's future. But his lyrical depth -- a commodity in dance music -- sets his sound apart in a marketplace of banging, blinging and boinging.

"Lust for Life" conveys hysteria and survival in the inner city. "What We Want" seeks to detonate barriers between all cultures, races, faiths. "Yesterday's Pain" talks about circumstances -- good and rotten -- of growing up at 58th and Baltimore, a home base he and Poyser share.

"I lived through extreme street circumstances, seen people stabbed, shot and stomped to death. The list of images is long, and sometimes play like a horror flick in my mind. I had to let yesterday go to run into tomorrow with a clear mind."

So how does the company of the Mouse market something so unique? "Attaching color -- black, white, Asian -- to marketing is an obstacle we've yet to get past in the U.S.," says Duplaix about his mega-popularity overseas.

"Here, music is judged by complexion instead of by depth of the art. There's an audience left out of genre-specific marketing concepts, people who're lovers of quality who've moved past the blatant immaturity of MTV and are truly hurt by images on BET. This is my core audience. The masses will get there too. The intent of Affairs is to satisfy any and everyone breaking through. The segregated formats of marketing will be challenged. Ya gotta hear this! It's life changing!"