In March, the Elefant Traks managing director, Tim Levinson, took to Instagram with an announcement: after 26 years, the independent hip-hop and electronic music label that broke beloved Australian artists including the Herd, Hermitude and Horrorshow was “calling it a day”. In the video post, Levinson, also known as rapper and producer Urthboy, takes a brief tour around the label’s former homes in Sydney’s inner west, including a creative district in Marrickville now razed by developers. In the comments, a who’s who of Australian hip-hop – B Wise, Maya Jupiter, Nooky and Dobby – extolled the label alongside hundreds of reverent comments from fans and fellow musos.
Speaking with Guardian Australia over the phone in May, Levinson says the decision was a long time in the making. He now lives in Newcastle, a move that has “coincided with the last few years of the music industry, which has thrown so many curveballs”. He’s been “waking up at three or four every morning”, he says, stressing about the upcoming run of Elefant Traks finale shows happening across Australia.
