The Wants (US) bring their genre-defying sound to Control Club on Saturday, October 11, as they tour their second album, Bastard.
Formed by Madison Velding-VanDam and Jason Gates and joined by Yasmeen Night in 2021, they began playing shows in the New York City underground music scene in 2017. Meanwhile they have shared the stage with notable acts like Dry Cleaning, Nation of Language, Bambara, Bodega, Lithics, Working Men's Club, Model/Actriz, Public Practice, Xeno & Oaklander, and others.
Describing their ethos as “No Wave / No Pop Techno Punk,” they synced in their passion for artful no wave, post-punk, and experimental electronic music, and a broader interest in art and performance that bridges mediums and genres. Their music thrives on friction - a clash of pulsing synths and overwhelming live instrumentation, abstract ideas and grounded songwriting, individual expression and collective catharsis.
The Wants have cultivated a sound that feels both confrontational and calculated. Bastard builds on the foundations laid in their debut, Container (2020), diving deeper into themes of personal ambition, systemic routine, and disconnection in an era of constant connection. It is, in part, a product of the tension baked into the band - three individuals with strong and often ruthless opinions, who are pushing and pulling the project in directions that don’t always immediately align.
But the band is more observational than prescriptive, with an acerbic tone that suggests they aren’t quite serious but aren’t joking, either.
“If Lynch had been asked to soundtrack a PlayStation car-racing game” —Gary Ryan (NME)
“One could be forgiven for mistaking them as a postmodern intellectual construct that just happens to make music.” -John Bergstrom (Pop Matters)
“There is definitely some Gang of Four in what The Wants do, but it’s more of a modern approach: sleek and synthetic, dark and danceable, poppy but paranoid.” -Bill Pearis (Brooklyn Vegan)
deathbycoconut are opening the night.
They fuse eastern bloc post-communist sensibilities and projections in a unique outernational mix of krautrock, electronica, hip-hop and post-punk, among others. A heady blend infused with their decadent dystopian mythology and tropical imagery.
Their live shows have gained a cult following in their hometown's burgeoning underground scene for their hypnotic and impossibly groovy quality, at once sensual and ethereal, bass heavy and intensely exploratory, ear worms bursting with unusual time signatures and a stunning range of sonic possibilities.
Each of the five musicians in deathbycoconut have established themselves as fierce aural adventurers in their own right, ranging from vocalist and bassist Suce Fraga's warped electro rap fantasies and multi-instrumentalist Horațiu Șerbănescu's cosmic output as Plevna to vocalist and guitarist Nitchji Oh's schizo modern works and keyboardist Alex Bălă (also of queer act #FLUID) releasing his own debut EP in 2025, touching on deconstructed club and leftfield electronica.
With bass heavy and intensely exploratory live shows, their music has been described by electronicbeats.ro as “a musical reinterpretation of the film “Blue Lagoon” in a dystopian setting.
Tickets:
65 lei + taxes • Presale
85 lei + taxes • General sale
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* Children ages 7 and under have free access with a parent holding a valid ticket. Protective headphones are recommended.
** Children up to 16 years old need a valid ticket and must be accompanied by a parent with a valid ticket.
*** Minors aged 16 to 18 years old have access with a valid ticket.
**** Serving and alcohol consumption are strictly forbidden for all minors.