Recorded at their London-based Kong Studios HQ, Song Machine was filmed and recorded as a livestream then released as an album, with numerous big name features including Slowthai, Robert Smith, Skepta, and the late Tony Allen in one of his last features.

Made possible by Trafalgar Releasing and LiveNOW, it is only in cinemas for one day, the 8th of December, in screenings across the globe. Tickets go on sale on the 11th of November and can be bought here.

You can listen to the Song Machine album below:

Alongside the announcement of this exciting new cinema release, Gorillaz have additionally announced a rerelease of their eponymous first album, celebrating its 20th Anniversary. Released in 2001, Gorillaz but the band on the map, primarily featuring Del tha Funky Homosapien, and spawning several Gorillaz standards, including ‘Clint Eastwood’, ’19-2000′, and ‘Rock the House’.

The rerelease is coming in the form of a formidable boxset: an eight-disc vinyl collection, a 27-page “Department of Music Correction” dossier of leaked documents, memos, faxes, and some early Hewlett sketches and drawings, according to liveforthemusic.com. A must-have for any hard-line Gorillaz fan, the boxset can be bought here for a whopping £170.

On the cinema release, Trafalgar Releasing CEO, Marc Allenby says, “We are delighted to be partnering with the LIVENow and Eleven Management teams to bring Gorillaz: Song Machine Live from Kong to cinemas worldwide. We saw great success with Gorillaz’ previous cinema event Reject False Icons, and we look forward to welcoming cinema audiences to experience their outstanding live show on the big screen, with immersive surround sound and exclusive bonus content.”

James Massing, Chief Commercial Officer at LIVENow says, “Our goal at LIVENow is to give fans unparalleled access to the ultimate live music experiences, so we’re delighted to partner with Trafalgar Releasing to bring Gorillaz’ Song Machine: Live from Kong to cinemas across the globe. Last year, we brought Gorillaz fans a one-off opportunity to watch the band perform their critically acclaimed album during a time where live music stopped. We’re proud to share the performance once again but on the big screen.”

The band, if you could loosely term them as such, their digital personals are at least band shaped, have been gradually letting out singles from the project throughout the year. Albarn, who is famous for the all star collaborators on all of the Gorillaz albums, has focused his attentions closer to home after the America-loving ‘Humanz,’ project. Artists which feature on this album are some big names even for the Gorillaz standards and, refreshingly, include some top tier British names.

Among the British names featured on the album include Sir Elton John, Robert Smith, Leee John, Peter Hook, Georgia, Octavian, Kano, Slowthai and Slaves. The album also features a good variety of American talents and voices from as far afield as Mali, Fatoumata Diawara features on  the track ‘Desole,’ which is sung in a mixture of French and English. The album is surely one of the most musically ambitions of the Gorillaz yet, taking on a broad variety of domestic influences and benefiting greatly from  input taken from outside the Anglosphere.

According to The Fader, the project began as ‘a series of new one-off singles and music videos,’ which kicked off earlier this year with ‘Momentary Bliss,’ which featured British rapper Slowthai and rock band Slaves. The Fader continue that ‘Gorillaz will enter the livestreaming world with Song Machine Live,‘ which is due to stream on the 12th and 13th of December across multiple time zones and will feature ‘a mixture of live and animated visuals.’ There are obvious advantages to being a band which already has a complex and detailed digital persona and digital visual aspect to performance in the current situation and Song Machine Live is likely to be one of the most effective livestream performances of the year.

As well as releasing the album, according to NME, ‘Gorillaz will launch their own Apple Music show,’ called Song Machine Radio. Each episode will be hosted by one of the fictional characters which make up the Gorillaz persona, the first episode premiered today at 8pm and was hosted by 2D the would be lead vocalist and keyboard player who’s singing parts are voiced by Damon Albarn himself. The following episodes of the podcast will be released throughout November, on the 6th and the 23rd, and conclude on the 10th of December.