Elefant Traks
| Elefant Traks | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | Kenny Sabir (Traksewt) |
| Genre | Hip hop, jazz, soul, blues |
| 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.
Elefant Traks was started in 1998 by Kenny Sabir (Traksewt); Under Sabir's management, the label's first official compilation album, Cursive Writing, was released, and 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 eventually 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. The Food to Eat Music By album was the label's second compilation.
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: The Herd (2001), An Elefant Never Forgets (2002), The Sun Never Sets (2006) and Summerland (2008). Singer Jane Tyrrell joined the band during the recording of the band's third album. Also during this period, Levinson, under the solo moniker "Urthboy", released three albums with the label: Distant Sense of Random Menace (2004), The Signal (2007) and Spitshine (2009).
Sydney, Australia, MC The Tongue released his debut Elefant Traks album, Shock & Awe, in 2007.
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 November 2008. The event was held at the Forum venue in Moore Park, Sydney, and featured performances from The Herd, Hermitude, Urthboy, Horrorshow, The Tongue (Xannon Shirley), Astronomy Class and Unkle Ho, as well as support from DJ Luke Presto.
The second Tongue studio album, Alternative Energy, was released in 2010.
The Herd released its fifth studio album, Future Shade, on 26 August 2011. According to Herd member, Shannon Kennedy (Ozi Batla), the album was written over a two-year period while all of the band members were involved with concurrent matters, including work and personal commitments. A considerable amount of the writing process was conducted through online communication. After Kaho Cheung (Unkle Ho) returned from a tour through Indonesia, the band engaged in an intensive recording process "from January to about May or June" in 2011. Sabir reflected upon the response to Future Shade in a May 2014 interview:
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