When you think of music duos, a few that may come to mind off hand are Outkast and The White Stripes. If you want to go back a little further, there's Sonny & Cher and The Carpenters. There have been just a ton of great music duos and current duos that do just as well as bands and solo artists. I think what works for duos is them feeling like they are 'part' of something. A solo artist maybe can't fully share what he/she goes through with their producers or management because its not the same as sharing the experience with your bandmate. Now when you look at larger bands, my impression is the more people, the more the opinions, ideas, disagreements. Not to say that every band goes thru that; heck often time I've read in interviews that those disagreements make them stronger...BUT if you can be just as talented and be sucessful, why not stop at two? So yeah, maybe you are limited to playing a number of intruments all at once LIVE but we are in a day in age where almost everything is computerized (not sure if thats a word but I'm going with it). I think more and more duos are realizing that they can play an instrument each and pre record the rest. I guess when I put it like that it can sound bad but believe me, these few duos that I want to introduce you to sound the opposite of bad! One last thing about duos that I LOVE...often times they write and even produce their own music! Thats just such a huge thing to me! I think its far too easy for someone to say 'here are the lyrics and here's the music, sing." I am so not trying to knock off anyone who doesn't write their own stuff because there are ton of great writers out there who may not feel comfortable singing and ofcourse alot of great music that comes out that. However, for me it's just more meaningful and even powerful at times when a singer/song writer performs their own stuff.
This first duo, Sleigh Bells, I like because they keep messy guitar riffs in their songs with cool beats. The even cooler part is that he is an ex-member of a metal band and she was part of an all girls pop group. You just would not guess that from hearing them.
This next duo, Matt & Kim, are from NY and just bring their own sound to today's music. Matt is on vocals and keyboards while Kim gets down on the drums! Check out her killer arms! This duo is rad without even trying!
Next up, MGMT, again love their sound. Their up beat and fun songs take you to a happy place :)
Lastly, Black Keys, I've got to say they are not just my favorite duos but just over all favorite. They have way too much soul and it comes out in their sound and lyrics. This is one album that you can definitely listen to all tracks!
So those are my picks for duos. I hope you liked or maybe even connected with at least one :)
<3
cat
