sessions with wongie: maroon 5

my thoughts on maroon 5 are pretty positive in general. lead singer adam levine is a cutie with a smooth soulful voice. their last album songs about jane was a surprisingly confident collection of pop songs that channeled the best of 80's bands like hall & oats and steely dan. and what i like the most about these guys is that their strong work ethic of touring for 3 years non-stop gave them well deserved respect and success.

so there i was flying in to LA for an interview with the boys (just adam and jesse - who i've never noticed to be cute, but now i think i have a new band crush on him) and i have to be honest, even if i wasn't going crazy to listen to the new album 'it won't be soon before long', i definitely was curious to see what they could come up with after all this time.

though there are some questionable lyrics (simple is more like it) and no real thread between the title of the album and the songs themselves, i have to say, with more than 1/2 the album full of potential radio hits, the boys need not worry about their next few years.

Track listing is as follows:

1. If I Never See Your Face Again (typical opening song, catchy and what you'd expect from the boys)
2. Makes Me Wonder (1st single and well... not that mind blowing as you'd want it to be)
3. Little Of Your Time
4. Wake Up Call (the 2nd single but i'm totally not into this silly song about murder and cheating and yawn...)
5. Won't Go Home Without You (the album starts to get interesting at this mark.)
6. Nothing Lasts Forever (the vocal sample used in the kanye west 'heard em say' gets a full song. it's pretty beautiful really.)
7. Can't Stop
8. Goodnight, Goodnight
9. Not Falling Apart (this should be THE single.)
10. Kiwi
11. Better That We Break (lovely! this is the ballad that showcases adam and his writing talents the best.)
12. Back At Your Door (yet another lovely adult ballad. maybe the boys should drop their rock star dreams and embrace their proper songwriting talents instead.)

if you're a fan of the 1st single, the video for 'makes me wonder' will world premiere on TRL march 29th (i'll find you a youtube version, don't you worry)

sessions with wongie: timbaland

i was actually looking forward to checking out timbaland's new album shock value (he is the biggest producer in hip hop/r&b today). so when i got the invite to go to his listening session with tim himself personally introducing the album, who am i to say no?

held at the 'exclusive' bar PM, i was pretty skeptical about the venue since it's pretty much known as one of those bottle serviced joints for corporate types and wannabe models. luckily the crowd this evening was more FOT (friends of timbaland) which included loads of record label folk, a few fashionistas, some journalists (um... i guess i'm one of those) and justin timberlake (he being the pink elephant in the room - we knew he was there, but we were too cool to actually stare at how regular he looks in person).

after waiting about 2 hours for timbaland to show up, the crowd (and camera crew) started to circle around a hooded figure slowly walking his way over to the DJ booth above the club. once he got there, timbaland spent another few minutes saying 'mic check' then started his intro by thanking a few people and saying we were all going to experience a great party. the crowd was ready, the drinks were free flowing and i, the music nerd, couldn't wait for a loud boogie down.

to say i was disappointed is a bit of an understatement. the music barely blasted out of the speakers and after 30 seconds of the crowd realizing that the sound system was shite, everyone went back to chatting and acting as if timbaland hadn't started the listening session yet (i went to a killers listening party last year and the music was so encompassing that i not only ended up loving the album, but i left singing a few tunes too.)

you could see that shit was hitting the fan because one of the big wigs was walking around the room looking pretty pissed off. to make matters worse, timbaland didn't say anything after his intro. he just stood there looking miffed that the room wasn't reacting in ANY way. after 5 songs (and two hours of eating way too many finger foods), the lack of energy bummed me out and i left. while putting on my jacket, i looked up and saw tim staring at my departure. i felt bad, but honestly i was hoping for something cool and fun.

note to the record label, just because a venue is 'cool' doesn't mean it's good for a listening party. ironically enough, club cielo was next door and their sound system is ear popping amazing.

TRACK LISTINGS
1. Oh Timbaland
2. Give It To Me (Feat. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake)
3. Release (Feat. Justin Timberlake)
4. Way I Are (Feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.)
5. Bounce (Feat. Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake)
6. Come & Get Me (Feat. Tony Yayo & 50 Cent)
7. Kill Yourself (Feat. Sebastian & Attitude)
8. Boardmeeting (Feat. Magoo)
9. Fantasy (Feat. Money)
10.Scream (Feat. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger)
11.Miscommunication (Feat. Keri Hilson & Sebastian)
12.Bombay (Feat. Amar & Jim Beanz)
13.Throw It On Me (Feat. The Hives)
14.Time (Feat. She Wants Revenge)
15.One & Only (Feat. Fallout Boy)
16.Apologize (Feat. One Republic)
17.2 Man Show (Feat. Elton John)