Exclusive Review of Cleveland, OH show with VAST

 

Review of the Cleveland show

The show was at a small bar on the east side of Cleveland called the Grog Shop. 12 Rounds was opening for VAST. It wasn’t a huge turnout, but maybe about 30-35 people in the whole place. The majority was there to see 12 Rounds though, and many left soon after their set. They used a 4 piece band, sometimes with three guitars and more of the time with the additional guitarist moving to the keyboard. Claudia also played guitar on a couple numbers. I can’t remember the exact set, but all of the songs were from My Big Hero save one. The setlist (not in exact order, and maybe missing a song or two) : Something’s Burning, Sunshine, Come on in…, , My Big Hero, Bovine, and a sped up, guitar-ish version of Me Again. Mr. Johnson… and Where Fools Go were not played. The unknown song I assume is from Jitter Juice, but not having heard that disc, I can’t be sure. Pleasant Smell and Sunshine were my personal two favorites of the show, mainly because of how much emotion and energy Claudia put into both. They do have 12 Rounds t-shirts available with them, black shirts with the 12 Rounds logo (at the top of your page) in white. They also have a white version with a black logo. I went to pick up a black shirt after the show and Atticus Ross gave me one for free. :P I talked to him briefly, and he was very cool and personable. He asked if I liked the show, which i told him I did, and he said it was good to be so far away from home and find people liking your music. He also said most of the people over in England don’t really like them. :P I asked about Nothing, and he said Polydor wanted to re-sign them, but their time ran out, and Nothing came along and offered them a deal, and they couldn’t have hoped for more. He also asked if I was in a band, which I’m not, because I have *no* real musical talent whatsoever, to which he replied he didn’t have any either. There was also plenty of 12 Rounds promo posters all over the walls of the club, which I grabbed. They’re enlarged versions of the cover art to MBH. VAST played afterwards, and weren’t really that bad at all, but a couple of the songs seemed to blend into one another.
Definitely a good show, and I’d certainly pay to see’em again next time they come through.
Special thanks to Mike Novak

All Music Guide Bio

 

All Music Guide Biography

Although currently championed by Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor, who signed the band to his Nothing label, the British duo 12 Rounds was originally signed to Polydor and began as a trio. Although the debut, Jitter Juice, sold well enough to lead to a series of festival appearances back home and an extensive tour with friends the Sneaker Pimps, the band — Atticus Ross and Claudia Sarne — was ultimately dropped by Polydor. They used the downtime productively and recorded an album’s worth of material in the summer of 1997 in their studio basement. When Reznor heard the tapes, he signed them immediately, and eventually put out Big Hero in June 1998, with a world tour to follow. Besides 12 Rounds, the pair has worked with others as well, such as a collaboration with Bomb the Bass, and production credits that include Barry Adamson’s As Above So Below and a new band called No Jahoda. ~ Greg Prato, All-Music Guide

Alternative Press Feature July 1998

 

My Big Hero review from the Alternative Press

From the July 1998 issue of Alternative Press:

12 rounds:My Big Hero
rate:Enthusiastically Endorsed

Death and sex, the two star topics on the evening news,figure just as highly on this album from 12 Rounds. No topic is safe from the reach of the band’s darkly moving morbidity, or invulnerable to the lure of singer Claudia Sarne’s drawl. With a voice sharpened by clove cigarettes,Sarne leads partner Atticus Ross’ thick trip-hop constructions around by the necktie, attracting the inner aggressor with dark rhythms flecked by specks of light.

“Don’t breathe on me when you’re full of alcohol,” Sarne tensely warns on the spacey Old West stage of “Pleasant Smell”, it’s here that the first real signs of trouble appear.Dreams that girls good or bad aren’t supposed to have follow on “My Big Hero,” Sarne indulgently muses,”there i sit upon his head/Cool water at my feet/Drowned his face and crushed his neck/And loving every scream.” Throwaway songs like “Sunshine,” along with the virtually unrelenting doom that pervades this CD,can be a drag.But here and there is an upbeat step, an unwinding bass guitar or a gorgeous turn, and always the fascination behind Sarne’s powerful vocal expressions.

