Mixer

Swedish House Mafia: Concert Review

The house music stalwarts pull in 60,000 partygoers for two soldout nights at the Rogers Centre. By: Nick Krewen Special To The Star, Published on Sat Feb 23 2013     The Swedish House Mafia may be pulling the plug a tad prematurely. Even though house music stalwarts Axel “Axwell” Hedfors, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso are in the final throes of their reported last hurrah — the DJ/producers have…


Thomas Dolby, past, present and especially future

Entertainment / Music Eighties pop star, tech entrepreneur, now game designer — and through it all, a science obsessive.   Musician Thomas Dolby in his travelling “time capsule.” By: Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Sun Apr 01 2012 Ever the inventive sort, Thomas Dolby is bringing a special guest to Monday night’s gig at the Mod Club: his own time machine. “It’s a 1930s Teardrop trailer that looks like Jules Verne customized…


Capturing The Sound of Silence

  Far from the madding crowds, sound hunters search the wilderness for an elusive ingredient for their recordings — absolute silence   Nick Krewen The Ottawa Citizen Sunday, July 25, 1999 It’s another long, sweltering day in the tropical rainforest, and Kevin O’ Leary is on safari. With an assistant who doubles as photographer at his side, and more than 30 kgs of gear each strapped to their backs, they…


Michael Brook: Toronto Native a Player on World Music Stage

Grammy Bid Defies Years Of Obscurity Nick Krewen Toronto Star Monday, February 24, 1997   He’s played in volcanic caves on The Canary Islands and recorded one of his four solo albums during a press conference at The London Zoo’s Aquarium, but Michael Brook says a gig he performed in the late ’80s with visionary keyboardist Brian Eno topped them all. “We performed at the opening of a Shinto temple…


Propellerheads’ History Repeating for the First Time

NICK KREWEN Special To The Spectator May 26, 1998   TORONTO — It’s a case of “History Repeating” for Alex Gifford, but success is sweeter the second time around. The last time Gifford was in Toronto, he was a teenager playing sax for British punk rockers The Stranglers, a position he held from 1984 until lead singer Hugh Cornwell announced his departure in 1990. Now he’s back on a promo…