The Wants releases Bastard

Electronic post-punk trio The Wants return with their sophomore album Bastard, set for release June 13th. Evolving far beyond their acclaimed 2020 debut Container, the NYC-based trio craft a sound that defies easy categorisation—a self-styled “No Wave / No Pop techno punk” that feels both familiar and startlingly new.

Following a successful run of sold-out UK and EU shows for Container, The Wants’ Madison Velding-VanDam and Jason Gates welcomed synthesist/bassist Yasmeen Night (of NightNight) in 2021. Together, the trio transformed The Wants’ sonic architecture into something more dangerous and sublime, where industrial rhythms collide with spectral melodies and raw punk energy dissolves into waves of digital distortion. 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 nocturnal 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 favorable comparisons to early PILtd. and contemporaries like Model/Actriz while remaining distinctly their own beast.

Bastard was deeply influenced by personal tragedy. Shortly after Christmas 2019, Velding-VanDam received news that his father had been found dead in his Michigan trailer, having been deceased for eight days. The aftermath of this discovery—finding hoarded belongings, towers of empty liquor bottles, oxycodone containers, and grime-covered childhood photos became the emotional backdrop for the album’s creation.

The trio recorded the basic tracks for all 11 songs on Bastard live at Peter Katis's Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut over 5 days, using the old-school three-takes-per-track approach.

This is where Katis recorded the iconic thunderous drum sounds on 'Turn on the Bright Lights', 'Antics' by Interpol; 'Boxer', 'Alligator', 'High Violet' by The National.

Jason's drum performances were played live, with his electronic drum pad performance amplified into the room and captured with the room mics, adding organic warmth and live energy to the electronic elements. This was meant to infuse humanity into the band’s dense electronic textures...