Interview:
12 ROUNDS
LOCATE,SUBVERT,IMPLICATE
Claudia Sarne doesn’t shy away from implications,however ugly. And it’s hard not to think of those creepy,grainy photos of smiling high schoolers who’ve just blown away a significant percentage of their classmates when one hears the name of her band,12 Rounds.
Sarne has somewhat of a gift for creating distressing implications. “Put me in your juicer/Come drink me,” she pleads on “Bovine,” the creepy, grainy track 12 Rounds Nothing Records debut,My Big Hero.But with this group,implictions conceal as much as they reveal. Sarne and partner Atticus Ross are British, and disturbed teens picking up Uncle Bubba’s shotgun for a little people-hunting is more of an American pastime.

“The name of the band came from one of the first things Atticus and I did together, a song called “12 Rounds of Jesus,” Sarne says from her cell phone as she walks around New York City. “We weren’t at the the point looking to work together,but it just sort of happened.”

Ross had built up a long resume in the electronic/club scene with such projects as Bomb the Bass; but again implications conceal and reveal.My Big Hero has a density that cries out,Written piece by piece in the studio.

“Not at all,” Sarne says,firmly but pleasantly-but firmly all the same. “In fact,all the songs were written on a piano or on a guitar. What happens after that”- her voice melts into traffic noise.
“I’m not really into digital sounds-most of what we used were organic or organic-based,” Ross says later from an outdoor restaurant. “My outlook is more a mix of traditionalism and, sort of,millennium thinking.The record isn’t one-sided,you know there’s more to it.”

That is, of course, one of Ross’ sly understatements: My Big Hero is a maze of misdirection, most of it pleasant.The industrial repution of Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records,which plans to release NIN remixs of the single “Pleasant Smell” is soon tempered by the twisted Delta dread of “Where Fools go,” which samples Nick Cave and Conjures PJ harvey’s to Bring you my Love. And although rhythm textures that recall Massive Attack or Tricky abound, the album is awash in discordent and aggressive post-punk guitar and shaped by Sarne’s voice-which at least one critic has aptly described as “Eartha Kitt on crack.”

“You just know when something fits,” Sarne says. “I’ve never really defined myself as rock or electronic or whatever,one thing or the other.Anything that as any kind soul I like.”
But even if no gun metaphors are implied in the realm of 12 Rounds,there are still some weapons. When Sarne and Ross work out their music in the studio,there can be…disagreements.
“We have terrific rows,” Sarne admits. “neither of us is afraid to say what we think.” A pause. “But that doesn’t surprise you about me,now does it?”

Sonicnet Review June 1998

 

12 Rounds Duo Shooting For Higher Ground

Dynamic trip-hop duo converges opposing styles to come out with a strangely dark sound on upcoming LP.
Contributing Editor Teri vanHorn reports:

LOS ANGELES — Claudia Sarne and Atticus Ross are sitting in bungalow # 4 of the legendary Chateau Marmont Hotel, discussing their forthcoming June release under the band name 12 Rounds.
But the duo are not just talking about an album, they’re describing the origins of a living thing. And suddenly it’s clear why My Big Hero begins with the steady sound of a heartbeat.
“It became a direct result of the two of us marrying what I do and what Atticus does together, and this thing was born,” vocalist Sarne says of the mix of moods and the teeter-taw of mediums that comprise the LP, due out in June. “It physically felt like giving birth — we almost had to name her, but we didn’t go that far.

Carrying both organic and electronic traits, the album’s erotic, trip-hop blues is clearly a product of its eclectic parents.

Ross attributes the album’s provocative, predominately dark feel to his darker sensibilities, making it sound like a demonically possessed child. Sarne “created a sort-of malicious character,” he says. “I think that a lot of girls sing from the ‘I’m-so-wronged’ perspective, and not many sing from the ‘I’m-capable-of-doing-wrong’ perspective. That’s the irony, I think — the mood’s kind-of dark, but it doesn’t wear the pain as though we were on our cross.”

Dressed for a photo shoot, Sarne, 28, is wearing a black dress with hot-pink fishnet stockings. At the moment, she is weirdly beautiful, with her short, black hair slicked back and chartreuse-green eye shadow entirely encompassing her blue eyes. “I don’t usually look like this,” she says in an apologetic tone.

