From left & right fields

The two musical acts today represent different musical directions, but common to both is the quality of the recordings. For Jason Mraz’s fifth studio album, it’s solid mainstream music; while Dirty Heads represents experimentation and fusing different musical genres.

Jason Mraz — Yes! (Atlantic/Warner). On his first all-acoustic album, Jason collaborates with the all-female folk/pop group Raining Jane. This results in perhaps the most accessible, easy listening type of album that Jason has come up with. Except for a cover of Boyz II Men’s It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye, all the songs are composed by Jason and Raining Jane. While I can predict success for this bunch of songs, a number of which have a country-pop vibe, I have to admit I miss the wordplay and neo-soul flourishes of his earlier music. Love Someone is the very MOR carrier single, and Everywhere and A World With You are my favorite tracks. Yes! is a very consistent CD but very much a maturation phase in his songwriting direction.

Dirty Heads — Sound of Change (Five Seven Music -available on Amazon.com). Here’s a band I’ve read about, and I like the samples I’ve heard. Versatile beyond compare, the CD comes at you like you’re listening to three different bands. Reggae, surf town, rap and alternative-pop all swirl and co-mingle in this band’s music. While My Sweet Summer and Radio herald the relevance of reggae today, I love how Burn Slow mixes rap and sounds like early Akon. The slower songs like End of the World and One Hand recall Imagine Dragons, and yet have Dirty Heads maintaining its unique identity. There’s a very smart use of multi-vocalists, and with so many facets to the band’s music, this is hybrid for today. The band deserves greater success.