The Golden Palominos
A revolving door of avant-garde legends creating moody, nocturnal art-rock. Dense textures and shifting voices for deep, late-night listening.
A revolving door of avant-garde legends creating moody, nocturnal art-rock. Dense textures and shifting voices for deep, late-night listening.
The Golden Palominos sound like a high-stakes conversation happening in a dark corner of a New York jazz club that has been taken over by industrial producers. Led by the precise, muscular drumming of Anton Fier, the music shifts from jagged No Wave experiments to lush, trip-hop infused alternative rock. It is music that feels curated rather than just performed, with every guest vocalist and instrumentalist acting as a specific color in a complex, moody painting.
What makes them distinctive is the 'casting director' approach to band leadership. You might hear the grit of John Lydon one moment and the ethereal, breathy whispers of Nicole Blackman or the alt-country soul of Syd Straw the next. Despite this rotating cast, a consistent thread of urban melancholy and sonic density runs through their entire catalog, anchored by Fier's rhythmic architecture and Bill Laswell's deep, dub-influenced bass lines.
Start with 'Dead Inside' if you want a dark, immersive journey into 90s electronic-rock textures, or 'Visions of Excess' for a more song-oriented, star-studded take on alternative rock. They are the ultimate 'musician's band,' rewarding listeners who enjoy peeling back layers of sophisticated production and unexpected collaborations.
The Golden Palominos were an American musical group headed by drummer, producer, arranger, and composer Anton Fier, first formed in 1981. Aside from Fier, the Palominos membership fluctuated, with only bassist Bill Laswell and guitarist Nicky Skopelitis appearing on every album through 1996. Their final work, 2012's A Good Country Mile features vocalist Kevn Kinney. The band's early work developed out of the No Wave scene, but later branched out into alternative rock, country rock and electronic music. While the Palominos' records usually featured a core set of musicians and a certain emotional continuity throughout the bulk of an album, various guest appearances resulted in stylistic changes from track to track. Fier stated that he thought of himself as a casting director, elaborating: "Each record was an experiment and some lasted for two records, never longer than that. I chalk it up to my short attention span and the fact that there were lots of people I wanted to work with and ways to explore areas of music I was interested in, and certain combos wouldn't fit with others, so one record would be this and another record would be something else."
Shares alternative rock, art rock, trip-hop (subgenres); whispered, breathy, spoken word (vocal style)
Shares urban night, late night, rainy day (atmosphere); alternative rock, art rock (subgenres)
Shares layered dense, studio polished, sample based (production style); mysterious, brooding, restless (moods)
Shares alternative rock, art rock, trip-hop (subgenres); urban night, late night, rainy day (atmosphere)
Shares mysterious, brooding, contemplative (moods); art rock, alternative rock (subgenres)
Shares alternative rock, art rock, trip-hop (subgenres); urban night, late night, rainy day (atmosphere)
Shares alternative rock, art rock (subgenres); layered dense, studio polished, noise textured (production style)
Shares urban night, late night, rainy day (atmosphere); alternative rock, art rock (subgenres)
Shares art rock, trip-hop, tense, alternative rock (signature)
Shares art rock, tense, noise textured, alternative rock (signature)
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