That One Song

Every now and then there's that one song that comes out that you find yourself turning the volume up for whenever it comes on the radio. Sometimes it is the only song you've heard from whoever created it. The proverbial "one hit wonder", if you will. One hit wonders have been around since the beginning of music. It's not that the artist lacks talent. It's not that they don't have followers that HAVE heard all their songs. It's that, most haven't. One such song came on the other day and it inspired me to learn more about the artist and their other songs. This song was "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye.

For those (like myself) who are unaware, Gotye is a Belgium born Australian multi-instrumentalist. His real name is Wouter De Backer and he came into this world on May 2st (the day of my anniversary - 2016) in 1980 (the year my wife was born...I am already beginning to like this guy a little more.) Though his music career began in 2001, it wasn't until 2011 that I became aware of him and all of it thanks to the song "Somebody I Used to Know."

For a stretch, the song was played regularly on alternative radio stations everywhere and I do mean everywhere. In fact, I am not sure there was a two hour block that didn't go by on CD102.5 (my local station...RIP) that this song didn't make the playlist. Every time it came on, I would find myself (kind of) singing it. I say "kind of", because I really didn't know all of the lyrics to the song (and still don't for that matter), so I would sing bits of pieces until I reached the chorus...that I would sing and sing loud, especially the high pitched part of the "somebodeeeee." It would drive my kids nuts. It's fun being a parent sometimes.

On a more serious note, I also loved the song for one of the reasons most of the world did...it was about lost love and pain. It was also about how eventually that person who was a major part of your life, eventually becomes just another chapter in a long life (aka "somebody you used to know".) I also loved the female vocalist. Her contribution provided a hauntingly melodic, yet muted complimentary contrast to his Phil Collins like singing style and voice.

"Somebody I Used to Know" (as I stated previously) was released in 2011 on the album "Making Mirrors." Although it was (by far) the most popular song (reaching eight times platinum in the US and garnering him a couple of Grammy's), I had never taken the time to actually listen to the album, so I did.

The album pretty much started as I expected with slow, gloomy, melodic songs that fell in line with the vibe given off by "Somebody." Then at the end of "Smoke and Mirrors" there is a very rhythmic, tribal drum breakdown that leads the listener into a groovier and more upbeat sense of being culminating with the track "State of the Art", which I think may be my favorite track on the album. At first, the vocal effects employed made me giggle a little. It was slowed down and drawn out. It sounded funny. Then it led right into this psychedelics groove that permeated my brain and got my body swaying. The video only added to this mesmerizing track.

It was kind of downhill from there (at least for me.) The slowed down tempo of "State of the Art" cleared the path for the artist to revert back to the type of music, I had assumed would encompass the entire record (although, upon a second listen to the album, the track following "State of the Art" ("We'll Be Watching You") wasn't that bad. The two songs following were. I was not a fan. Then he brought me back with "Bronte" and finished strong with a little instrumental, jazz number that brought the thing together.

As a modern person, I tend to listen to music in modern ways. Sure I have a record player that I enjoy utilizing when in my "chill" room, but I digitized the bulk of my music collection a long time ago. That being said, I reviewed this album through YouTube. The beauty of this format, is that you get to see each video released for whatever tracks the artist made videos for. Gotye's videos I found exceptional.

The video for "Somebody" (the only one from the album not animated) has received over 1.5 billion views on YouTube and is one of the most watched of all time (on that platform.) It's an alright video, they do some cool things with it. Opening with a close up of his naked foot was a little unsettling at first, but overall, it was cool (I guess.) It was the videos for the other three that I absolutely loved. Each one of them animated. Each one of them entertaining. Each one of them immaculately conceptualized and brought to life.

While reviewing the videos for "Making Mirrors", I stumbled on a documentary he made about making the record. A sucker for "behind the scenes insights" into the artistic process, I couldn't help but watch immediately after listening to the record the first time. The first thing that I loved about his process was the fact that it was pretty much just him in a barn on his parents farm in Australia. It shows you don't need a gigantic studio to produce amazing music.

One thing I've always respected certain musicians for is their ability to play not just their own instrument, but all their own instruments. I loved seeing how he converted acoustic instruments into a digital sound that he could play on his keyboard, especially his African Thumb Drum (which might be the only instrument that I can even come close to playing.) It was instantly clear that Gotye wasn't just a performer, but an artist. I also learned that I absolutely HAD to get my own hippie van record needle/player.

P.S. Props to dad for creating album cover worthy art!

Overall, I enjoyed the album enough to check out the rest of the Gotye discography (why is it still called that, nobody listens to CD's anymore.) I am not going to lie. Gotye has a new fan. Boardface was incredible! His sampling and musical compositions were fantastic and the various female vocalists on the album had me loving every track. His follow up "Like Drawing Blood" was good, but not as good as the other two. It did, however, come with more videos (unlike Boardface), which are always top notch with Gotye (and whoever he brings into direct/animate) and as with "Making Mirrors", I found myself liking the strangest the best.

They say mimicry is the highest form of flattery, such is the case with "Somebody." Below are a few examples that I found (three to be exact.) The first is a cover. It was done by 3 Days Grace. It kind of sucks. They really didn't do anything special with it. It really is just a shitty, Nickleback "metal" (and I do mean to use air quotes) version, but I posted it any ways for you 3 Days disGrace fans (sorry, but they kind of suck) The second is a synth remix by some guy. It's alright. Definately better than the 3 Days Grace cover. Plus they gave it a very eighties feel, almost like MTV was a music station again. Finally there is a Star Wars parody (video and all.) It was by far my favorite alternative, especially "George Lucas's" part (he's Kimbra.)

Gotye went on hiatus (as Gotye) after the enormous success of "Making Mirrors" and never released another album (although, there is rumor he is working on a fourth album somewhere in New York.) Though he stopped making music under Goyte, he did continue to make music through his band The Basics and as guests on others tracks including Bibio and Les Cambell. I would go farther, but this blog isn't about his other shit. I do feel you should check out Jean-Jauqes Perry, with whom Goyte worked extensively to preserve his music and legacy.

Finally, I couldn't write a blog based on the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" without checking out the female vocalist on the track...Kimbra. In "Somebody" her voice resonates perfectly Gotye's. Her solo career, however, I just didn't care for. Her music was a bit too poppy and Dancy for my taste. I watched several of her videos and her style just isn't mine. For the sake of this blog, I did decide to add one music video, mostly because it has Mark Foster in it and Foster the People is a pretty damn good band. I also found out that she did a song for Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, so I think I am going to go watch that now. Goodbye.