The 29-year-old Ross, however, looks more earthly, dressed in black pants and a gray, button-down shirt. The Londoners are in Los Angeles for a quick visit and some media exposure as they search for a director for the album’s first video, the arresting “Come On In Out of the Rain”.

Formerly a trio, 12 Rounds had limited exposure through Polydor before Sarne and Ross, who are romantic partners as well, decided to become a duo in 1996. “You had to be much more democratic in a three-piece, and you get some pretty weird dynamics when there’s two girls and a guy,” Sarne said. “It’s an old thing that triangles just don’t work, and for us, it was true. It started out pretty well, and then it just degenerated. None of us were growing as artists, or musicians, or programmers, so one of us had to fall by the wayside.”

Jeff Anderson, who signed the duo to Nothing Records, said My Big Hero realizes the potential he felt for the band when he first heard 12 Rounds as a trio. “The minute I heard them, I completely fell in love with their music,” he says while stocking the fridge to prepare for the duo’s party that night. “As I got the new music, my gut feeling about them was confirmed.”

My Big Hero’s potential success might lie in that it crosses over the warmer, organic sounds and the more cutting edge of electronica while never pushing either sound too far. “We put equal emphasis on the programmed side as the live,” Ross says. “The treatment of the guitar is like, use a guitar and keep it a guitar. I don’t like it when a song records a guitar and then processes it until it doesn’t sound like what it is anymore. We let the electronics and the string section exist each in their own right, but no song is one or the other.”

When it comes to the album’s use of unusual instruments, such as the chainsaw that cuts through “Bovine” and the fly that buzzes around on “Something’s Burning,” Ross is a bit more vague. “It just felt like it needed it,” he says.

Ross and Sarne talk about My Big Hero as though it were a dramatic test of faith. “It was literally like looking at a fucking sea, and saying, ‘I know I can get to the other side of that, but I don’t know how to get to the other side of that,” Sarne says, pointing and squinting as she stares in the distance.

For Sarne, building that bridge became a matter of gaining confidence — while losing a little self-consciousness. “At the beginning I was scrutinizing everything so closely and I wasn’t feeling confident about my writing,” she says. “About midway through, we both kind of said ‘fuck it’ and let go a bit, and that’s how it all came together.”

Many of the lyrics were written almost subliminally, with Sarne letting them come to her in a stream of consciousness as she sang. But a lot of that inspiration, she adds, comes from suffering and loss of direction. “You know, when you loosen your control on the reign a tiny bit — just enough so you can still feel the pull — you can take a step forward without being paralyzed by your own fear, without confining yourself to the things that you know. I don’t think that any growth is born out of not having any pain.”

Portrait Magazine Interview with 12 Rounds

 

Portrait Magazine Interview with 12 Rounds

20 Minutes with Atticus Ross & Claudia Sarne of 12 ROUNDS

Claudia, How would you describe the music?

I’m not quite sure, I don’t know if I want to really. I don’t want to be rude, but if we start tagging ourselves then maybe I’m selling us a bit short. I’d prefer it people would just listen and grade us on either being good or poor. Do you like our music?

Yes, we wouldn’t be chatting today if not. It’s really hard for me to interview artists that I don’t respect in some way shape or form.

That’s refreshing, I’ve found that many journalists are not that way. What do you like about us?

It’s a bit frightening, while very dramatic. I’m a sucker for moody music. I consider Spiritualized to be my prototype for the perfect band.

I quite like them, that’s very good company to be included with. I definitely would agree with you on the drama. Our lives have so many moments to them that a lot of people are afraid to capture, we’re not afraid too.

How has the overall response to the record been?

Fairly good, of course our record company would like for us to sell more records but I don’t feel that we’ll ever be that type of group. We’ve gone through so much trying to defend who we are and what we do. I’m not quite sure if people understand us.

Would you be afraid if they started to?

Maybe, that’s very possible, but I can tell you that it would be because they came around not us.

How does all of this work in a live setting?

Very good, I love performing. That’s where we really get to present ourselves. There can be two people in the room and that’s fine by me, as long as I can get up there.

What do you want people to get out of your songs?

I don’t really have a good answer for that one. If we can challenge people I suppose that’s nice. If we can strike an emotional chord (the) that’s even better.

