[SONG OF THE DAY] Tom Misch x Yussef Dayes - "What Kinda Music"

PHOTO CREDIT: Bardha Krasniqi

On Friday Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes launched their new collaborative project - What Kinda Music, which will be dropping on April 24th courtesy of Blue Note. For those who are familiar with both artists, the title of the album is likely the your knee-jerk reaction to hearing that the two made music together. While Tom Misch has been gaining notoriety as a producer working with the likes of Loyle Carner, GoldLink, and De La Soul, Yussef Dayes of Yussef Kamaal and United Vibrations fame is always pushing the envelope as a jazz drummer.

The result of the two joining forces is the kind of experimentation I wish would happen more often to be quite honest. As you’ll hear in the title track, “What Kinda Music”, the effortless genre fluidity that exists in this project can only come from musicians who are masters of their respective crafts. In this particular track there are moments of progressive jazz and trip-hop with some lovely string movements as the cherry on top.

So fun facts to tell at your next party when this song comes on: the pair both grew up in the same area in South East London and Tom actually saw Yussef play drums in the school talent show when he was 9. The two wouldn’t become friends until 2018 when they met at the launch party for Tom’s 2018 debut full-length Geography. The rest, as they say, is history.

What made the guys click, according to Tom and Yuseff, were the exact same kinds of reasons that it technically shouldn’t have worked. Tom explains, "Yussef comes from a more experimental background, and he has a lot of loose, crazy ideas. I know how to write a catchy melody, but with interesting chords and I have a good understanding of popular song forms, so I think I streamlined those ideas and made them accessible". 

What Kinda Music

Release Date: April 24, 2020

1.What Kinda Music

2. Festival

3. Nightrider (feat. Freddie Gibbs)

4. Tidal Wave

5. Sensational

6. The Real

7. Lift Off (feat Rocco Palladino)

8. I Did it For You

9. Last 100

10. Kyiv

11. Julie Mangos

12. Storm Before the Calm (feat Kaidi Akinnibi)