The Wants is the New York City band founded in 2017 by songwriter, guitarist, and producer Madison Velding-VanDam alongside drummer Jason Gates. The group operates as an adversarial network of ideas – grounded songwriting playfully colliding with unstable rhythms, mutated electronics, and live instrumentation.

After signing with London-based Council Records, The Wants released their debut album, Container (2020), named after their shipping-container-turned-rehearsal space in a Brooklyn parking lot. The album’s anxious songwriting, hypnotic interlocking rhythms, and aggressive live show drew acclaim from outlets like NME, Brooklyn Vegan and The Line of Best Fit before its touring cycle was cut short by the global shutdown of March 2020.

That interruption opened a five-year period of experimentation. Written by Velding-VanDam, Gates and synthesist Yasmeen Night, and recorded by Peter Katis, Bastard (2025) pushes Container’s physical-electronic tension into something darker and more acerbic. Widely commended as beguiling and enigmatic, the record was followed up by remixes from Factory Floor, Broken English Club and Gorgonn.

During this time, Velding-VanDam also founded STTT, a record label committed to creative friction, experimentation and independence. STTT supports a growing international roster of artists including Content Blocks and Sin Clair.

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