Inspired by the "anything goes" spirit of '70s jazz-funk, albums by Herbie Hancock or the Mahavishnu Orchestra, it's a loose template with plenty of room for experimentation. The duo, consisting of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams (a.k.a. Henry Wu), has had little formal training. Instead, their musical tastes - and approach to playing - owe as much to Thelonious Monk's piano as they do to Kaidi Tatham's drum programming. "It's all about the drums and the keys," Williams says. "I don't want to take anything away from anybody, but that's the origin of everything: the chords, the rhythm of the chords and the drums." Born out of a one-time live session to perform Williams' solo material for Boiler Room, it soon became a project in its own right. Under the name Yussef Kamaal, they played a series of live shows with little more than a chord progression planned before hitting the stage.