Mining the rich punk-funk history of their hometown then drizzling overtones of Motor City industrial techno, Brooklyn based trio ‘The Wants’ first release ‘Container’, is proving a hotly anticipated affair, ever since blistering road trip floor filler ‘The Motor’ appeared at the start of the year, causing many a hip to gyrate.
The trio, fronted by Madison Velding-VanDam (voice, guitar, keyboards) along with Jason Gates (drums, electronics) and Heather Elle (vocals, bass, keyboards) have between them created artful aloof brooding personae on ‘Container’, ironically distinctly European in flavour; the album’s title most likely inspired by where it was created, in a former shipping container converted into a recording studio by the band themselves. Released on Council Records; Velding-VanDam and Gates doubled up on production duties, the latter’s previous experience proving invaluable in ensuring the record sounded exactly as they envisaged, the super-accomplished highly engineered end product the result of three years of painstaking attention to detail, involving the creation of numerous iterations of recorded material before they were finally happy, a real labour of love in fact.
The Wants have already played some headline shows in the UK, thanks in part to the urgent yet uneasy ‘Fear My Society’, receiving plenty of airtime on 6music. Lean hypnotic opener ‘Ramp’ sets the scene on ‘Container’, menacing electronica weaving in and out of a airtight beats before the similarly taut title track leaves the listener imagining themselves at a S&M party. The arctic chill of ‘Clearly A Crisis’ is a song with title perfect for the times boasting echoes of Scary Monster era Bowie; angular guitars vying with a roller disco friendly groove. On the other hand, ‘Nuclear Party’, all popcorn machine bassline sounds like it’s been lifted straight out of Studio 54, name and all. We also get full-on forays into the bands more industrial leanings, instrumentals ‘Aluminium’ and closer ‘Voltage’ acting as haunting interludes for each half of this record, doffing the cap to that glorious vinyl era.
Words - Mike Price
The Wants official
Track listing:
1. Ramp
2. Container
3. Machine Room
4. Fear My Society
5. The Motor
6. Aluminum
7. Ape Trap
8. Waiting Room
9. Clearly A Crisis
10. Nuclear Party
11. Hydra
12. Voltage
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