Gotye - C or D

tbf I was driving for about ten minutes last invasion day and was delighted enough to hear Crave You at around 85 that I cheerfully failed to learn anything else that placed all day, I'm not rly speaking from an informed position

I dunno, there's something about its ornate-but-not-challenging chamber-pop feel which just immediately struck me as catnip for (what has always felt like) the default alterna-pop mindset of so many twenty-to-thirty-something middle class Australians. Without necessarily framing it in words I think listeners inevitably respond well to its negotiation of smallness and largeness, sweetness and spite, male and female; the, as you say, "counter-aspirational" narrative strategy.

"Cynical" is the wrong word for all of this - as if doing any of the above is bad! - but that immediate sense of inevitability was almost overwhelming and I had to swim against its current when I was trying to connect with the song.

well he normally makes accessible cool dad music, even in the basics. as far as i can tell though, its adoption is in a similar vein to early beck - his music has only happened to coincide with the current pop zeitgeist or w/e, as opposed to being a "cynical" moneygrub.

It'll probably win the JJJ Hottest 100 for 2011 here, which is like the equivalent of being the song of the year for NME I guess.

I dunno, there's something about its ornate-but-not-challenging chamber-pop feel which just immediately struck me as catnip for (what has always felt like) the default alterna-pop mindset of so many twenty-to-thirty-something middle class Australians.

Hmm, interesting. I think I see where yr coming from, but I think it's unpredictable when one of these hits. Otherwise the first Peccadillo album would have gone platinum and Blow Up The Pokies would never have (been able to) happened! Abby Dobson and Dean Manning wouldn't be playing cafes and upstairs rooms of pubs separately. The second Frente album would have done better than the first, and the reunion EP would have sold 10,000, not 1,000.

as if doing any of the above is bad!

Yes, if it was all calculated and this level of success hoped for then I'm delighted for him.

personally i saw surprised to see it become so big a hit, but then i never would have expected the twerps to be australia's next big hope overseas either

Wait there is actually an Australian band called The Twerps?

I was really surprised to open this thread and hear it was massive anywhere, I just thought of it as a one-off that was likely to slink into obscurity. But no I can totally see it appealing to that Feist demographic.

indeed there is

Evidence! This is what I wrote for the local rag at the beginning of July:

GOTYE ft. KIMBRA
Somebody That I Used To Know
(Universal)

I’ll pay Gotye a backhanded compliment and say they’re increasingly resembling late 90s Radiohead, their emotional but unpredictable art-pop facilitating alt-rock dudes’ soul-searching with a surgeon’s precision. This makes me want to resent the inevitability with which their sighing, keening ramshackle break-up ode Somebody That I Used To Know is gonna scrape the top of the JJJ Hottest 100, but ultimately this is just undeniably pretty, ornate tearjerker chamber-pop.

This is pretty cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M

Oddly enough, I came across that on Alex in NYC's blog!

It's way out of my usual wheelhouse, but I came across the "Somebody I used to Know" earworm and was pretty impressed. None of his other tunes really are quite as clever, but this guy Gotye really nailed this one. It's a great pop song.

It's probably a matter of days until this thing infects the US. It appears from this thread the earworm has already infected other regions.

Don't get the appeal of this at all. Lyrically mediocre and melodically blah.

I prefer "Easy Way Out" to the big hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYSspbfri_s

Supermayer remix of "Heart's a Mess" is all time though.

Also you don't need to hear the original. One of the clever things about the remix is how it neatly renders the original redundant.

― Tim F, Tuesday, January 17, 2012 9:26 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yah, everything you need to know about Gotye is that he rejected their remix.

First came across this via this video, which is pretty cool. The song's catchy, if a bit AOR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

First came across this via this video, which is pretty cool.

― I want your nose, your shoes and your unicycle (dog latin), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 20:04 (1 hour ago)

did you come across it six posts up? ;)

This is pretty cool:

― Girl I want to take you to a JBR (jaymc), Saturday, 21 January 2012 05:54 (3 days ago)

Yah, everything you need to know about Gotye is that he rejected their remix.

