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http://robincrutchfield.com ************************************************************ ***************** Won't you give a listen to my 'harp and drone acid folk' CD "Robin Crutchfield-For Our Friends In The Enchanted Otherworld" on Hand/Eye: via site above? (And while you're there, have a look at a couple of my little videos on the notes page.)Description from Hand/Eye: A tiny treasurebox from a lost garden, “For Our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld,” finds Robin Crutchfield further exploring his unique world; one of delicate harp compositions, glissando, and deep drones. Soundscapes for daydreamers of this and other worlds. His new solo explorations have been described by Devendra Banhart as “beguiling, powerful, hypnotic, mesmerizing, commanding, delicately unnerving, lilting, mellow,” and “tense as hell.”I hope you enjoy a musical peek into the enchanted otherworld. ************************************************************ *****************Hear a sample of my solo harp music -- "Spellcasting" (see video below).***************************************************** ************************SongsForFaerieFolk--- Spherical walking pickings of delicate sounds from instruments like harp, lyre and tampura, in semi-eastern and middle eastern and medieval chords tell a story like a 1001 night fairytale for the fairy folk, or how to become a witness to their world and nature and thus solve the spell that only works for those who don’t respect them...Most elves stories are about a subtle world closer to nature's perspectives, where elves are a bit suspicious of humans and sometimes threaten them. It is as if the ability of them to curse men, protects them for humans entering their world without having enough respect. I imagined it is music like that on Robin Crutchfield "Songs for Faerie Folk" which are like the kind of subtle, gentle simple excursions with some variety that can prepare a human who's world has much faster, stronger, sharper, harder contrasts to get used to the calmer, sweeter world of the Faerie World. http://www.psychedelicfolk.com/acidfolkreview16.html#an chor_363 ************************************************************ ***************** ToadstoolSoup--- Like the previous cd, we have miniature, magical pieces on harp, or with various multi-track harps and a bit of echo, handshakers, wood, and other small percussion, here and there some water and glockenspiel, mixed more often with the droning Indian tanpura. The pieces are a bit longer and melodic, and recall faeric spheres, like slower and faster rondo dances, based upon a simple, fundamental thematical and rhythmical tune. A short, but convincing soundtrack of a faerie world ready to step in. Psyche Van Het Folk review http://www.psychedelicfolk.com/acidfolkreview16.html#an chor_363**************************************************** *************************Robin Crutchfield For Our Friends In The Enchanted Otherworld HAND/EYE CDRobin Crutchfield is one of the more enigmatic musicians around. After making waves as a performance artist in New York in the late 70s, he played keyboards in the original version of DNA with Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori, until deciding they weren't as interesting as they might be. He then formed Dark Day, originally a trio with Nina Canal of Gynecologists/Ut and Nancy Arlen of Mars. This version never played live, unlike later line-ups with Jim Jarmusch, members of Tuxedomoon and others. Dark Day explored wide varieties of keyboard textures and machine theories, and went through several distinct phases. In its final incarnation, the group investigated some of the odder possibilities lurking inside British folk traditions. The vibe of their last album, Darkest Before Dawn, was akin to Comus or Current 93. Abandoning the group name, Crutchfield delved ever more deeply into this style; and his explorations are continued on For Our Friends In The Enchanted Otherworld , his third solo album. The music is largely based on instrumental harp glissandos: shimmering cascades of notes pouring down amidst birdsong, tanpura, bells and other woodland instrumentation. Crutchfield's compositions still have some of his old mechanistic hallmarks, but they've been recast as steampunk visions - huge delicate wooden wheels, spinning and plucking and plunking inside his fevered imagination. Which turns out to be a great place to visit - somewhere between Early Music, new volk and contemporary classical. This album is not quite like anything else you'll hear this year, and it's pretty goddamn brilliant.BYRON COLEY The Wire No. 287 (Jan. 2008) SOUNDCHECK p. 55********************************************************** *******************Hand/Eye Robin Crutchfield : For our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld (US,2007)****The instrumentals by Robin Crutchfield are played by harp, tanpura, wine glass, toad, wooden flute, bells, stomping boot, jinglebox, flying machines, sampler, and forest friends.And an Enchanted world this is : very magical minimalism, miniatures that sound very often like dew from elves that flies by with the wind, and this expressed in a musical form. The first three tracks are small variations of harp with droning tanpura. On “Finding Our Woodland Way” the harp dances (-,from right to left,-) between sounds of forest creatures, as if this describes the presence of a Chinese elf or spirit creature. New also is “In Crystal Caves” where there are used airy glass sounds in combination with harp. Between other organic harp tracks (partly with additional sounds), “The Birds Know” is another original, short track, which is based upon a magical forest sounds that become keyboard-like loops. “Enchanted Ice Cream Truck” is magical like wind-chimes, as if combined with tiny bits of piano sounds, and it sounds like a natural musical box. Between two other harp theme tracks, “Magic Puffbox” is also another short beautiful weird moment, of remixed sounds, with a world on its own. “Dwarfish determination” gives an original variation of this particular world, sound rich and minimal in its nature, but still much more a composition of a dance than a loop.This is very descriptive music, a true musical ode to the little friends in the enchanted other world.-Gerald Van Waes psychevanhetfolkPSYCH/ACID HEAD FOLK related items REVIEW PAGE 16http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/acidfolkreview16.html #anchor_447******************************************** *********************************I moved to New York City in the mid-1970's to participate in the growing Soho and Tribeca performance art scene. After some critical success, I crossed over into music co-founding the experimental No Wave noise band DNA, which recorded tracks for the No New York album with Brian Eno. After a year with DNA, I departed to form my own musical project, Dark Day, with an array of various guest performers including Steven Brown of Tuxedomoon, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, Nina Canal from Ut, and others. I continued on alone releasing a number of albums in styles ranging from cold wave, to medieval pagan, to quirky electronica. Erroll Morris commissioned tracks for his Bravo TV series "First Person", televised in 2000.At the turn of the millennium, I wrote and published a series of faerie tales. After the purchase of an African drum, several psalteries and harps, a lyre and a tanpura, I now devote my musical output to attempting dreamy soundscapes that paint aural pictures of the enchanted otherworld.