Elefant Traks

Elefant Traks
Founded	1998
Founder	Shannon Kennedy (Ozi Batla) Tim Levison (Urthboy) Simon Fellows (Berzerkatron) Kaho Cheung (Unkle Ho) Kenny Sabir (Traksewt) Sulo Byron Williams (Toe-fu) Dale Harrison (Rok Poshtya) Jane Tyrrell [citation needed]
Genre	Hip hop
Country of origin	Australia
Location	Sydney
Official website	http://www.elefanttraks.com/

Elefant Traks is a record label based in Sydney, Australia that predominantly releases Australian hip hop music. The label is distributed in Australia by Inertia Distribution.^[1]

History

Elefant Traks was started in 1998 during the creation of a mix-tape "going-away present" for a friend of the artists who would eventually develop the record label concept further. An official compilation album Cursive Writing was then released,^[2] and was followed by the Food to Eat Music By compilation.^[3] The Australian hip hop group The Herd consists of the original founders of the label that has signed six musical acts and released over 50 albums since its inception.^[4] Elefant Traks released its first DVD in August 2009—the DVD is a showcase of live performances from the Elefant Traks "10th Anniversary Party" that occurred in late 2008.^[5][6]

Under the moniker "Urthboy", Tim Levinson has released four albums with the label: Distant Sense of Random Menace, The Signal, Spitshine and Smokey's Haunt. Levinson's fourth album, Smokey's Haunt, was released on 12 October 2012, and was produced by fellow Australian hip hop colleagues and label-mates, Count Bounce (TZU) and Hermitude. The album was selected as a "Feature Album" by national Australian radio station Triple J.^[7] Musical artists Jimbla and Alex Burnett (Sparkadia) feature as guests on the album.^[8]

Herd member Sulo (Richard Tamplenizza^[9]) was selected to compose the soundtrack for a short film entitled Isklar Norseman Xtreme Triathlon 10th Anniversary Film.^[10] The film documents the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon that is described on the event's website as "the ultimate triathlon on the planet, and the race that any hard core triathlete should do at least once."—the Norwegian race starts in Hardangerfjord, traverses the Hardangervidda mountain plateau and then finishes at the Gaustatoppen peak.^[11] Sulo's soundtrack, eleven-and-a-half minutes in length, features the vocals of fellow Herd member Jane Tyrell and was uploaded onto Sulo's SoundCloud profile.^[12]

An MC from Sydney, Australia The Tongue (Xannon Shirley) has released three albums on the Elefant Traks label: Shock & Awe (2007),^[13] Alternative Energy (2010) and Surrender to Victory (2013).^[14] Surrender to Victory was released in March 2013^[15] and a music video was published for the lead song "Drums" in mid-February 2013.^[16]

On 5 September 2012, the label announced a new signing on its Facebook page,^[17] its electronic mailing list and YouTube channel.^[18] Jimblah, an Aboriginal Australian producer, MC and singer, who is also a past recipient of the Hilltop Hoods' Initiative grant,^[19] was revealed as the new Elefant Traks artist. Levinson explained being introduced to Jimblah's music in an October 2013 blog post:

I heard about Jimblah through a good mate BVA from Mnemonic Ascent years ago. For those who don’t know, BVA is a dope producer, rapper and lyricist who had a little studio in his house in Adelaide, while he cared for his grandmother in the attached granny flat ... The moment Jimblah stopped me in my tracks was with his debut album Face the Fire ... I clearly remember ... tears welling up in my eyes as I played the title track—and its heartbreaking outro ... That moment set off a chain of events that included Jimblah enthusiastically agreeing to join up with Elefant Traks.^[20]

On 11 November 2012, the label performed a tribute to children's author Dr Seuss. Featuring over 25 musical performers, the event occurred at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia and featured a recital of "Gerald Mc Boing Boing" by The Tongue.^[21][22]

Subscribers to the Elefant Traks e-mail newsletter received a "Year of the Elefant" infographic on 12 December 2012 that documents significant aspects of the label's activity during 2012. Monthly highlights include the signing of Sky'High in January (together with the dissemination of a free EP); the launch of "The Herd vs Thundamentals" web series in February; the release of the all-acoustic The Dark Passenger EP by Sietta in March; the sold-out "A Thousand Lives" tour in April that featured The Thundamentals and Sky'High supporting The Herd; The Herd performed a cover version of the Sam Cooke song, "A Change is Gonna Come" for Australian radio station, Triple J, as part of Reconciliation Week in May (the song was performed with other artists, Radical Son, Nooky and Sky'High); the re-release of the Last Kinection's Nutches for NAIDOC (the National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee) Week in June; Hermitude and Horrorshow toured Europe in July; Urthboy embarked on the "Naive Bravado" tour with The Last Kinection in August; The Last Kinection won the "Best Band" award at the annual Deadly Awards event in September; Urthboy's album, Smokey's Haunt, debuted at #14 on the ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Charts (#8 on the digital charts) in October; "Elefant Traks Meets Dr Seuss" is performed at the Sydney Opera House in November as part of the Graphic Festival in November; and the announcement of Urthboy as a performer at the Sydney leg of the 2013 Big Day Out music festival.^{[23][24][25][26]}

