General Bio
Rob Christiansen grew up in Boston in the 1980s, lucky to have a curious set of friends who immersed him in Homestead, SST, 4AD, and the creativity in the air at the time. Boston was a place where you could see Throwing Muses outside in the street or find The Pixies or Big Dipper at the Rat, or see the best touring Dischord bands or The Volcano Suns at TT The Bears for a $6 matinee show. It made an impression. Music lessons (Guitar, Trombone, piano, and drums) were regretably pushed aside in favor of home recording expermients and some persistent notion that music should be a creative act -- that not every good idea had been tried.
Moving to DC in 1991 to study audio engineering and physics, he joined Eggs (trombone and guitar) and made his way into Teenbeat and Simple Machines bands, Grenadine (formed by Mark Robinson and Jenny Toomey) on the drums and Tsunami (formed by Toomey and Kristin Thompson) on the bass.
Much music was made, he landed in New York in 2000. Christiansen learned about radio production as an Engineer at the New York NPR New Bureau, and eventually moved to WNYC/WQXR, where he mixed live broadcasts from New York's finest classical music halls and episodes of the celebrated New Sounds, Soundcheck, and Spinning on Air radio programs.
He is currently the Director of Broadcast Applications and Assets at New York Public Radio, where he provides tech tools to journaists and manages the NYPR Archives. He was included in the 2025 Tsunami/Ida reunion tour.
Incomplete, but growing, band list - reverse chron
- East Ghost West Ghost (Rob Solo)
- Despite Straight Lines - Guitar
- Volcano Midnight - Drums
- Christiansen, Rob - (Rob Solo)
- Bel Aviv - synth
- Maracatu New York - Caixa
- The Mells - Drums
- 29 Hour Music People - leader
- Small Devices - Bass
- Mystery Keys - Bass
- The Shot Heard Round The World - Drums
- Fulton Lights - various
- Gazetteers - various
- Volut - Drums
- Stick Insect - Drums
- Stevensons - Drums
- The Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers - Various
- Treiops Treyfid band - Drums
- Tsunami - Bass
- Viva Satellite - Various
- Grenadine - Drums
- Eggs - Trombone, Guitar
- Justine - Drums
- Said and Done - Drums
- AbdoMen - various
- Greenehouse - Drums
- The Stand - Guitar
Notable Recording Projects
- Eggs - Eggs Teenbeat 96 Exploder
- laBradford - Prazision & A Stable Reference
- Vehicle Flips - For You I Pine
- Unrest - Animal Park (single)
- Wimp Factor 14 - Ankle Deep
- Blast Off Country Style - Giggles n' Gloom (single)
- Fulton Lights - Eponymous
- 29 Hour Music People - vol.1 Soft Eno Blessing & vol.5 Denial
- Carabou - Live from All Tomorrow's Parties
- East Ghost West Ghost - Eponymous
- Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers - Eponymous & Ume Sour & Better Days Coming Now
- Viva Satellite - Extra Eye
- Rooibus Orbison - The Singles
- Stick Insect - Spiral Scratch