Gotye - Hearts a Mess

Wouter De Backer (born 21 May 1980, in Bruges, Belgium), also known as Walter (or Wally) De Backer, was raised in Australia, and is often referred to by the name of his solo-project Gotye.
He is an ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter. As Gotye, he has released two studio albums independently and one remix album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums. He is also one-third of Melbourne indie-pop band The Basics, who have independently released three studio albums and numerous other titles since 2002.

Born in Belgium and then raised in Australia, he has been making music since his teens, first in moody local rock band Downstares, a fixture at underage shows in the North-East suburbs of Melbourne for a few years. When that band dissolved Wally started focusing on his solo project, cut'n'paste tunes that eventually would come under the moniker of 'Gotye'.
In early 2002 embarked on a project that was, in his own words, "about refiguring past things (old vinyl sounds) with my own ideas" It therefore seemed appropriate to draw on his past for inspiration for the project's name. Wouter, Gotye's real name, from Dutch translates into French as Gaultier (or Gautier or Gauthier). Wally's mother used to call him Gaultier as a pet name. Drawing on this and choosing his own spelling gives us 'Gotye'.
Around the same time, he met fellow singer-songwriter Kris Schroeder at a party in Mt. Eliza, and the two began performing together under the name The Basics. The two shared a love of pop music, cartoon theme songs from the 70s & 80s and old computer games. They have written dozens of songs together, published through ORiGiN Music Publishing. They, along with guitarist Tim Heath (who joined the band in 2004), were regulars on the live music scene until Wally's popularity as Gotye has seen that project take precedence.
As Gotye, many of Wally's songs are based on snippets of old vinyl records and cassettes, used to create mosaics and blends of found sounds and live instruments. Reportedly, "the trove of ancient music is the legacy of his former neighbour, an old woman who passed away back in 2000 and whose late husband hoarded dusty platters." He has described his work as "99% sample-based from old sources, like vinyl, DVDs, CDs and tapes, all cobbled together and stretched to sound seamless". In 2003 he issued the first Gotye album, Boardface.
Gotye's second album Like Drawing Blood was featured by Triple J in May 2006 and was voted Number 1 in the listeners poll of the Best Album of 2006. The album was also nominated for a J Award that year. Two tracks from that album, "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess", were ranked 94 and 8 respectively in Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2006. "Like Drawing Blood" has been certified Gold for sales of over 35,000 copies. His first single, "Learnalilgivinanlovin", was released in August, 2006. More recently, Triple J have recognised his work with The Basics, playlisting tracks like "With This Ship", "Like A Brother" and "Wait For You".
In September 2006, Gotye was nominated for an ARIA Award for best independent release for the album Like Drawing Blood. Also in 2006 Gotye won 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the inaugural Australian Independent Record (AIR) Chart Awards and Like Drawing Blood was amongst nine shortlisted finalists in the 2006 Australian Music Prize.
In 2007, Wally won the ARIA for best male artist. As a result of the publicity of the nomination, Like Drawing Blood re-entered the ARIA albums chart at #36, surpassing the previous peak of #39. Also, Mixed Blood debuted on the ARIA albums chart at #44. Both of these entries came the first week after the ARIA Awards. In 2009 Gotye - "Hearts A Mess" came in at #77 in Triple J Hottest 100 of all time, voted by the Australian public.
As of 2010, Wally continues performing with The Basics and working on the release of a new Live Album. His focus, however, is on completing a third Gotye album, currently in production. He released a new single, "Eyes Wide Open", in mid-October 2010, online and on 10" vinyl.

http://gotye.com/