Robin Crutchfield moved to New York in the 1970s to participate in the growing performance art scene, with some critical success evidenced by reviews in the Soho Weekly News and appearances in File magazine. Crossing over into music, co-founding the experimental no wave art band, DNA, and recording tracks for Brian Eno's historic "No New York" album, Robin then departed to pursue his own ideas with his next project Dark Day.
Crossing over into music, co-founding the experimental no wave art band, DNA, and recording tracks for Brian Eno's historic "No New York" album, Robin then departed to pursue his own ideas with his next project Dark Day. Making the most of a revolving door of musical guests over the years, including Nina Canal, Nancy Arlen, Steven Brown, Phil Kline, Jim Jarmusch and others, he explored an array of styles from cold wave to proto-electronic and medieval pagan, before settling into electronica and the solo art of the computer overdub.
In addition to art and music, Robin has pursued film and writing and has shown his work in a variety of venues crossing genres: concerts at CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, Tier3, Artist's Space, The Kitchen, 8BC and The Pyramid Lounge as well as tours of the U.S., and The Netherlands for the Belgian radio; artwork at 112 Greene St., Charlotte Moorman's Avant Garde Festival, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and MoMA; readings at Club 57 and Joseph Papp's Public Theater. He has written comedy for Steve Allen; penned and published a number of short novelettes and faerie tales as well as a 'zine in the 90s called Quirky featuring music reviews, obituaries and strange recipes; he made short films with Lydia Lunch, Steven Brown, Diego Cortez, Eric Mitchell, Kathy Acker and Adele Bertei, and acted in Amos Poe's film "The Foreigner", as well as Cable TV's "Inner Tube". His music was featured in Erroll Morris' Bravo TV series 'First Person'.
In 2000, he traded wires and transistors for wood and strings, and went green, taking up ancient instruments: harps, drums, lyres and psalteries, to explore and provide acoustic glissando and drone soundscapes for the daydreamers of the world, including a 2007 release on the Hand/Eye label and the Nov. 2009 album "The Hidden Folk", CD exclusively available on Important Records, digital downloads through CDbaby, itunes and elsewhere.
In November 2009, "Eleven Faerie Tales" was published in a single pocket-sized paperback volume.