They're a new up and coming band from New York, very original with their sound and lyrics. Lyrics can be a bit emo at times, but their music is far from it. I think one of the best two-piece bands since The White Stripes, your opinions?

http://www.purevolume.com/theropes

I don't like the White Stripes. Two-piece bands are silly imo.

I dunno, i've heard some bands do decently with just two members. With the help of some electronics maybe. good two piece bands i can think of off the top of my head are Honesty, The Helio Sequence, No Age, The Evens, and I'm pretty sure Fine Lines started out as the two guitarists, Hirabayashi and Kurosawa on acoustic guitars before becoming a full band.

I personally find the white stripes boring though. If the drummer would take some lessons so she can learn to fill out their sound more, they'd probably be a bit better.

Two guitars = harmony/lead and melody/rhythm possibilities. Just a guitarist/vocalist and drummer don't work out that well without layering stuff. If you do it well it works well, but if you don't, it's extremely bland. See: any live performance by the White Stripes.

i don't know, assuming that all two person bands end up thin sounding like the white stripes is kinda being unfair. In my opinion, My Chemical Romance and Dir En Grey is garbage. Both of them have 4 or 5 members in their band. I would say I like the White Stripes more than the both of them. So I wouldn't damn a two person band to failure because they can't be "multi-layered" in the most practical sense. (i.e. rock without the help of synth, keyboard, or effects). But come on it's 2008. EVERY BAND uses something. Tokyo Bambi anyone? A little Thank You, My Twilight, perhaps?

a couple of examples of bands that actually do alright with just two members.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIicqULYhGw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n368OU17cz0&feature=user

I'm not a huge fan of the two-person band either, mostly because I don't like a plan guitar/drum combination. Even though I'm primarily a guitarist, I really like listening to bass parts, and the conspicuous omission of this from most two-piece bands really kills the appeal to me.

The obvious exception, of course, is Death From Above 1979, who had the common sense to combine drums + bass.

Now here's what I'm wondering... there's a type of electronic music called "drum and bass"... wouldn't it be interesting if there were more bands that made instrumental music that was entirely [i]real[/i] drums and bass?

[quote="skoolyardpunk"]i don't know, assuming that all two person bands end up thin sounding like the white stripes is kinda being unfair.[/quote]

True, but he said that he thinks they're "the best two-piece since the White Stripes," meaning that he likes the White Stripes and finds them to be not as good, meaning that's not much incentive for me to check them out.

I might when I get the chance though, just for the heck of it, but yeah...

Their "I don't like to get Dirty" track is catchy.

Rather funny lyrics as well...