The label celebrates its 15-year anniversary in 2013 and in May released a commemorative t-shirt design by Australian artist Jack Tierney.^[27][28] During late May, Levinson (Urthboy) and Horrorshow's Solo (Nick Bryant-Smith) are participants in the 2013 Sydney Writers' Festival—Levinson appears in the "5x15" event, alongside poet, novelist and writer Jackie Kay and cosmologist Laurence M. Krauss, among others,^[29] while Solo is one of the poetry reciters for the "Unlocked: Poets, Police and Prisoners" poetry event,^[30] and performs alongside Jeff Lang and Melodie Nelson at the "SWF Up Late" special event.^[31]

A June 2013 media report revealed that Astronomy Class recorded with Cambodian singer Kak Chanthy.^[32] On 12 July 2013, Kennedy announced on his Ozi Batla Facebook fan page that he is scheduled to conduct workshops in the Tiwi Islands area of the Northern Territory, Australia over a three-week period.^[33]

The "15: A Celebration Of 15 Years Of Elefant Traks" anniversary event was announced in early September 2013 and a two-night format is scheduled for only two Australian capital cities—Sydney and Melbourne. The event features the label's 2013 roster, in addition to the solo debut of singer Jane Tyrrell.^[34] In relation to ther survival of the label after fifteen years, Kennedy stated that the event is like "a castle in the sky", as it should not have occurred.^[35] Label artist Shirley explained Kennedy's metaphor in an article for the Vine online publication:

Nothing about the creation or survival of Elefant Traks makes much sense because it’s all been against the odds. It was started by people who had no music industry experience, who wanted to make hip hop in a time when Australia had an extremely limited interest in it. The Herd itself is a group that defies logic- rappers and accordions? 8 members? Songs about scallops and racism? Surely, a skeptic could be forgiven for thinking, this will be a flash in the pan, a rag-tag group who will play a few parties and then fade away like most bands that formed as a result of shared uni classes. Surely the music industry would reject these hippies. As if they would ever write a hit.^[35]

Phoenix, Jimblah's first album for the label, will be released on 11 October 2013 and was preceded by the song "March" in mid-2013. Following the release of "March", Nick Findlay, assistant music director at Triple J, stated: “Jimblah is one of the most promising emcees in the country at the moment".^[36][37] The music video for the Jimblah song "Fireproof" was released on 2 December 2013 and was directed by Melvin J. Montalban.^[38]

In early December 2013, Levinson was announced as the support artist for the late December 2013 Australian tour by the Roots, while Kennedy was announced as an artist on the line-up of the mid-December 2013 Sydney show of Swedish hip hop band Looptroop and American MC Sage Francis.^[39][40]

Philosophy

The 'Elefant Crew' believes in creating "challenging yet adventurous" music which blends hip-hop and reggae in an attempt to appeal to and alter a rock dominated musical landscape in Australia.^[41]

Awards

Urthboy's album, The Signal, was nominated for the 2007 Australian Independent Record (AIR) Awards^[42] and the 2007 J Award.^[43] The Urthboy album, Spitshine, received the 2010 AIR Award for 'Best Independent Hip Hop/Urban Album'.^[44]

The label was nominated for 'Best Independent Label' at the 2006 Australian Dance Music Awards.^[45]

The Last Kinection won the "Band of the Year" category at the 2012 Deadly awards.^[46]

Both Hermitude ("Best Dance/Electronic" and "Best Video") and The Herd ("Best Urban") were nominated in the 2012 ARIA Awards.^[47]

The "Dr Seuss meets Elefant Traks" musical performance was nominated in the "Best Music Event" category of the 2012 SMACS (Sydney Music, Arts and Culture Awards), run by Sydney community radio station FBi.^[48]

In 2012, Urthboy and Hermitude were nominated for the 8th Australian Music Prize (AMP) for their respective Smokey's Haunt and HyperParadise albums — it represented the first time that two Elefant Traks nominees were nominated as part of the awards event, while it was the third occasion that Urthboy has been nominated for the AMP. In response to the AMP nomination, Hermitude stated, “We're totally stoked as a predominantly instrumental duo to be short listed for The Amp!”^[49][50][51] Hyperparadise was the eventual winner of the 8th AMP.^[52]

Two Elefant Traks releases appeared in the Full Shortlist for the 9th AMP, which was unveiled at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia on 26 January 2014. Selected from a Longlist of 43 artists, Horrorshow was nominated for King Amongst Many and Jimblah was nominated for Phoenix. Other artists in the Full Shortlist included Beaches and Big Scary and the judges were presented with an original list of 300 albums.^[53]

Artists

• Astronomy Class
• Combat Wombat (Victoria)
• The Herd (New South Wales)
• Hermitude (New South Wales)
• Jimblah
• Joelistics (of TZU)
• Horrorshow (New South Wales)
• The Last Kinection
• Mista Savona
• Pasobionic (of TZU)
• Sietta
• Sky'High
• The Tongue
• Unkle Ho (of The Herd)
• Urthboy (of The Herd)
• Ozi Batla (of The Herd)

Compilation releases

• Cursive Writing (1998)
• Food to Eat Music By (1999)
• Elefant Collection Vol. 1 (2004)
• Trampled - The Elefant Traks Remix Album (2006)

See also

• List of record labels

References

External links

• Official website
• Elefant Traks at Discogs