Going acoustic with Jason Mraz

In the ’60s, there were folkhouses where singers perched on a stool, strummed their guitars and then sang like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Byrds or Peter, Paul & Mary. The shows they put up were called acoustic. These then gave way to booming disco sounds in the ’70s. Then the sounds were once more pared down to New Wave basics in the ’80s and then remained in eclectic pop limbo throughout the ’90’s. Madonna? Acoustic! Recently though there has been a resurgence of small joints where singers perform sans electronic trappings just like in the folkhouses of old. This sound is also acoustic but because ours is a coffee-drinking world these days (take note that there is a Starbucks in almost every major city street), the joints are now called coffeehouses.

I see this new development as a great blessing for aspiring singers and songwriters. The success of coffeehouses makes it so easy and so inexpensive to put together an act that requires only a guitar. Additional funds can get you bass and drums. And those are all you need. It also makes it so easy to introduce new compositions. Just play the songs on every set and the coffee drinkers will spend their sleepless nights humming the melody. So 40 years later, it is pretty much sit on a stool and strum the guitar and a singer is off and running. If he is any good, he acquires a following who will then follow him around to other coffeehouses and who will next bring their friends and their friends’ friends, etc., etc.

This is how it happened to Paolo Santos and to Nyoy Volante. Good performers though they are, they would never have made it big via the usual record company route because local producers are so fearful of anything new and someone they cannot sell via their usual routes – or should I say, usual ruts. And just to show that the trend is actually a worldwide thing, there is also John Mayer and recently there came Jason Mraz.

If you will make the effort, you will surely find that the name Mraz is Czechoslovakian in origin and is pronounced Ma-raz. No amount of searching though or listening is likely to give you a definite categorization for the music of Jason Mraz. It is bluesy and country. It is folk and rock and roll and even hip hop. It is as foot-tapping as Dire Straits’. It is as much fun as the Beach Boys’. But just as he says in the thoroughly infectious Remedy, "I won’t worry my life away…" there’s no need to worry wondering to what section Jason Mraz belongs. Suffice it to say that it is the section that provides music to coffeehouses.

What I am sure of is that Mraz writes witty good-time songs and sings with full expressive vocals. Mayer can at times be too sexy and angst-filled for comfort. The deceptively simple Mraz eschews formulas but still manages to bring out just the right blend. Proof is his album Waiting for My Rocket to Come which is every bit as breezy and clever as the title suggests but also a brilliant showcase of all the things his music is. Truth to tell, it sounds so great that my only gripe about it is that there are no song lyrics in the cover which would have added to my enjoyment of the album.

But no matter, Mraz’s Waiting for My Rocket to Come is the kind that can stand a lot of listening. After several days, you too would have gotten a hang of the lyrics to all of the songs he wrote and performed and better understood his lopsided view of things. Mraz is joyously exuberant in Remedy and On Love, In Sadness, full of pathos in The Boy’s Gone, steeped in the blues in Tonight, Not Again and funny in Curbside Prophet. The other cuts are You and I Both, I’ll Do Anything, Who Needs Shelter, Sleep All Day, Too Much Food, Absolutely Zero, and No Stopping Us.

Check Jason Mraz out. He brings life beyond John Mayer, F4, Sexbomb, etc., etc.

Songwriting tilt

Speaking of singers and songwriters, there is now only one month to go for those interested in joining the first Mang Levi Songwriting Contest. Entry forms are available in Video City outlets or at the Mang Levi Secretariat at the 7th Floor East Tower, Philippine Stock Exchange Centre Building, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Send entries to the same address. The contest is open to both professional and amateur songwriters of any age and who want to write about any topic. Winners will be announced in November.