Amalgamated Hippopotamus began as an idea by Ken Robinson, the founder of the Superluminal Pachyderm project. The idea originally began as an offshoot of the recording of parts of the Sea of Peas project back in early 2004, specifically the track "Wrinkle the Eyebrows of the First Dog." Robinson visualized taking some of the more "uncoordinated" sections of that song to a new level, but did not have any intentions on moving the Superluminal Pachyderm project in that direction. Additional ideas spawned over the next two years. Two such ideas included using polyrhythms and inventing a new language to sing in, like Magma's Kobaian (but without the concept). Recording for the debut album started in January 2007, but because of a large amount of foundation work and writing that needed to be accomplished, a projected release date wasn't expected until late 2007 or early 2008.
Shortly after recording for Amalgamated Hippopotamus' debut began, Robinson forgot he even had this project. Similarly, the Superluminal Pachyderm project was forgotten at about the same time. The two projects sat in what seemed like an everlasting hiatus, like waiting for a stick of butter to slide down a sliding board in the dead of winter. Superluminal Pachyderm was eventually resurrected in 2013, but Amalgamated Hippopotamus continued its hibernation for another six years.
The seed that led to the thought of resurrecting this project was planted in early 2017 while Robinson was warping around some "idiot" project. The thought didn't last long, but was strong enough to plant itself deep in the recesses of Robinson's little brain. Later in 2019 while listening to some of the experimental stuff from Literally Nervous Records, Robinson thought that this would be an interesting avenue to explore musically. So he started "deconstructing" some of the original music for Superluminal Pachyderm's debut album, Lexicographic Lint, and transformed and twisted four tracks into something new, sort of like bizarre soundscapes with some minimal percussion and occasional software synths layered over top. This became the debut album "The Crust Lifted Itself Off the Earth," released on Bandcamp on September 2, 2019.