The name Kid Crème is firmly implanted in the clubbers consciousness by his relentless schedule headlining gigs all over the world with DJ partner Junior Jack as well as his amazing and rare productions all of which have a common theme – incredibly high production standards.
Nicolas Scaravilli – Kid Crème – was born to an Italian family but brought up in Waterloo Belgium. From a young age he became obsessed with music initially spinning and writing hip-hop and worked for four years as an engineer at Let’s Go studios in Brussels where he met future DJ partner Junior Jack.
In 1994 he set up his own label DTM Records which specialised in tough techno productions. He was offered a deal with R&S Records, at the time a big player in the dance scene and DTM was responsible for some seriously heavy records in the mid 90’s. At the same time Nico was turning his hand to house productions releasing records on now defunct UK label Drop Dead Discs and delivering a handful of killer remixes that started to earn him the reputation he has now.
His breakthrough record was Austin’s Groove – a track that sampled the six million dollar man and got the attention of the international community. It was licensed first to UK label INK and then to Morillos Subliminal label where it had a vocal added. It was a worldwide hit and was even dropped by Fatboy Slim at his famous Brighton Beach gig making it onto the CD that marks that landmark event.
Although they had often worked together it was around that time that the DJ partnership between himself and Vito “Junior Jack” Lucente became a more permanent arrangement. The fact that they were independently two of the biggest house producers in the world while both hailing from a small town on the outskirts of Brussels was too big a coincidence to ignore. Both were being flooded with DJ offers from around the world and both found it a bit of a lonely proposition to travel the world on their own. They started to DJ together and brought in their friend and rapper Spike to be MC for their live show. The number of DJ of the year awards they have since received seems to point to the fact that this was a good decision all round.
In 2000 Nico made a record which he considered a bootleg of Do It To The Music by Raw Silk and so he titled the EP Illegal Beats Vol 1 and released it through his friends Jalapeno label. The track was so successful that samples were quickly cleared and it re-emerged titled Hypnotising and went on to be a Top 40 hit in the UK. The original title of the EP also gave a name to the new house imprint of Jalapeno called Illegal Beats set up to release Nico’s records. The label soon grew to encompass other world class producers including Cricco castelli, Steve Angello and Richard Grey.
Around this time KC delivered a remix for Defected of their Shakedown Record “At Night” It dramatically altered the original adding new vocals from MC Spike and was roundly applauded and given the honour of remix of the year by several of the dance press of the time. He also did a remix for Aussie Popstress Kylie Minogue and then just as the offers were flooding in he decided enough was enough. Now although he is offered remix work on a daily basis he turns it all down preferring to work on his own projects than reaping the small fortunes available to him for remixes.
And so to his own projects His last release was 2004’s Doing My Own Thing on Illegal Beats a record that was swiftly compiled onto all major house compilations and played to within an inch of it’s life by the planet’s discerning DJ’s. In Summer 2004 it was pretty much everywhere and remained in the top boxes for a long time, since although it sold tens of thousands of vinyl copies it was limited to that format and never became a chart record giving it a longer shelf life.
Almost two years later and he returns with The Game a killer track featuring the vocal talents of Bashiyra a relatively new discovery for the house music scene although she’s no stranger to the stage having sung backup for a variety of major stars from Patti Labelle through to pomp rockers Queen. The Voodoo Mix of the track is quite a surprise to those expecting the Kid Crème Bassline part 3. It’s a heavy dark bass track with raw drum patterns underpinning Bashiyras soulful vocals and sounds like nothing else around. The Piano Mix is a slice of summer heaven destined to slay the Miami poolside crowds and the summers terrace party-goers.
So what has been going on for those two years between releases. We know he’s a perfectionist but two years ? come on! “It’s true I don’t like to release a record before it’s ready but I also had a problem with my studio being flooded” says nico “and apart from that me and Vito have been resident DJ’s for Defected in the House which has kept us busy around the world. I’ve got plenty more material to choose from now though so in another two years I should be able to release at least one more track” he jokes.
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