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R. L. Crutchfield's Dark Day

Hands in the Dark b/w Invisible Man

Released 1979 on Lust/Unlust
Reviewed by Lawrence, Dec 2009ce

Talk about doom ‘n gloom! I’ll bet, obscure as this 7″ is, many goths in England must have at least heard this little gem. No one else in New York City was doing stuff like this at the time…

Anyways Crutchfield was originally a member of legendary No Wave group DNA, then after recording this made the rather disappointing album Exterminating Angel (despite the same kind of bleakness it was also a bit disco-cheesy for me…) and then followed it with the rather spooky all-synth album Window (much better actually…) On this single he had a crack minimal framework of guitar and drums (Nina Canal and Nancy Arlen, both I think later of another legendary group called Ut, but that’s another story…)

Anyways these two tracks are cracking death marches with just enough ooomph! to avoid boredom. And best of all, Crutchfield knows not to take himself too seriously here. On the insert of this single there’s an eyeglass cutout under which is printed “I don’t wanna see what’s happening.” If you can still find it, yr in for alot of grim fun!

Update as of 12/13 — Now reissued on Dark Entries Records as is Window so look for ’em!