"claw my way / through the routine / wake me when / it's my time..."
The opaque distortions and distress of "87 Gas" by NYC by abstract post-punk trio The Wants, and from their highly anticipated sophomore full length "Bastard" (dropping on June 13, 2025), feels like a spiralling distillation of tribal new wave, darkwave electronica, surreal post punk and more. The wonky leanings, off kilter atmospheres may or may not stray into nightmare fuel depending on your head space but this sound certainly is 100% darkly entrancing. The kind of sound that LIVE might put certain malleable members of the audience in an altered state essentially departing the venue and going elsewhere. At least that is what I like to think what would happen. Besides the musical and emotional shapes here, which I love, the highlighted aspect, the connective tissue is guitarist Madison Velding-VanDam's vocal countenance that is absolutely alluring and, sure, part of that attraction is the vocal scowling melodies but more specifically is just the 'sound' of Velding-VanDam's voice itself, the architecture of it, the timbre, the personality that shapes how it effects our brain matter. Not saying that the vocal performance is acting but like a great actor Velding-VanDam by way of his words and voice makes us feel what he is putting out and I love that.
Let's not forget about the Yasmeen Night's throbbing basslines (and synthwork) and Jason Gates' potent, powerful drumwork. The Wants is very much a fully flushed self contained trio, each pod of the three, an integral part of the whole.
LINER NOTES (bracketed):
["Bastard, both as an album and an experience, is an emotional purge—a meditation on isolation and loss," explains Velding-VanDam. “The story of my father’s life and death loomed large as a backdrop of the writing process. I explored the darkest periods of my life, and the reality that we can all spiral into our own personal voids, unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the decay until it’s too late.”]
[More than a mere song about a place, '87 Gas' transforms the mundane backdrop of an American convenience store into a metaphorical battleground where individual dreams confront societal constraints. "It's a playful reflection on youthful ambition and rebellion rubbing up against alienation and monotony," the band explains. "The song’s mantra and instrumentation chart the repetition of daily life. As fantasy and reality grow further apart, the tension between the two can ultimately drive you crazy.”]
About "Bastard"
[Deeply influenced by personal tragedy, Velding-VanDam began writing after his father was found dead in his Michigan trailer, having been deceased for 8 days. The aftermath of this discovery — hoarded belongings, towers of empty liquor bottles and oxycodone containers, grime-covered childhood photos — became the emotional backdrop for the album’s creation.]
["Bastard, both as an album and an experience, is an emotional purge—a meditation on isolation and loss," explains Velding-VanDam. “The story of my father’s life and death loomed large as a backdrop of the writing process. I explored the darkest periods of my life, and the reality that we can all spiral into our own personal voids, unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the decay until it’s too late.”]
I have always been attracted to artists who go there, who dig deep and reveal their own realities, their own pain. Bloodletting is so powerful but so difficult to do for so many reasons. I certainly could not reveal my own personal shit when I did the band thing because I was too weak to do so. Kudos to those who are able to hack though the muck of their lives.
-Robb Donker Curtius
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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
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NYC's The Wants return with Bastard, a visceral sophomore album that transforms personal tragedy into a groundbreaking sonic landscape. Blending industrial techno, raw punk energy, and electronic manipulation, the band—now featuring synth virtuoso Yasmeen Night—creates a sound that defies genre boundaries.
Born from frontman Madison Velding-VanDam's gut-wrenching personal loss, Bastard is a powerful meditation on isolation, grief, and human connection. Imagine Public Image Ltd. meets Massive Attack—uncompromising, intense, and brutally honest.
NYC's The Wants return with Bastard, a visceral sophomore album that transforms personal tragedy into a groundbreaking sonic landscape. Blending industrial techno, raw punk energy, and electronic manipulation, the band—now featuring synth virtuoso Yasmeen Night—creates a sound that defies genre boundaries.
Born from frontman Madison Velding-VanDam's gut-wrenching personal loss, Bastard is a powerful meditation on isolation, grief, and human connection. Imagine Public Image Ltd. meets Massive Attack—uncompromising, intense, and brutally honest.
[Since emerging in 2017, The Wants have carved out their own niche in experimental music's outer reaches. Their debut Container earned critical acclaim and packed venues across the UK and EU before the pandemic forced them off the road. With Bastard, they've created something even more ambitious—a record that transforms personal demons into universal catharsis, and pushes the boundaries of what electronic post-punk can be. Following their 2020 debut album, Container and successful shows in the UK and EU, the original duo of Madison Velding-VanDam and Jason Gates added NightNight’s Yasmeen Night whose deft synth play fused their post-punk energy with an additional electronic flare.]
[Drawing from a deep well of influences across decades and genres, The Wants forge an unlikely alliance of sounds that feels both radical and inevitable. Velding-VanDam’s jagged snark merges Alan Vega and Korn over sculpted whale-like guitar tones inspired by Hildur Guðnadóttir, while Gates draws intensity from bands like Bauhaus and Throbbing Gristle, and inspiration from experimental techno. Night's sound bridges inspiration from '90s alternative rock like Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage between the trip-hop atmosphere of Massive Attack. The result sits in its own category—too raw to be pure electronic music, too mechanised to be straight rock—drawing favourable comparisons to early Public Image Ltd. and contemporaries like Model/Actriz while remaining distinctly their own beast.]
The Wants, NYC no wave band, abstract punk, darkwave, art punk, sophomore album "Bastard", "87 Gas" (Official Video), emotionally deep, emotional bloodletting, personal pain, front person Madison Velding-VanDam,
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