Album Review: Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes - What Kinda Music

The Brit Tom Misch – vocalist, guitarist, producer and declared leader of a hip new jazz movement – presented his credible debut, Geography, in 2018. He's now united with innovative drummer and fellow South East Londoner Yussef Dayes (of the Gilles Peterson-endorsed outfit Yussef Kamaal) for a collab album, What Kinda Music. Geography was loaded with clout-enhancing features (GoldLink, De La Soul, Loyle Carner), yet What Kinda Music prioritises sonic cross-exchange, traversing broken beat, hip hop, deep house, neo-soul and psychedelic rock. The sole big guest is American MC Freddie Gibbs on the smooth, albeit lowkey, Nightrider. Otherwise, Misch leads as cerebral singer.

Weirdly, during the COVID-19 shutdown, the bombastic Diplo has streamed DJ sets with the avant-soulster Rhye ad-libbing over grooves. What Kinda Music has a similar abstract flow, but offers both less novelty factor and more instinctive precision – and it sounds like a live sesh. The project opens with the title-track (and manifesto) – all dubby and elevated by strings. Another stand-out is Tidal Wave, which has the melodicism and dramatic build of Jordan Rakei. In Lift Off, a freeform instrumental, Misch lets rips with prog guitar (Rocco Palladino performs bass).

Misch and Dayes are not revolutionising jazz so much as transgressively contemporising it. What Kinda Music is intelligent, exploratory and accessibly classy.