Balance Selections 241: Cream

Cream, also known as Krzysztof Kupczakiewicz, was born in Krakow, and currently lives in Jaroslaw. During the period of 20 years that Cream spent in Jaroslaw, playing in almost all of it’s clubs, and working simultaneously as a sound engineer, has led him to be one of the most celebrated DJs in Poland.

Currently, with Deep Fog, he forms a production duo. Their shared passion for electronic music has already resulted in several releases on respected labels such as Particles, Electronic Tree, and Soundteller Records among many others.

As a DJ, it’s hard to classify his musical style, but currently it’s a combination of house, progressive, tech house and minimal techno sounds. His skills behind the decks have seen him support many of the world’s best DJs such as Hernán Cattáneo, John Digweed, Guy J, Jody Wisternoff, Miss Monique, and Adanda Twins to name a few.

Cream, who has spent over 35 years working as a DJ, can freely admit that music is a passion that lasts indefinitely.

Balance Selections 241: Cream

Balance Selections Q+A

Name: Krzysztof Kupczakiewicz
Location: Poland
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Alias/Producer name: CREAM
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My last 3 releases:

Cream – Mono (Original Mix)

Atóm (IE) – Spectrum (Cream Remix)

Cream – Entropia (Original Mix)

What music did you listen to as a child?

My fascination with music grew thanks to my dad, who instilled in me an interest in The Beatles. Throughout my childhood, I was into New Romantic (Thomson Twins, Duran Duran) and Electropop (Alphaville, Depeche Mode, OMD). During my teenage years, I discovered a passion for electronic music (Kitaro, Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre), which had a big impact on my musical tastes.

When was the first time that you realised that you liked electronic music?

It was so long ago that I don’t remember exactly what it was like. I’ve been playing as a DJ for over 36 years, but I do recall that Jean Michel Jarre‘s concert in China made a great impression on me.

Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?

I don’t limit myself to just electronic music because I also listen to a lot of jazz and classical music, which I also draw inspiration from. Without a doubt, my friend Deep Fog is my mentor and the person without whom my tracks wouldn’t exist. He is my role model when it comes to production knowledge. Karol XVII, MB Valance, and Sławomir Łoboda, who supported me with their valuable advice, cannot be missing from this group. My favourite artists to play are Dmitry Molosh, Cid Inc, Ezequiel Arias.

What is your current production and DJ set up like?

As a DAW, I use Ableton Live, and when it comes to instruments, I only use virtual ones due to the speed of creating sounds. Contemporary VST plugins sound so good that there’s no need to use external instruments, and in a dense mix of sounds, even the best expert won’t recognize the difference between software and hardware. I like working with U-He Repro-1 because of its analog character, as well as NI Massive and Spire. I don’t exaggerate with collecting plugins because, as you know, simplicity is the key to success. As far as playing in clubs is concerned, I still play CDs and I don’t think I’ll change that anytime soon. I don’t use Rekordbox, I know it’s a huge convenience, but personally I prefer playing by ear.

What releases do you have on the horizon?

The latest release is an EP for the Maltese label Moussaieff Records, with my track ‘Mono‘ taking the lead. The next upcoming release will be a remix for Kostya Outta on Strange Town Recordings, and finally, the premiere of my track ‘Confusion‘, which will be the first release on my label, Kikton Records.

Where can we hear you perform?

I’m a resident DJ at the Grand Club in Rzeszow, and my upcoming performances include Club NL in Amsterdam, where I’m going to play a 4-hour set. Then, an Asia tour, and my gig in Sri Lanka. I also have upcoming performances at festivals in Spain and Gdańsk.Poland, and soon I’ll perform in Vienna. And of course, I will continue my regular shows, ‘Terminal‘, which I’ve been hosting on Proton Radio for 9 years, and ‘Odyssey‘, which I’ve been doing on Frisky Radio for the past 3 years.

Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?

The set I made was recorded live. I used CDJ 2000 Nexus and DJM 900NX2, and while playing live, I recorded everything on the Marantz PMD620 recorder. The set is composed only of my own productions or remixes that have already been released or will be released in the future. The most important thing about the set was the selection itself to create a story like in a good book, which has a beginning, middle, and end. I included my favourite tracks in there, and I totally recommend ‘Underwater‘ – a track released on Einmusika Recordings, ‘Nila‘ released on EIN2, and my two favourite tracks, ‘Enuko‘ and ‘Tagma‘, which were released by the D-Nox‘s Sprout label.

My Recommendations

The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:

Dmitry Molosh – Watercolor (Original Mix)