What Kinda Music

Genre lines blur almost immediately on What Kinda Music, a record born less from blueprints than from instinct. Built out of loose jam sessions and moments of full improvisation, the collaboration between Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes captures two distinct musical sensibilities colliding, locking in, then drifting somewhere new. Released on 24 April 2020 via Misch’s Beyond the Groove and distributed by Blue Note Records and Caroline, it became Misch’s highest-charting album and marked Dayes’ first chart appearance, peaking at number four in the UK.

The project grew out of South London’s contemporary jazz ecosystem, where the pair first connected at the launch of Misch’s Geography in 2018. Rather than chasing polish, What Kinda Music leans into process. Tracks were shaped through spontaneous studio exchanges, with some pieces left intentionally raw. That spirit carried over to Kyiv, where a spare reel of tape captured an unplanned trio jam with bassist Rocco Palladino that later became “Kyiv”, a fleeting, location-stamped snapshot of the sessions themselves.

Sonically, the album resists tidy classification. Acid jazz, psychedelia, hip-hop and electronica bleed into one another, with Misch’s warm, saturated production anchoring the haze. His smooth R&B and neo-soul instincts glide across Dayes’ more exploratory, jazz-rooted drumming, which sits high in the mix and drives much of the album’s momentum. Reverb-soaked textures give the record its frequently cited “cosmic” and “dreamy” feel, while restraint keeps it from floating away entirely. Even moments of excess feel intentional, part of the push and pull between control and freedom.

There are flashes of collaboration beyond the core duo. “Nightrider” features a rap verse from Freddie Gibbs, while the closing track “Storm Before the Calm” stands apart as the album’s only song to feature saxophone, courtesy of Kaidi Akinnibi. Elsewhere, the music videos filmed in Kyiv mirror the album’s fluidity, blurring performance and documentation. A July 2020 appearance for NPR Tiny Desk Concerts extended that sense of communal musicianship, bringing in additional players and guest vocalists without disrupting the album’s central chemistry.

Critical reception reflected the album’s strengths and its limits. Reviews were favourable, with praise for its atmosphere, production and musicianship. What Kinda Music succeeds most where it matters: as a genuine meeting point between two artists comfortable enough to let their edges show. It may not answer the question its title poses, but it makes a convincing case that the question itself is the point.