John Mayer: Heartbreak Warfare

John Mayer is back, well he was back a few months ago but this album was so great that I thought it was worth saying something about. The 00' guitar god is back with a new album called Heartbreak Warfare. A very touching title but really has nothing to do with the book that the name is derived from, Battle Studies. This album, similar to Kanye's influences for 808's & Heartbreak, some of the most intimate songs John has ever written. This is really the anti-Room For Squares, replacing very juvenile and naive songs like Your Body Is A Wonderland with songs like Friends, Lovers, or Nothing, a song influenced by a song about the struggles of trying to be friends with an ex. Battle Studies being the follow-up album to '06 Continuum, which is considered his biggest accomplishment, is a hard act to follow. This album was dark and daring, hinting at subjects that most celebrities shy away from like getting stoned, forgetting peoples names, having sex with random women just for the hell of it. John Mayer strolling around town, hating paparazzi, flirting with girls in hot-tubs in Mexico, and arguing with Perez Hilton via Twitter, seems like a very distant person than John Mayer the song writer. His lyrics are intense and poetic, lines like "I want you so bad I'll go back on the things I believe, I just said it, I'm scared you'll forget about me." To stay tuned to his usual status as Slowhand Jr. all of John's songs are tuned with experience and rich guitar, getting back to his acoustic roots during a few songs on the album. John Mayer hit the ground running with his first album and single, "Your Body is a Wonderland", so we had to endure that 'poppy' music on radio for a year, well now that year of poppy pain has paid off, with the final result, Battle Studies.

Kanye West: VH1 Storytellers

Kanye West's fifth album, first live album hit stores the 5th of January 2010. After a drunken rant during Mtv's Music Video awards, which are a joke anyways because everyone knows that Mtv doesn't show music videos anymore, Kanye has been crucified by the media and the public ever since. His acting out and outrageous behavior at award shows have defined him more than his music. Vh1's release of his live performance at VH1 studios adds Kanye to a list of amazing artists like Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie, both of whom performed for Vh1 in the earlier years. Storytellers, similar to Mtv's Unplugged, gives artist the chance to descibe the history or inspiration of the songs that made them great.

Kanye's set list consist of five tracks from his latest cd, 808's & Heartbreak along with his Grammy winning Good Life and a few other crowd favorites. 808's & Heartbreak was largely influenced by the death of his mother, after plastic surgery, and the split between him and than fiance designer Alexis Phifer. It features more intimate songs that have been far and few between on his albums.

Armed with a live orchestra, a scratch happy dj, a full band, and an energetic crowd Kanye puts on quite a show. Something that can also be visually experienced with the accompanying DVD that comes in the two disc pack. He acts as a maestro at times during the songs composing, changing the tempo, sound, and arranging instruments.

The albums more suprising moments involve his song RoboCop and his love for comedian Jack Black's band Tenacious D. At one time stating "I know I'm supposed to talk about what these songs mean but some of these songs are so personal. The things I've been through are so real.. Certain things are just hard for me to talk about, certain things are too serious." That really gives the listener a vibe of how honest and painful some of the newer Kanye songs are. His most touching and personal 'rant' during the entire album is during Amazing when he says " I apologize for acting like a d**k at award shows, but its an award show, I mean I didn't kill anyone. I still apologize for my ungraciousness."

This album is a touching addition to Kanye West's already steller list of albums, having three of his four albums on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 00's top albums, along with his beats accompanying Jay-Z's Blueprint album, and two songs on RS's list of top songs of the decade, the future is looking bright for Kanye West in the new decade. A great, honest, revealing, truthful album kicking off the 2010 music year.