CD reviews

Canada, CD reviews, Guitar, JUNO, Pop, Shawn Mendes, Songwriter, Toronto December 4, 2020

Shawn Mendes swings for the fences with Wonder

Nick Krewen Special To The Star SHAWN MENDES  Wonder  Island Records Wonder, the fourth studio album from Pickering pop sensation Shawn Mendes, is a game changer for the lad.  In a process that began with his self-titled album from 2018, Mendes has largely left the folkish, boyish strains of acoustic guitar behind and settled more for a piano- and-electronic-keyboard sound that sonically bounces between intimate tenderness and epic explosiveness. Mendes…

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Arranger, Beach Boys, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, Bob Dylan, Canada, Composer, Engineer, Guitar, Joni Mitchell, Liner Notes, Los Angeles, Montréal, Pop, Producer, Québec, Songwriter, Voice April 15, 2018

Liner Notes: Hard Won, John Cody, ole red dot, 2017

JOHN CODY HARD WON   LINER NOTES: APRIL 4, 2017   Nick Krewen     It was a race against time. The circumstances behind the recording of John Cody‘s fourth album, Hard Won, may sound panicked and urgent, but there’s a reason for it: they were. In May 2016, the Montréal-based singer and songwriter received the news that no one wants to hear, especially if you’re a musician: his larynx,…

Arranger, Canada, CD reviews, Composer, Folk, JUNO, Montréal, Québec, Songwriter, Voice August 25, 2014

GRAMMY HALL OF FAME RECORDINGS – The Songs Of Leonard Cohen

GRAMMY HALL OF FAME RECORDINGS Songs Of Leonard Cohen     Songs Of Leonard Cohen Columbia Records Released: December 26, 1967   Nick Krewen GRAMMY.com August 25, 2014 Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the year the world was introduced to Leonard Cohen, songwriter and recording artist, Canada was celebrating its first century as a nation. For both Cohen and Canada, 1967 marked new chapters filled with rebirth, hope and a…

Arranger, Canada, Composer, Drums, Electronic, Experimental, Liner Notes, Progressive rock, Rock, Songwriter, Synthesizer, Toronto May 14, 2014

Liner notes: FM, Black Noise

FM – Black Noise   Oh, the endless possibilities that can be stoked by science fiction. It’s a realm where imaginations are stimulated, emancipated, and allowed to run wild; where boundaries are stretched and eliminated, and where the inconceivable can become an accomplished reality. It’s a topic that is so entrenched and valued in our society that sci-fi has gifted us with some of our most beloved cultural milestones, be…

Aubrey "Drake" Graham, CD reviews, Dance, Grammy, Pop, Producer, R&B, Songwriter, Television, United States, Voice October 1, 2013

Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2: review

2 of 2 provides slightly more nutrition than Timberlake’s first 20/20 Experience By: Nick Krewen Music, Published on Tue Oct 01 2013 Turns out that hindsight is 40/40. After musically resurfacing back in the spring with the tepid first volume of The 20/20 Experience, a faux soul album laden with much more fat than meat in its mediocre 90 minutes, the tandem of golden voice Justin Timberlake and producer Tim…