Would you say that 12 rounds falls under an art vibe?

Hopefully, every one wants to be artists with their work. That’s part of the problem today, a lot of people don’t strive to create something that expresses who they are. So, I’d like to say so, but maybe not in the way that you are thinking.

Which is?

You know, I don’t know, when people saying artistic they normally mean unconsumable and I think that (we are) very consumable once given a proper listen.

Agreed, but you can say that from the packaging on down that there’s a bit of theater going on.

Somewhat, I like that word much better. I have to go to the bathroom, would you like to speak with Atticus?

Sure…

Hello…

How’s it going Atticus?

Ok, well actually.

Can you give me some of the band’s history?

Well, a lot of it’s boring but we used to have another member, who got really into drugs, so we had to get rid of him. That was when we were on another label, who asked some things of us that we were not ready to do, so we ended up without a label, so we got another one and now we’re here speaking with you.

I’m assuming Nothing Records is a much freer environment for you to work under.

Yes, much better than most, but they still want to make their money back. No matter how you look at it they still wan to make money, so right now we’re trying to satisfy them while we satisfy ourselves.

It’s one of the few labels who’s roster I enjoy for the most part.

Who don’t you like? That’s the most interesting part to me.

Marilyn Manson, barring the track “Cake & Sodomy”, I can’t say that I’ve listened to anything he’s done more than once of my own accord.

Hmm, interesting do you like Nine Inch Nails?

How could you not? Trent’s a genius. I can’t see him putting out anything that was less than brilliant.

I quite agree with you there.

As for you, how do you approach songwriting?

Each one comes together differently. The root of it is just hard work and really deep feelings. We put a lot into it. These are more than songs. They define who we are. Even in com[arison to my work with Bomb The Bass, what 12 Rounds offers is something wickedly bizzare yet charming

CMJ Feature October 1998

 

12 Rounds : Second Shot 

“We’re the antithesis of everything Britpop represents,” explains 12 Rounds’ frontwoman Claude. “So we didn’t go down a treat here in England when our first record came out. Our first album was rather punk and raw, and in the environment of Britpop and trip-hop, it really didn’t stand a chance.

The CD in question, 1996′s Jitter juice (Polydor), stiffed in England. But it made enough noise to get the attention of the folks at Nothing. And they weren’t the only ones. When Polydor let 12 Rounds go earlier this year, the band, which is basically a pertnership between Claude and former Bomb The Bass programmer Atticus, was courted by a number of labels.

“We were shocked by the influx of offers,” Claude admits. “But Nothing was so right for us because it’s so artistled. It’s really the difference between feeling like a handmade Bristol and being on a Ford conveyor belt.”

Two tunes from Jitter Juice were salvaged for what will be 12 Rounds’ Nothing debut. The group, which is rounded out by drummer Andy Crisp, keyboardist/guitarist Mark De Lane Lea, and cellist Stanley Adler, is currently putting the finishing touches on the rest of the album, due later this year or in early ’98.

“It’s cathartic, and the overall feeling of it is quite dark,” Claude explains. “It’s a cross between electronics and organic music. Other than that, I can’t really say-I’ll leave it for others to describe.” – MA

Matt Ashare, found in CMJ Magazine (issue 50 – Oct 97)

MTV Online Review of My Big Hero

 

MTV Online Review of My Big Hero

Sometimes, good things come in surprising packages. On first glance, the art/goth cover art and the Nothing (read: Trent Reznor’s) label imprint automatically lead one to believe that 12 Rounds’ US debut is going to be an overwrought and melancholy machine-fest. And, with that in mind, the first few listens bear that out: this digitally-fixated group does certainly venture into the dark night of the soul, angry, hurt and with bleeding hearts bared.

Yet, they do so armed not only with an eye towards sonic perfection, but also with the knowledge that there is a fine line between emotion and pretense. Primarily a duo (vocalist Claudia Sarne and programmer/auteur Atticus Ross), 12 Rounds is augmented on all tracks by guitarist Mark DeLane Lea, as well as several other co-conspirators, including Bomb The Bass maestro Tim Simenon. This flexible lineup lends My Big Hero a vast sonic pallete, one that would have not been achieved had the duo simply holed up Curve-style in the studio. Thus, the record is not some sort of one-note-Johnny emotional barrage, but instead a tightly controlled adventure.

