Tom Misch/Yussef Dayes: What Kinda Music (2LP) [BEYOND THE GROOVE / BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set spreads the album over four sides. The London pair's guitar-and-drums meeting came out through Blue Note and earned an Ivor Novello nomination for Best Album.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Tom Misch made his name as a bedroom producer with a soulful touch on guitar, putting his first songs up on SoundCloud in 2012 and following them with the 2018 album Geography; Yussef Dayes is one of the most thrilling drummers in the London jazz scene. Put them in a room and you get What Kinda Music, a record that sits somewhere between jazz, hip hop, broken beat and late-night electronic soul.

The title track sets the mood, Misch's soft vocals and glassy guitar drifting over Dayes' loose, rolling grooves. "Nightrider" brings in Freddie Gibbs for a smoky verse, "Festival" and "Tidal Wave" glide, and "Lift Off" and "Kyiv" let Dayes cut loose. Misch produced, with both men as executive producers, and the record moves between tight songs and open-ended jams without ever losing its cool.

Misch studied jazz guitar at Trinity Laban before deciding to focus on his own music, and you can hear that training in every chord. It has become a gateway for plenty of listeners into the new London jazz sound. The title asks what kinda music it is; we've filed it under jazz, though it spends more time on the shop turntable than in the rack.

Also at Kops: more Tom Misch on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Beyond The Groove / Blue Note (cat# 2812123108), a reissue of the 2020 album.