Hippos in Tanks


Hippos in Tanks was a record label founded in 2010 by Barron Machat and Travis Woolsey. The label specialized in electronic music. It was named the best label of 2011 by FACT. Following the death of Machat in 2015, The Fader praised the label for "laying the groundwork to an alternative template for the avant-garde." The label is no longer active.

History

In 2009, Machat and Woolsey—who met while working at an online company in Los Angeles—were asked to host a radio show on KXLU called Hippos in Tanks. It was named after the novel by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks . After leaving the company to work on their label full-time, HIT released their first EP from Von Haze in June 2010. In 2011 Woolsey left the label with Machat staying on as CEO.
Hippos in Tanks closed with the death of Barron Machat producing music with Yung Lean back on April 8th 2015. The label is now part of Machat Entertainment.
The label would become associated with Internet age experimental pop that drew on disparate sources such as new wave, avant-garde noise, R&B, and techno. The label released projects by artists such as James Ferraro, Autre Ne Veut, Laurel Halo, Hype Williams, and Arca.
It was confirmed Hippos In Tanks founder Barron Machat died in a car crash in Miami, Florida, on April 8, 2015.
The label has been inactive since late 2015.

Artists / Alumni