Weekly Journal
Gold Dime - Wasted Wanted, the industrialized alt rock
We are discovering "Wasted Wanted", Gold Dime's first single from "No More Blue Skies.
"Wasted Wanted" is one of my last discoveries, and it is the first single released from Gold Dime, prior to their latest full length album, "No More Blue Skies", back in October 2023. "Wasted Wanted" is one of my findings from the experimental side of music, where exploratory post-punk meets the noise, alt rock and industrial.
Gold Dime is the solo project of Andrya Ambro, hailing from New York and formerly known as the half of the noise rock act, Talk Normal. Her songs are not for the faint of heart. 2017 brought the release of their debut full-length Nerves which Bandcamp described as “a gutsy, dense, fascinating work." Their more surreal 2nd LP My House was released in 2019, both on Fire Talk. Gold Dime released their third album No More Blue Skies this past October on No Gold - a new imprint from Angus Andrew from Liars.
"Wasted Wanted" builds a unique soundscape from the first note and the mechanic sounds and the haunting first vocal line. From the moment the first dissonant chord reverberates through the speakers, it's clear that this is not your typical alt-rock fare. Instead, Gold Dime plunges headfirst into a sonic maelstrom, blending elements of noise rock, post-punk, and industrial into a swirling vortex of sound.
Gold Dime comments on the song: "The song is industrial swagger. It’s campy, dark, victorious and at times, a bit manic. The gist of the song is no nonsense - a direct line, mostly in connecting with people. One feels wasted trying to navigate in a world of surface behavior. It’s painful."
"Wasted Wanted" has all these things that makes a dense and immersive sonic experience. Gold Dime blends a relentless barrage of distorted guitars, propelled forward by a thunderous rhythm section that pounds like the heartbeat of a machine. The jagged guitar riffs and angular melodies evoke the frenetic energy of her influences, while the industrialized production adds a layer of grit and grime that permeates every note.
"Wasted Wanted comes with an official video that cleverly depicts the experimental aesthetics of the song.
Regarding the video, film-maker Joe Wakeman says: "The concept for this video came both from a camera movement in Godard’s Contempt - a slow pan through dead space between a couple on opposite sides of the room - and from these retro Godzilla toys I had as a kid. The latter reminded me of the song’s sound and movement. Inspired by a Mike Kelley piece, Andrya introduced the concept of the dancers, as well as the timpani. And when you force all these things to fit together, it creates this visual cacophony that weirdly arrives at making some kind of unconscious sense"
Band leader Andrya Ambro took inspiration from Italian avant garde composer Egisto Macchi’s “Gli Imboscati” whose use of minimal repetitive drums act as both a guiding light and menacing reality. With that as the starting point, the guitars, like a broken machine, fill out the rhythm with moments of triumph. The vocal stylings of Annie Lennox in the Eurhythmics’ “4/4 in Leather” definitely found their way into the subconsciousness of this song - those vocals being an amalgamation of something sincere and urgent, but somehow still laugh in the face of this insufficient reality.
"Wasted Wanted” was written by Andrya Ambro and Brendan Winick
Song personel: Andrya Ambro - drums, vocals, sounds, production, Ian Douglas-Moore - bass, vocals, Brendan Winick - guitar
Info:
https://golddime.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gold_dime_hurts
https://tiktok.com/@gold_dime_andrya
