12 Rounds Is Not a Z-Movie

Trent Reznor signed married couple Atticus Ross and singer Claudia Sarne (left) AKA 12 Rounds (not to be confused with the shoot-'em-up z-grade movie of the same name) to his Nothing Records label and released what would be the couple's second album in 1998. Last.fm describes their sound as goth, trip-hop and alternative rock [borrowing] from the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Cranes or Whale and Claudia Sarnes' distinguished voice as deep and absorbing. I'd agree about her voice but don't hear Souixsee at all. I'd suggest early Beck with the Bad Seeds and maybe a more black leggings and mascaraed version of Morcheeba. The couple would have songs included on a few film soundtracks, enjoyed some college radio airplay and then what followed could've been a series of dream shattering unfortunate events. Whatever it was, it kept their Reznor produced and recorded third album from ever getting seeing the light of day. 12 Rounds has kept working and producing music deserving of support. (Somehow it doesn't appear that Reznor was to blame for the third album fiasco—Atticus Ross has worked on NIN projects ever since.)

According to Wiki, they've recently regained the rights to their unreleased third album and plan a release. Be that as it may, their major label debut My Big Hero was indeed a good one and used copies are floating around out there. Recommended.

Sample Pleasant Smell from My Big Hero:





Download: 12 Rounds, Where Fools Go from the album My Big Hero

Three newer high definition tracks are available for free download at their website, 12rounds.net

So Much Closer than MTV

Sepia-toned delights abound: a frustrated monkey bound on a crucifix, disembodied and mounted animal parts, some female nudity, levitation, a setting of implied rough sex at the slaughterhouse, and a Brothers' Quay style steampunk aesthetic––a style reminiscent of the French film Delicatessen that would've preceded this by three years and a film that hipsters like Reznor would've surely been aware. 

Closer was director Mark Romenak's vision (he was best known as the director of One Hour Photo with Robin Williams) and this was his full-flavored Director's Cut of the 1994 song of the same name, AKA the I Want to F**k You Like an Animal song. 

If you caught a version of this back in the day when MTV was still MTV, you can be assured it wasn't this one.