What Kinda Music - Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes (2020)

What Kinda Music is the sophomore studio album by South London’s finest Tom Misch and is one that fans of his early Soundcloud releases are going to love. Misch has collaborated with jazz drummer and producer Yussef Dayes on this fine blend of jazz and nu-funk which both artists have begun to popularise through their individual projects. Misch, as I mentioned, rose to fame on Soundcloud through his Beat Tape mixtapes before releasing his debut album Geography in 2018. This displayed a much more polished, something he had not really experimented with before and provoked mixed reactions from fans and critics alike, even if it was commercially successful. Dayes, on the other hand, started out touring with his brothers’ afrobeat/rock/jazz band United Vibrations before forming his own project with Kamaal Williams and releasing their only album Black Focus in 2015. This was met with much critical acclaim and helped popularise modern jazz in London. What Kinda Music is an album that really shows how two collaborating artists can bring the best out in each other, even if it took me a couple of listens to realise this.

The album begins with the title track and straight off the bat, this song shows that this album is not going to be as clean-cut as Geography and is going to have a darker, grittier sound – one Yussef Dayes showcases on Black Focus and his recent EP Duality. This album does not start with a major chord progression, and a spoken word extract of good times, this album is 45 minutes of serious, virtuosic music. As many of these songs came out of jam sessions, rather than a formulaic songwriting session, the tracks feel raw and have this hip hop/funk feel to them. This is very much what Tom Misch is used to writing as he is a self-proclaimed beat maker, and that is all these songs are: beats. This notion of is particularly evident on ‘Nightrider’ with American rapper Freddie Gibbs as Misch and Dayes blend their modern jazz sound with hip hop, something Misch’s idol J Dilla did for years. ‘Tidal Wave’ is another track that takes this blending of Dilla, Misch and Dayes; the way Dayes rolls the hi-hat during the intro and verse is reminiscent of a drum machine with the looped modulated guitar chords create a hip hop infused ambience. My only criticism of this track is that the guitar riff has clearly been more than influenced by Childish Gambino’s ‘Redbone’, something that a musician of Misch’s calibre should have avoided. What Kinda Music does feel very top-heavy, however, with many of the enjoyable elements becoming mildly repetitive – this does not mean that the songs later on the album are poorly written, but do ease into monotony due to this “jam session” nature.

The stand-out tracks on this album for me are ‘Tidal Wave’ and ‘Lift Off’, with special mention going to ‘Kyiv’ and ‘Nightrider’. ‘Kyiv’ epitomises everything this album is about, the song contains a steady beat laid down by Dayes, modulated pinch harmonics from Misch and this “jam” feel. ‘Nightrider’ and ‘Tidal Wave’ are enjoyable for their aforementioned hip hop influence, however ‘Tidal Wave’ just takes the crown due to the impeccable drumming by Dayes; the fills in this track are the best of the album and where I believe he puts his stamp on the album. The instrumental ‘Lift Off’ brings along jazz bassist Rocco Palladino who completes the package for me – the bass grooves Palladino lays down on this track are unreal. The breakdown in the chorus is one of my favourite moments on the album and has guitar modulation going through the roof. A sub-bass octave on the bass, a wah pedal and distortion on the guitar with heavy reverb all round creates this heaviness that is not explored on other tracks. All in all, What Kinda Music is a combination of Dayes’ outstanding drumming and Misch’s jazz-infused guitar style all tied up in a self-produced bow. With Dayes doing what he does best and Misch honing his jazz chops, I for one hope this is not the last collaboration we see from these two artists.