No Trend - Tritonian Nash - Vegas Polyester Complex
(Touch and Go)
Touch & Go's reissue of No Trend's 1987 freak-out is as bare bones as reissues get. No extra tracks, nothing much in the way of archival photos or essays from rock critics as to why No Trend remain unappreciated/unknown/misunderstood; just the music as it sounded in '87. Like many other listeners, this reissue of their last LP is my introduction to the quintet's music, and Tritonian Nash is decidedly 1987, a mishmash of goofy genre aping and the driving, late 1980s independent rock sound. Full-time No Trend saxophonist Johnny Ontego and the seven members of the Trend Tonal Ensemble add horns, strings, pedal steel guitar, and keyboards to the group's "eclectic" sound. Clif Ontengo's vocals vary from the noir-ish, smokey beginnings of "Fred Reality" to the zany screaming in "Space Disco," and the choked, gurgling, Wolfman-Jack-as-zombie stylings utilized in "Cry of the Dirtballs." The band hit on some good, forceful rock on tracks such as "Without Me" and "Angel Angel Down We Go," but what good music they make is interrupted by their need to slip into faux country, overdone blues, or sweaty soft rock. Their absurdist lyrics are as off and on as a water faucet, and the group can't seem to fully focus themselves enough to come up with anything that quite packs a punch. The group's attempts at depravity and humor may have been funnier in 1987, but in 2003, No Trend sound dated and pedestrian. This isn't to say that Tritonian Nash isn't without its own good points, just that they are interspersed with attempts at humor and, therefore, are far between.
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