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.

[4] After leaving the company to work on their label full-time, HIT released their first EP from Von Haze in June 2010.

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.

[6] The label released projects by artists such as Grimes, James Ferraro, Autre Ne Veut, Laurel Halo, Hype Williams, and Arca.

[6] Hippos In Tanks founder Barron Machat died in a car crash in Miami, Florida, on April 8, 2015.