Elefant Traks

Elefant Traks was a record label based in Sydney, Australia, founded by Kenny Sabir (p.k.a.Traksewt) in 1998. The label predominantly released Australian hip hop music, and founded its own hip-hop collective, The Herd, as well as managing acts like Horrorshow and Hermitude. The label was distributed in Australia by Inertia Distribution.

History

1998–2007: Formation, The Herd, Urthboy, Horrorshow

Elefant Traks started in 1998 by Kenny Sabir ( Traksewt). Under Sabir's management, the label released their first compilation album, ''Cursive Writing'', which was created for "a close friend moving overseas". Sabir briefly explained the process in 2011: "For the first compilation, some of the people on there I had never actually even met at the time of release. It was sliding a CD under the door type of stuff. I think that was Richie (Tamplenizza), I didn't meet him."

Sabir enlisted the help of Tim Levinson ( Urthboy) to run the administration arm of the label, as the nature of the work was not compatible with his aspirations.

Sabir, Tamplenizza and Levinson became founding members of the Australian hip-hop group The Herd, which is also signed to Elefant Traks. Over the first decade of the label's existence, The Herd released four studio albums on the label. Singer Jane Tyrrell joined the band during the recording of ''The Sun Never Sets'', the band's third album. Also during this period, Levinson released three solo albums under his Urthboy moniker with the label.

2008–2011: 10th Anniversary, Joelistics

In November 2008, Elefant Traks celebrated its 10th anniversary with an event held at The Forum venue in Moore Park, Sydney.

Joelistics (TZU) joined the label's roster as a solo artist in early 2011, prior to the release of his first solo album, ''Voyager''. After the announcement, Ozi Batla stated:

2012–2013: Jimblah, Sky'High, Dr Seuss tribute, 15th Anniversary

As of 2012, the label had signed six musical acts and released over 50 albums since its inception. In September 2012, the label announced a new signing. Jimblah, an Aboriginal Australian producer, MC and singer, was revealed as the new Elefant Traks artist. Levinson explained being introduced to Jimblah's music in an October 2013 blog post:

"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."

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.

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 featured the label's 2013 roster, in addition to the solo debut of singer Jane Tyrrell. In relation to the 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.

2014–2017: One Day, Jane Tyrrell, L-FRESH The LION, B Wise, OKENYO, Joyride

The Astronomy Class album ''Mekong Delta Sunrise'' was released in late April 2014. When asked about what the group wanted to achieve with the album, Kennedy replied:

"What we wanted to cover was our experiences of modern Cambodia and the history of the music that we were referencing. We wanted to try and tell some of the story of the Cambodia of the '60s and '70s. We had been excited by the songs that we were hearing and it didn’t feel right to rap just anything over it. We wanted for new listeners to understand something about Cambodia and the music."

The One Day hip hop collective—consisting of Horrorshow, Jackie Onassis, Spit Syndicate and Joyride—released its debut album ''Mainline'' through the Elefant Traks label on 1 August 2014. ''Mainline'' ranked in second place on the ARIA albums chart during the first week of its release.

Tyrrell's debut solo album, ''Echoes in the Aviary'', was released on Elefant Traks on 17 October 2014. Recorded over a six-month period, the album was co-produced by Tyrrell and features collaborations with Australian band PVT, Dustin McLean (Axolotl, Diafrix), Paul Kelly and Count Bounce. Tyrrell explained after the album was released:

"I get really annoyed when people are like, "So what kind of singer are you?” That just seems so limiting to you as an artist—I like to sing operatic, in jazz, soul, blues, I’m up for everything. I wanted to try and showcase that across the album and be a different character for each song and have different instruments ... I just wanted to show that dynamic approach."

A new Elefant Traks signing, L-Fresh The LION, was announced in January 2015. In the promotional video, images of the Sydney suburb of Liverpool are shown, while Levinson recalls his first meeting with the artist, at which he detected a "wisdom" that reminded him of Sabir.

In 2016 Elefant Traks signed OKENYO ( Zindzi Okenyo) who released her debut EP ''THE WAVE'' on 18 May 2018 featuring 'Woman's World'.

2018—2023: Homeward Bound, 20th Anniversary

In 2018 Elefant Traks announced their newest signing, Homeward Bound, a new project by Jimblah and Georgia B. Their debut single 'Island' was released in September; a song that showed a different side of both Jimblah and Georgia, who had previously been associated with the former's hip hop releases. Of their new music, Homeward Bound described:

"Ultimately, we want the audience to know that we are open to explore music as a whole, to not be boxed in when it comes down to genres. We are both huge fans of music in general, so we want that to be evident in the music we play with. As more of this first record comes to light, it will become more and more evident of where we gravitate sonically, and that’s quite a big spectrum".

