Music is aplenty from Australia at the moment, Belgium probably not so much so. The last band from the little land of waffles coming anywhere near my radar were rock outfit Arid, who I saw in 2001. Although they’re still going now, they never really hit the big times. Rather like must Belgian things really.
Around that time a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist called Wouter de Backer started making sample filled tracks that got the attention of Oz’s (rather good) Triple J radio. He’s now better known as Gotye (pronounced like Gautier), released 3 albums and won a few ARIA’s (down under’s answer to the Grammys).
His new album Making Mirrors is out now and you can hear the whole thing on Gotye’s SoundCloud page. Or on just about any other music blog right now. With hints of Andrew Bird and Broadcast 2000 his quirky sample pop still manages to sound natural, maybe even lo-fi on occasions. I’ve picked out two of my favourites from the record:
Somebody That I Used To Know featuring Kimbra is a mesmerising heartfelt love lost song, and probably the most poppy on the album; it’s got a good video too.
Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) by Gotye
Smoke and Mirrors is full of all sorts of layers woven together into pop bliss. It makes you want to sway until you get the big build up towards the end of the song:
About Rylan HoleyMusic blogger on this very site, cellist with Silvermoths, member of London Philharmonic Choir, digital marketer of corporate law and am a multicultural mashup mess.
