The Wants releases Data Tumor

NYC trio The Wants continue building momentum towards their sophomore album Bastard with the release of "Data Tumor," following their earlier single "87 Gas."

Serving as a bridge between their debut Container and the upcoming album, "Data Tumor" explores individuality in an age of commodification. The track showcases Madison Velding-VanDam's distinct, haunting vocals floating above layers of vintage synthesizers while expanding on the band's rhythmic foundation. It culminates in an incendiary climax inspired by Tony Iommi's influential guitar work from Black Sabbath's Paranoid era—demonstrating The Wants' ability to honor rock's heavy heritage while carving their own distinctive path.

"'Data Tumor' inhabits the psychological push and pull of trying to assert individuality in a world intent on commodifying and distorting it," explains Vielding-VanDem. "The faceless collective of information and stimuli incentivizes the surrender of personal agency. Choices have to be made or they are made for you."

This release offers the second glimpse into Bastard's thematic universe, where the band blurs the lines between earnestness and irony. "Many songs on Bastard embody a character or voice that is meant to observe and reflect an experience, but not necessarily make a judgement about it," the band notes. "The resulting tone oscillates between earnest and acerbic, not quite serious but not joking, either."

The upcoming album explores disconnection in an age of endless connection, pulsing with the tension between Velding-VanDam's midwestern roots and his New York City existence. This duality manifests in the music—organic instruments wrestle with electronic ghosts, while traditional song structures are dismantled and reassembled. 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."

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 contributions bridge '90s alternative rock like Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage with the nocturnal trip-hop atmosphere of Massive Attack. The result sits in its own category—too raw to be pure electronic music, too mechanized to be straight rock—drawing favourable comparisons to early Public Image Ltd. and contemporaries like Model/Actriz while remaining distinctly their own beast.

Bastard is available for preorder at the following link : https://thewants.xyz/PRE-ORDER