History
1998–2008: Formation, The Herd, Urthboy, Horrorshow
Elefant Traks was started in2009–2011: 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, an MC with Australian hip hop band TZU, joined the label roster in early 2011, prior to the release of his first solo album, ''Voyager''. After the announcement, Ozi Batla stated: "We’ve been mates for ages—we’ve shared a lot of creative, outrageous and funny times—it feels like Joelistics is already part of the fam ly he’s a natural fit for Elefant Traks and the album is sick".2012–2013: Jimblah, Sky'High, Dr Seuss tribute, 15 Year 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, anThe 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
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–Present: 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.
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 asAwards
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 2007Current Artists
* Astronomy Class * B Wise * Coda Conduct * The Herd * Hermitude * Horrorshow *Jane Tyrrell *Jimblah * Joelistics * L-FRESH the Lion *OKENYO ( Zindzi Okenyo) * Ozi Batla *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
*References
External links