Occasionally in music a symbiosis occurs that benefits two artists. Sometimes it is planned, such as when a band writes a song for another to record, or a label has a new band cover an old song to help move new records and sell library product, or when two artists collaborate on a single and each includes it on his respective album. Sometimes, however, it is just kismet.
About a month ago, I heard a song that I was unfamiliar with on my local underground radio station, KCSN, called "Somebody That I Used To Know," by an artist called Gotye (pronounced "Gauthier"), a nom-de-plume for Wouter (Wally) Becker, who was born in Belgium but now lives and records in Australia. I liked the song, and when I got home and researched it, I was surprised to see that it had been on Gotye's MAKING MIRRORS album, which was released in August of 2011 on Eleven Records, a mini-major label, and has distribution in the U.S. through Warner Brothers. I listened to nearly 1,000 albums in 2011, but this was one I had never even heard of. The song, which was written by Gotye and features a polyphonic vocal part by New Zealand singer Kimbra, was charting all over the world; it had already topped the charts in Australia, Belgium and Germany, at that time was the No. 1 song on the U.K., and had just entered the U.S. Hot 100 chart. I looked at YouTube, where the video for the song had views counting in the tens of millions, downloaded the track, and put it into my file labelled "Addenda for 2011," so that when I wrote my year-end Best Music of 2012 blog I could list it as a song I had overlooked in this year's column.
Then, about a week ago, I saw another YouTube video for "Somebody That I Used To Know," this one by a band no one had ever heard of, called Walk Off The Earth, a talented quintet who are based out of Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and had primarily been doing covers and posting them on the internet. This clip featured all five band members playing a single guitar. The cover of the song was not radically different, and one could argue a case that either version is the better one, but the gimmick, and the charm of the band -- especially its charismatic female singer Sarah Blackwood and its "plinker," Mike Taylor, whom net commentators simply refer to as Beard Guy -- drove the clip maxi-viral. Not only has it received 61 million hits in just over a month, but it garnered WOTE a recording contract with Columbia Records last week.
In the meantime, all this activity has bounced attention back to Gotye's original version; his video clip -- strangely featuring he and Kimbra nude, painted over in a cubist style -- is now at over 85 million hits and his single is currently No. 27 on the Hot 100. He has said he approves of the WOTE version, which obviously puts publishing coins in his pockets, when he has his pants on.
Last night while driving home I heard the WOTE version of "Somebody That I Used To Know," on my local underground radio station, where it is now in rotation, along with the original. Pick your poison:
Original Gotye version
Original WOTE version
Gotye live version on KCRW's Morning Become Eclectic
WOTE Five People-One Guitar live version on the Ellen Degeneres Show
And of course, in our meta-world, someone had to do an immediate commensal version, a parody of the cover. Two weeks ago, The Key Of Awesome, an internet comedy troupe, posted a spoof that has taken on its own viral life, which now boasts over two million hits. Here tis:
Friday, February 24, 2012
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