Good things come in pairs: Penn & Teller. Watson & Crick. Peanut Butter & Jelly. It’s true for electronic music, too. Look at all the popular groups with two people: Ratatat, The Bloody Beetroots, MSTRKRFT, Crookers, Justice, Simian Mobile Disco. And there’s a lot more than that. I could name dozens of popular solo artists, too. But try naming a trio that puts out electronic music. Hard, right? And by the time you get up to a quartet then the group is officially a “band,” complete with a drum set, instruments, a singer. Why are there so many pairs making electronic music?
I think duos arise as a matter of pragmatism more than anything else, the result of the equipment being used. Four turntables is possible. But six? That’s too many. Most groups only use two anyway. And have you ever tried to get three people to squeeze around a computer screen? It’s not fun. Besides, DJ booths should be as small as possible to make room for dancing. There are definitely bands with an electronic feel to them. But it’s not the same as the musicians who make club-oriented songs.
A band can have three or more people making music together because they need a larger number of people to play instruments. But it only takes one or two people to push a crossfader, add another a loop or adjust the tempo. A guitarist needs a bassist, a singer, a drummer. A DJ needs, well, he only needs one more person to work the same stuff. Electronic groups don’t pick a number of members between three and eight the way “traditional” bands do. They decide between one and two. More than that makes the stage– and the music– cluttered. The number of people simply depends on the equipment the group wants to use. If it’s turntables and a mixer, two people is more than enough. If it’s a more complicated setup, the band needs more members.
The Postal Service
Remember when these guys were everyone’s favorite music group? Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and producer Jimmy Tamborello were one of the first duos to successfully give pop an electronic sound. Smooth. Catchy. Something you could listen to over and over. Their only album, Give Up, united everyone from pre-teens to indie snobs under it’s hypnotic spell of beeps, bells and washed-out drum kits. It even hovered under the radar long enough to give its listeners a sliver of street cred. (For a while, at least, until Postal Service songs started to show up in car commercials.) I can’t think of anyone who dislikes this duo. I wish Gibbard and Tamborello were still making music together. Since they’re not, let’s listen to some old stuff and pretend it’s still 2003.
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The Postal Service – Clark Gable
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The Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes
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The Postal Service – Be Still My Heart
Above and Beyond? Ram Trilogy? there are some out there, but you’re right about the pragmatic aspect.
wicked indie post anyways!
The Postal Service needs to come out with a new album.
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