Rejected? It's on the iTunes single, on Total 10, and was promoed by the label that did a 7" in the UK - there was no physical single here.

After Gotye rejected it Supermayer leaked/dumped it (via Sherburne if I recall but I'm probably wrong there) - people loved it so they ended up properly releasing it.

Lah = http://phs.abstractdynamics.org/2008/06/got_gotye.html

I don't think Goodyear is trying to be a star but I by jingo, I certainly don't mind if he does. He's a good bloke.

Dude makes good music. Not great, but good. It's a little bit too pedestrian to rise to a higher level (that song is very good but not earth shattering brilliant).

did you come across it six posts up? ;)

Ah sorry, I was on the train on my iphone so I didn't get to check each link. I think I prefer the guitar cover version.

well if that's the case (cf sherburne blog - the comment on GWFA no longer exists), it was commissioned by the UK licensee, rejected by the UK licensee, and then approved by Gotye?

omg i kind of like this guy?

i think i'm getting really old.

world domination continues - it's up to #58 in USA, going top 10 in the UK, and top 40 in ILM EOY poll.

Kimbra is next.

Where are the balearic disco/yacht pop remixes of this song? They must exist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2xyzh4aAo

That's okay but not in the Africa/Everywhere universe I was hoping for.

even if it didn't remind me of sting, which it does

First thing I thought of as well.

HOW CAN THIS STILL BE #1????

God

This song is creeping toward "Rolling in the Deep" levels of ubiquity. I noticed he was supposed to play this small club in Chicago, then it was bumped up to a medium theater, and now it's a big 5000 seater. And yet every time I hear it I think of "King of Pain."

There's some David Guetta song in the charts now that starts off sounding like the Police as well. Is it "Titanium"? I can't remember. At any rate it's all very disturbing.

i still don't mind it, but then i don't pay much attention to radio/tv and haven't really noticed its ubiquity. Quite nice to see a song actually sticking to number one for a change.

and now it's a big 5000 seater.

And sold out, no less!

And yet every time I hear it I think of "King of Pain."

Yes, me too.

The song's #9 in the U.S., btw.

i kinda like it.

for some reason tho the low-rent quotidian nature of the conflict in the lyrics really rubs me the wrong way, in context of the high-drama moodiness of the song, when this is like what pop songs are supposed to do?

plus his mouth is weird

I heard this song far too late. I like it but everyone is being really fucking irritating about it now so I guess I'll just leave it. sigh

his weird mouth intrigues me

In the '80s this song would have been "Love Plus One" or, I dunno, Bourgeois Tagg. Curious to see if he keeps the ball rolling. Someone told me his first album was more Beck/DJ Shadow-y.

Beck makes a lot of sense, mostly in that this album is all over the place wrt influences and styles. There's a p much straight up Hall & Oates type pop song and a weird electronica lounge song about playing with an at-home hi-fi system. There's a decent amount of stuff to love amidst the filler.

Every once in a while a pop song makes an impact on me, most often because it just sounds so strikingly different than anything else on the radio. Witness this track by Gotye: "Somebody" is haunting and minimalistic and poignant (I try and personalize the song and though I admit I cannot, I still feel empathy) and the dude even lets the gal give her side of the story. Pretty intense and a good video that fits the song as she literally leaves the painting that is his life. Is it possible that I need to get the album it came from? Can there be anything remotely close to this awesome on it?

I dunno, I got the album today, this morning, from My beloved..

strikingly different than anything else on the radio.

Yeah, at the moment this song is one, "Video Games" is another, and "Jar of Hearts" also. Minimalism cuts through, it seems. More of it.

^ these songs seem to appeal to a pretty wide age demographic too.

I've only heard the song on the local AAA station, so it didn't stand out as being crazy-different. But I think it must be getting spins on the Adult Top 40/Hot AC station here, too. Not yet on Rhythmic or Mainstream Top 40.

I remember how jarring it was to hear Kanye's "808s" stuff in rotation, too. Most radio stuff is so dense with information. It's nice to have some breathing room built in.