In October, OKENYO debuted a new single in 'Hang Your Hat' as a follow-up to ''THE WAVE'' EP, working with longtime collaborator Lionel Towers.

Elefant Traks' 20th-anniversary celebrations were announced for November, with an east coast roll out of parties and conversation sessions highlighting the history and legacy of the Elefant Traks label. Artists including Horrorshow, B Wise, The Herd, OKENYO, Jayteehazard, L-FRESH The LION, Homeward Bound and Astronomy Class performed at the ET20 parties held at The Corner Hotel in Melbourne, The Valley Drive-In in Brisbane and at Sydney's Factory Theatre.

The 'ET20' events also incorporated special live shows from Horrorshow, Urthboy and Hermitude. In Sydney and Melbourne, Horrorshow performed with The Metropolitan Orchestra, Hermitude recreated their catalogue with a live band in an intimate environment at Melbourne's 24 Moons and Sydney's Marrickville Bowling Club, while Urthboy celebrated 11 years of his acclaimed record, ''The Signal'', with two exclusive live shows.

Along with the live shows, Elefant Traks also hosted one-off in Conversation sessions in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane – 'The Elefant in the Room'. The sessions, hosted by Coda Conduct, saw Elefant Traks artists including OKENYO, Joyride, L-FRESH The LION, Jane Tyrrell and Ozi Batla, as well as label founder Kenny Sabir, sharing their stories and memories of their time with Elefant Traks.

2024: Defunction and 25th anniversary

On the 7th of March, 2024, a video was posted on the Elefant Traks social media accounts, featuring Urthboy announcing that the label would be "calling it a day". The video shows him revisiting some of Elefant Traks's old offices; the second one, located on Faversham Street in Marrickville, had since been demolished by developers.

Shortly after this announcement, on the 24th of May, Traksewt and Urthboy were interviewed by The Guardian to discuss this decision further. Urthboy, over the phone, stated:

To celebrate the label's legacy (and its 25th anniversary), many of the artists on the label held three live performances together, known as the 'ET25 Finale Party'; performing at the Sydney Opera House on the 26th of May (with special guest SKY'HIGH), The Tivoli in Brisbane on the 8th of June and at the Melbourne Recital Centre on the 15th of June (with special guest Monkey Marc and an extra Matinee show added as well.) A garage sale was also hosted, selling rare Elefant Traks paraphernalia.

Activism

In response to the proposed dumping of around 3 million cubic metres of dredged seabed onto the Great Barrier Reef, a legal fighting team was formed by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Australia and the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) in late 2013/early 2014. The legal team received further support in April 2014, following the release of the "Sounds for the Reef" musical fundraising project. Produced by Straightup, the digital album features Elefant Traks artists The Herd and Sietta, in addition to artists such as John Butler, Missy Higgins, The Cat Empire, Fat Freddys Drop, The Bamboos (featuring Kylie Auldist) and Resin Dogs. Released on 7 April, the album's 21 songs were sold on the Bandcamp website.

Awards

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

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

The Herd won both the Best Independent Artist and Best Urban/Hip Hop Album for 2008 AIR Awards.

The Last Kinection won the "Band of the Year" category at the 2012 Deadly awards.

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

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.

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!” ''Hyperparadise'' was the eventual winner of the 8th AMP.

''King Amongst Many'' was also nominated, alongside Urthboy's ''Smokey's Haunt'', at the 2013 ARIA Awards for "Best Urban Album".

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.

In 2016, L-FRESH The Lion and Urthboy were nominated in the "Best Urban Album" ARIA Award for their respective records, ''Become'' and ''The Past Beats Inside Me Like a Second Heartbeat''.

B Wise's debut album ''Area Famous'' was nominated for "Record of The Year' at the 2018 FBi SMAC Awards, to be held in Sydney in February 2019.

Current Artists

* Astronomy Class
* B Wise
* Coda Conduct
* The Herd
* Hermitude
* Horrorshow
*Jane Tyrrell
*Jimblah
* Joelistics
* L-FRESH the Lion
*OKENYO ( Zindzi Okenyo)
* Ozi Batla
* The Last Kinection
*Sky'High
* Unkle Ho
* Urthboy

Discography

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 websiteElefant Traks
at Discogs

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Australian hip-hop record labels
Record labels established in 1998
Defunct record labels of Australia