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Supergroups, formations born from the "extraction" of musicians from various bands, rarely leave indelible memories in the annals of rock, often churning out works that are very technical but of relative artistic depth. Things are not exactly like that in the album in question, the self-titled debut of a band strongly desired by one Anton Fiers (former Feelies, former Lounge Lizards, former Pere Ubu... is that enough?), a great drummer who in 1983 brought together names of the caliber of Arto Lindsay and John Zorn (just to name two) to unleash all his extraordinary rhythmic imagination in the project "Golden Palominos" (a name borrowed from a breed of golden-maned horses, unfortunately becoming extinct).
The cornerstone of the album is therefore rhythm, there's no doubt about it. Fiers takes the reins, driving forward with odd timings the avant-garde ideas of his "exceptional guests". The opening track "Clean Plate" is a danceable piece centered around pseudo-Caribbean percussion and exaggeratedly funky bass lines, accompanied by Lindsay's pseudo-singing, almost a "rap brasileiro"! The seasoning of this already juicy dish is countless dissonances and background noises that are not easily identified but never "disturbing". The subsequent tracks somewhat abandon the danceable rhythm. "Hot Seat" follows even more markedly the path of experimentation (an experiment of vocal gargles and electronics), while "ID" is an exasperating exercise of monotonous bells whipped by a martial drum. A brilliant example of Fier's imagination is the degenerated dance-floor of "Coock Out", a "demonstration" on the DMX accompanied only by a monotonic bass and measured electronic interventions. Delightful.
"Golden Palominos" will leave a mark in that moment of "negative" rock, worthy of standing alongside the most successful works, as an unmissable example of "disguised" avant-garde but above all as a "tribute to rhythm".
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