12 Rounds shines most brightly when they throw it all together and then throw it in your face, like on the full-tilt “Bovine” (a hate/dance/love song that will break your heart as it splits your skull), the hauntingly mellow textures of the trip-hoppy title track or the funky, Morricone-flecked “Where Fools Go” (perhaps the only song this writer has ever heard that has sampled Nick Cave well). It’s on these numbers that 12 Rounds’ obvious dedication to sound is at its most apparent, and, as a result, they’re complex, unique and ultimately the most rewarding, setting the standard for the rest of the album. And, though the remaining seven tracks (God, how long has it been since you’ve bought an album with only 10 songs?) are certainly within the same parameters, they fall just slightly short of the former’s high mark.

That said, 12 Rounds may not be for everyone. There’s little here in the way of expressive ingenuity: most of the record is painted in black and white, with an emphasis on black. And though Tim Simenon is on board, much of the programming, though quite capable, falls a little short on the inventive scale. Nonetheless, it’s a perfect soundtrack for rainy days, nervous breakdowns or aggro dance night.

State Magazine Review of My Big Hero

 

State Magazine Review of My Big Hero

4 out of 5

12 Rounds is possibly the spookiest act to come out this year. The music is eerily addictive, a wild combination of jazz, techno and industrial music, and the lead singer’s voice is, well, spooky.

On first listening, the CD is a bit of an enigma. The lead singer has a very quirky voice, ranging from jazz singer to what sounds like the eighth dwarf, “Psychotic.” The first time around her voice can be grating, but the farther one gets into the CD, the more fitting and beautiful her voice becomes.

The supporting music is almost continually mellow, but often with an unsettling broken music box quality, especially in “My Big Hero,” which features a toy piano, drums, and a string quartet.

I was often reminded of Massive Attack’s new CD, Mezzanine, which is a great mellow, electronic record. 12 Rounds sounds like Massive Attack lost in a carnival fun house, distorted in all the mirrors.

12 Rounds is the latest addition to Trent Reznor’s record label, Nothing. It’s a nice change from the pounding industrial music of fellow label acts Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. The music doesn’t set out to be spooky, just to be a little different, reveling in sound combinations most bands would shy away from. 12 Rounds isn’t like most other bands, though.

Because it is a Nothing recording artist, Reznor had his hand in producing the CD. As a result, some of the songs have a Nails’ edge, but the music is far from the their aggression and violence.

“Pleasant Smell,” the current single, is also out on a remix CD, with several different takes from Reznor and other Nails engineers.

12 Rounds isn’t for the light hearted. It is really eerie, and at times may be a bit too off the wall for most. The music is all the more riveting for its eccentricity, the kind of CD you put on after midnight and curl up into bed with a good book and Definitely worth checking out.

–Gentry Smith

Electronic Magazine Review of Pleasant Smell

 

Electronic Magazine Review of Pleasant Smell

12 Rounds – Pleasant Smell -  Nothing Records

Filled with heavily treated electric guitars, heapings of electronically derived loops, pads, samples, and topped off with a devastatingly decadent female vocal, Pleasant Smell gives a real taste of the kind of music that really needs to become “normal listening” fast.

Consisting of Claudia Sarne (with her special voice often bathing luxuriously in the lower registers) and Atticus Ross (creator of the masses of electronically derived textures, loops and sound effects) 12 Rounds will no doubt find themselves in great company at Nothing, a label well known for satisfying audiences hungry for something that’s never on the menu.

The 12″ vinyl EP we received features the actual album mix of Pleasant Smell plus four remixes by members of the Nothing Collective (including a great mix from Keith Hillebrandt and Clint Mansell) and one by the new UK band Sniper. The EP will most likely never be available commercially but the single will be included on the full length album My Big Hero, which should be available June 30th 1998.

Expect a tour later this year

Real Groove Review of Jitter Juice

 

Real Groove Review of Jitter Juice

12 Rounds Jitter Juice (Polydor)

Don’t let the name fool you. 12 Rounds are a bunch of mad, female-led Caucasians who decided to form a band to wail about personal irritations and low self esteem, not a group of angry, young black men rapping about how great they are and/or the fucked state of the world they live in.

