DJ-Kicks – Vikter Duplaix

Though his name isn't familiar to most electronica listeners, Vikter Duplaix earned a volume in !K7's epic mix series DJ-Kicks thanks to an impressive, rangy credit list -- artists from Jazzanova to Erykah Badu to MC Dynamite to Jermaine Dupri. For his own feature (the first under his own name), Duplaix fashioned a house mix ranging far and wide for tracks that probably wouldn't have made much sense out of this setting. Duplaix's style isn't that of a traditional house DJ; he's actually more of a selector, choosing tracks he likes and ones that work well together, but never worrying about beat-matching or blending tracks into each other. After a spoken word opener from his own Critical Point project, Duplaix spins through plenty of crucial tracks, but arranges many of them into mini-sets; after a couple of tracks of earthy breaks ("Hold It Down" by 4hero and the excellent keyboard distortion of P'taah's "The Crossing (Evacuation of Form)"), he breaks in -- courtesy of a retro-computer voice -- and then turns to the sensual tribal house of "Feelin Me Feelin You" by Waiwan and "Tree of Life" by Osunlade. His own track, the solid stuttered-funk workout "Sensuality," opens up a few tracks of contemporary R&B. Toward the end, he salutes hip-hop with tracks from De La Soul, hometown friend Bahamadia, and Erykah Badu. Besides a few too many reminders explaining whose mix album listeners are tuned into, Duplaix's DJ-Kicks is an excellent installment in the series, gathering all manner of groove tracks into a tough, tight mix. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide