Gotye

You’ve probably heard it a few times from an acquaintance’s unsuccessful band: “We’re really big right now in Japan/Berlin/Halifax.” Then occasionally, you get Gotye, who really was big in Australia. Huge, even. The Belgian-born artist Gotye (pronounced “Gautier”), is actually Wouter (or “Walter”) De Backer and moved to Australia at a young age, which was lucky for him, because his musical hype didn’t make it over to North America in a big way until 2011, about 10 years after he began recording tracks for his debut album, Boardface. Now, “Somebody That I Used To Know,” from his latest album, Making Mirrors, has proved a modest hit with kids who enjoy playing the same songs over and over again. 

Updated 03/20/2012