Category:
Rock / Punk / Folk

Try if you like:
Lou Reed, Modest Mouse, Stephen Malkmus, They Might Be Giants, Violent Femmes

• Kenny's Big Adventure
• Erased

Control Escape is an alternative rock band from New York state that incorporates some of the old school alt-punk-folk feel of bands like The Violent Femmes or They Might Be Giants. Generation of Waste is the groups debut album, out on the unfortunately named Weasel Land Records. 

The first song, "Back On The Drugs", takes a few minutes to get going but it really sets the pace for the rest of the album. "Erased" is a little more laid back, a bit spooky even. Then I even get a bit of a Violent Femmes feel on "Snow (No Angels)". More in the sense of the minimal arrangement and almost cartoonish delivery including a kazoo (I think). "Iraq" is another bit of a turn for Control Escape. It's pretty much just an acoustic guitar and Ken Adams vocals, quite upbeat as well. You get a little more of this with "The Breakdown" but add a drum machine. "Luxury" is another mellower song with some quirky turns in it for good measure. My favorite song is "Animals Will Hurt You", with a good chugging rhythm driving you through the song. Ken's voice is quite nasally but he's found a good arrangement that works for it.

Generation of Waste is far from a perfect album but in a world of "anyone can record" it's really a decent effort. Track it down if you're looking for something a little different and very obscure.