The Twelves

From Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, “The Twelves” were formed by the duo João Miguel and Luciano Oliveira back in 2005. The name came from the strange coincidence of their birth dates: twelve of july of 1980.


The breakthrough for The Twelves came in July of 2007 when they remixed the track “Boyz” from M.I.A’s sophomore album, Kala. The reworked track with an added club feel resulted in one of the most talked about remixes of 2007. The blog coverage surrounding the remix was extensive and eventually the track started to pop up in sets from high profile djs around the world, including Kissy Sell Out, who played it on BBC’s “In New Djs We Trust” series.


The duo followed “Boyz” with equally well received remixes for Asobi Seksu and Erlend Oye, both of which were featured on a number of blogs and music related sites. This stream of good tracks soon caught the attention of a number of labels, including Modular Records (home of Cut Copy, Klaxons and others) who comissioned a “Twelves” remix of the song “Get Lucky” by New Young Pony club. The resulting remix was released alongside reworkings from household names like MSTRKRFT and Who Made Who, and received excellent reviews.

Press coverage in Brazil soon started to pick up, with interviews on Newspapers and magazines. The coverage led to appearances in festivals and concerts alongside names like Diplo, LCD Soundsystem, She Wants Revenge, Van She and Phoenix.

The sound of the duo brings influences from many genres. Among the most influential to their sound are Daft Punk, Justice, Röyksopp, Vitalic, Simian Mobile Disco, MSTRKRFT, Clor, Cut Copy and Goldfrapp.

Their live show is a unique blend of live keyboards, drum machines, mash-ups and remixing on the fly. Always trying to improvise as much as possible.