Bubbling up on the Brooklyn DIY underground scene for the past three years with regular gigs at Bushwick’s Alphaville, The Wants are set to release their debut album, Container, March 13 on Council Records. Madison Velding-VanDam (vocals/guitar/synth), Jason Gates (drums/electronics), and Heather Elle (vocals./bass/synth) put their years of experience together to good use on a solid debut that has all the earmarks of a veteran band hitting their stride.
The set opens with a quickened heartbeat pace and an arresting cacophony of noise. It’s at once danceable and pensive, and perfectly sets the table for what comes next. 80’s style post-punk finds present-day relevance in “Container” and “Fear My Society.” Industrial instrumental vignettes with starkly appropriate names like “Machine Room,” “Aluminum,” and “Waiting Room” nudge themselves in between the more traditional songs, tying together the whole into what feels almost soundtrack-ish.
When the two concepts blend into one, the album hits on all cylinders. “The Motor” hints at this potential in the first half, but the late run of “Clearly a Crisis,” “Nuclear Party,” and “Hydra” shine brightest. Their unhurried punk aesthetic gets drenched in danceable grooves around an accessible rocking core, all without losing the industrial sound fragments introduced previously. Container builds to a satisfying finish, begging you to flip it over for another go round.
Perhaps it would be deemed uncool to flash a broad smile while bobbing your head to these tunes, but it’s tough not to while thinking about the band recording in their all-too-appropriate studio space: a repurposed shipping container sitting in the middle of a dumpling factory parking lot in Brooklyn.
Key tracks: Clearly a Crisis, Nuclear Party, Hydra
