Damon Albarn and DRC Music Record for the Congo's Poorest

One word you could never apply to off-and-on Blur frontman Damon Albarn is "idle". Less than a year removed from releasing two new Gorillaz albums and launching the first proper tour of the world's most successful cartoon band the virtuoso musician/producer is back at it again.

Celebrating a decade of Gorillaz, Albarn and collaborator Jamie Hewlett are readying a singles collection spanning the entirety of the band's four studio albums. Comprised of 15 songs, the track-list boasts the band's biggest hits and previously released remixes from Soulchild, Ed Case and Sweetie Irie. The package, simply titled 'The Singles Collection: 2001-2011,' hits stores in multiple standards and deluxe forms on Nov. 29th.

Most people would be thinking vacation at this point, but Albarn has another new project in the mix. Always the cultivator of new influences, sampled on last year's 'Plastic Beach,' Albarn took his appreciation of Congolese rhythms to the next level by forming DRC Music.

From DRC's Tumblr:

"A collective of producers lead by Damon Albarn recently visited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to produce a new album for Oxfam. T-E-E-D (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs), Dan The Automator, Jneiro Jarel, Richard Russell, Actress, Marc Antoine, Alwest, Rodaidh McDonald and Kwes all made the trip with the plan to make an album in seven days.

Wracked by years of conflict, the DRC is home to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, and proceeds from the album will go to helping Oxfam's work, helping thousands of the DRC's poorest people."

The collective managed to put together their eponymously titled debut LP within a week's time and will be released Nov 8. To gain a further understanding of what Albarn and DRC Music went through to put this effort together check out the video for 'Hallo ft. Tout Puissant Mukalo and Nelly Liyemge' below which shows the group of producers at work in the studio and out soaking in the culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo.