Coming out in October is a collaborative effort by a variety of producers and civilians in the DRC (Dominican Republic of Congo) in order to raise money for Oxfam to help in the area of DRC to help those affected by years of conflict. The album attempts to blend traditional sounds of the Congo with more modern influences.
The official blurb on the site says:
A collective of producers gathered 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 5 days.
You can listen to a sample of the work so far from the soundcloud page.
The album will cost £9.99 for the CD version and there is also a vinyl edition available. (All proceeds are donated to Oxfam)
DRC Music – Kinshasa One Two (see http://drcmusic.org ) by DRC Music
1. Hallo featuring Tout Puissant Mukalo and Nelly Liyemge – listen now above
2. K-Town featuring N’Gotshima and Bebson
3. African Space Anthem (A.S.A) featuring Ewing Sima of Tout Puissant Mukalo
4. Love featuring Love
5. Lingala featuring Bokatola System and Evala Litongo – listen now above
6. Lourds featuring Yende Bongongo of Okwess International
7. Respect Of The Rules featuring Loi X Liberal
8. We Come From The Forest featuring Bokatola System
9. Customs featuring Bokatola System
10. Virginia featuring Magakala Virginia Yollande and Yowa Hollande
11. Ah Congo featuring Jupiter Bokondji and Bokatola System – listen now above
12. Three Piece Sweet part 1 & 2 featuring Bebson
13. If You Wish to Stay Awake featuring Washiba
14. Departure featuring Bokatola System
My comment: To me, this sounds like an interesting idea but it unfortunately from the tracks release so far falls short in it’s attempts to blend the styles together. Only one of the tracks I actually like, the other 2 suffer from slack mastering and boring movements as well as irritating synth and over produced noises that grate. Even in the one I like it has this in place but overall I can work past that.