I also heard the Police/Sting comparisons and am glad I wasn't alone. I think it's because of how he emotes the chorus a lot more intensely than the verses and it has a somewhat unique rhythm, which reminded me of the pseudo-reggae/Clash rhythms of the early Police stuff that stood out among the rest of the pop at the time.

Right, have heard the album

adqt

aw, I was totally going to BLOW MINDS with my "Beck pastiche" analysis of this album and I see ppl have been talking about that for the past 4 months

;_;

that Spin page won't show any photos or text for me, and I updated Firefox three days ago. sort it out Whiney

They didn't remix Kanye's "808s" stuff, did they?

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, April 23, 2012 9:16 AM Bookmark

why would 808s & Heartbreak get remixed? these songs aren't 'rhythmic' enough for some pop stations, nobody's going to add a drum machine to a record that already has a drum machine to make it more radio-friendly

― Poor Turrican (some dude), Monday, April 23, 2012 9:20 AM Bookmark

the rar/r&b station here played a remixed version of "Love Lockdown" with a backbeat

rap* although i guess these days .rar/r&b is a close enough approximation

I didn't think it was the lack of drum machine that made this a problem for top 40, but rather the lack of brisk tempo and a big beat. The Kanye stuff when it was on the radio was like this weird oasis of quiet and space floating interrupting all the usual stuff. They didn't artificially boost its tempo with a pre-fab backbeat.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, April 23, 2012 12:22 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

"Heartless" sounded like a ton of other stuff already on the radio at the time, wasn't very quiet at all, and that was the only song off that record that was really big on radio. didn't know about the "Love Lockdown" remix Rev is talking about, though.

heard the Gotye remix on a pop station for the first time today, god that's terrible.

actually ashamed I didn't think of this myself. Missed opportunities!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/s720x720/181314_10150895930179907_501504906_9510972_551997056_n.jpg

lol

the first time i heard the song in passing i thought that was what that line was about

Hearing him on SNL again reminded me: I ctrl+f-ed it and apparently I'm the only one here who thinks he sounds like Ozzy, especially in the chorus?

Oh, Google is my friend. Apparently I'm not the only one on the whole of the internet to think this.

ha, never would've occurred to me on my own but i can hear it

i think it might be specifically the doubling or reverb used on his voice on "Someone" that's probably similarly to the way Ozzy's voice was mixed circa Blizzard of Ozz

Oh it's been bugging me for ages who he reminded me of. Ozzy is totally it.

Shit. You guys are right. And now I'm pissed off, because I can't UNhear it.

Ha,

yeah. Will mention it to our Alice, with reference to "Changes", it's quite clear.

ha ha, that Ozzy thing is great. Now the song is enjoyable!

I'm almost senselessly drunk and "Somebody" seems really profound right now. Pretty sure I just bought it on iTunes.

Thought I had never heard this but just heard it in the gym, caught the title lyric, realized that this was "Somebody That I Used To Know" -- I've heard it a million times, of course, but truly thought it was some late-model Sting single I hadn't learned the name of.

gotye!

This was posted on his website in October 2014 (three days before this thread was last revived).

http://i.imgur.com/BHgYMiF.png

I don't so much care that he "retired" (or didn't), or even that his announcement is really weird. I'm just more surprised that no one really covered it only two years removed from him having one of the biggest international hits in recent memory.

he then posted another post contradicted that post even further, so who knows

http://i.imgur.com/P9IdnFn.png

Ah, so homey is just a weirdo.

gotye west

there will be no gotye...

...GOT YE!

i drank all night with this dude at a bar he's really kewl

Basics are still touring.

I was just reading the new Tape Op and there's a great feature on the guy. Apparently he's really gotten into the ondioline, not just playing it but paying for historic restorations and in particular archiving the works of Jean-Jacques Perrey.

Here's a profile from Petrusich from last summer:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-australian-musician-gotye-resurrects-the-sounds-of-the-ondioline

His 2004 Depeche Mode cover for indie electronic label Groovescooter is now available on Bandcamp, either as a 'single' or on the covers album it came from.