12 Rounds sound somewhere between Garbage and Ruby. The band makes use of programmed noise but aren’t as polished and poppy as Garbage, or as influenced by the industrial and trip-hop scene as Mark Walk, Ruby’s producer/programmer.

12 Rounds are worth your time for two reasons. One, singer Claude has a distinctive voice and has obviously spent enough time listening to Kim Gordon, Patti Smith and Cyndi Lauper to realise that ordinary lyrics can become extraordinary if phrased unconventionally. Two, Claude’s bandmates can back her rather creatively with sounds both traditional and avant-garde. At the end of the day though Jitter Juice has at least five good tracks, definitely reason enough to buy this album.

Hamish Withers

Addicted to Noise Review of My Big Hero

 

Addicted to Noise Review of My Big Hero

Gothtronica

By Tony Fletcher

In this modern world of sound bites, quick fixes and instant gratification, pity the poor artist who makes music laden with subtleties. Especially when they’re unknown. After all, it’s one thing when your favorite act decides to make that “difficult” or “personal” album, knowing full well that you, the faithful listener, will play it often enough for its complexities to lodge in your cortex. But when a new band comes along and layers its songs in waves of erudite textures and elusive melodies, who’s going to give it time to breathe and grow?

So we welcome 12 Rounds, the English duo of vocalist Claudia Sarne and instrumentalist Atticus Ross, who have come from nowhere to arrive at Nothing (Trent Reznor’s eclectic label) with a record that is equal parts gothic, electronic and alternative-rock without sounding quite like any one thing at all. This lack of easy comparisons provoked one British reviewer to describe Sarne as “Eartha Kitt on crack,” quite apt for a singer whose silky tones suggest sensuality while her erotic lyrics come wrapped in barbed wire. Witness this couplet from “2 Miles,” a slow-paced song with a Delta-blues guitar line: “When I’m feeling down I’ll saw off both your hands and lick the sweat off of your feet.” (And that’s one of the love songs!)

“When I’m feeling down I’ll saw off both your hands and lick the sweat off of your feet,” Claudia Sarne sings.

I could suggest that 12 Rounds sound like an even more dense Curve, but the most appealing way to describe the act is visual. Anyone who saw the recent gothic television extravaganza “Merlin” need only imagine Natasha Richardson, who played the sensual but duplicitous Queen Mab, fronting an electronic-rock band at the turn of the millennium, to get the picture.

But if goth-rock was all 12 Rounds had to offer, there wouldn’t be much to get excited about. As Mab herself found out, the gothic kingdom is very small these days. That’s why the musical arrangements surrounding Sarne’s barbed missives are so important.

Balancing an avant-garde approach to found sound (chain saws, human breath, a fly) with a love of harsh electronic technology (fierce drum beats and tempered keyboard sounds) and an ongoing respect for conventional instrumentation (guitars and bass), 12 Rounds want to appeal to all of us. Yet in shirking the kind of melodic hooks or melodramatic bombast that’s required for a hit record these days, they run the risk of being ignored by everyone.

Still, a single listen to My Big Hero is enough to convince a sophisticated listener that something unusual is going on here. A couple more airings, and songs begin to shed their dark cloaks and reveal their curvaceous body lines: the sinister single “Pleasant Smell,” the uptempo, rock-out “Sunshine,” the almost evil contrast between subtle (if bloody) verses of “Bovine” (“put me in the juicer and drink me”) and its screaming Hole-like choruses. It’s a journey that requires some devotion and patience, but one that eventually pays off.

My Big Hero is a heroic debut — once you get deep enough inside to discover it

February 28th, 2011 Trent and Atticus are nominated for Best Original Score for The Social Network

 

Tonight was the big night. Trent and Atticus are nominated for Best Original Score for The Social Network. More later! Thanks to @Swimfinfan for grabbing the screencap.

And they WON!!!

Congratulations to Academy Award Winners Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor.

We here at 12rounds.net congratulate you both and direct readers to the well-written article over at TheNINHotline for more information about the big win and the world of Year Zero becoming closer to fruition.