Animal Collective's Joshua Dibb, AKA Deacon, hopes fans will kick in funds – and soon! – for his early-January trip to an amazing African festival. Dibb has been invited to Mali's annual Festival in the Desert, which takes place smack in the middle of the Sahara, in Essakane. It's a heavy trip combining local economics, politics, and simple injustice.
To make the journey, Dibb needs to raise $25,000 for Temedt, a Bamako-based human-rights organization resisting the ongoing slavery of the Tuareg people based in Essakane. Problem is, Dibb has less than three days to fulfill his commitment through pledges that can be made on Kickstarter. A book and music, to be published by Animal Collective's Paw Tracks label, will document his trip through field recordings, his concert performance, writing, and photos. No pledge is too small, and every penny will go directly to Temedt. Patrons will receive everything from email updates to autographed deluxe editions of a CD, book, and memorabilia collected during his journey.
Animal Collective recently topped British retailer HMV's "poll of polls" survey for their January album, Merriweather Post Pavilion