Chris Corsano

Chris Corsano built his reputation through avant-garde drumming that proved equally effective within pop frameworks, while also functioning as a technical innovator across both spheres. Drawing on an array of prepared-drum methods—such as placing butter knives and kitchen bowls directly on the heads—he cultivated an explosive and expansive approach that echoed punk energy alongside free-jazz exploration. This led to work with Björk, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and Jim O’Rourke, alongside sustained partnerships with saxophonist Paul Flaherty, Vibracathedral Orchestra’s Michael Flower, and numerous additional musicians. Regular association with Flaherty began in 1998, and sessions with Nels Cline and Wally Shoup further documented his range; solo statements appeared on inventive releases including 2006’s The Young Cricketer. Later projects encompassed Chikamorachi alongside Darin Gray, repeated pairings with free-jazz figure Joe McPhee, and duo recordings with guitarist Bill Orcutt, among them 2021’s Made Out of Sound.

Raised in New Jersey, Corsano moved from classic-rock drumming into punk during high school before encountering improvisation at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. There he joined 13 Gauge with future Tall Firs guitarist Aaron Mullan and began expanding his approach. The active Western Massachusetts improv community—highlighted by a 1996 summer series featuring the No-Neck Blues Band, Harry Pussy, and the Flaherty-Colbourne Quintet—proved formative, and his playing increasingly supplied melodic texture on par with its rhythmic function.

Corsano performed alongside prominent scene participants, among them Sunburned Hand of the Man, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon (then based in Northampton), and saxophonist Paul Flaherty. He issued material on his own Hot Cars Warp imprint, while the Flaherty-Corsano Duo’s The Hated Music surfaced on Moore and Byron Coley’s Ecstatic Yod in 2000. Sannyasi, featuring Flaherty and Greg Kelley, followed in 2002; Live at Tonic, recorded with Shoup, Flaherty, and Moore, appeared on Leo Records in 2003. The noise duo Vampire Belt, formed with guitarist Bill Nace, debuted in 2004, and a set with Nels Cline and Carlos Giffoni was released by free103point9 under the title Graduation. Corsano assembled Cold Bleak Heat with Flaherty, Kelley, and Matt Heyner; its debut, It’s Magnificent, But It Isn’t War, came out on Family Vineyard in 2005. A visit to Japan that year produced several albums, including a session with Jim O’Rourke and Darin Gray issued as Osorezan as well as dates supporting veteran saxophonist Akira Sakata. Corsano also relocated to the U.K., refining solo methods that yielded 2006’s The Young Cricketer and Blood Pressure—the latter employing only keyboard and microphone, without drums.

Björk took notice in 2007, enlisting Corsano (together with Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale) for that year’s Volta and the ensuing tours, marking his initial experience repeating identical drum parts nightly. Additional collaborations arose with psych-folk stalwarts Six Organs of Admittance, the prolific New England pair Matt Valentine and Erika Elder, and the enigmatic Texas artist Jandek. He formed the noise collective Death Unit with Giffoni, Trevor Tremaine, and Brian Sullivan, while the Flower-Corsano Duo continued alongside Michael Flower.

Corsano returned to the United States in 2009, the year Ultra Eczema issued the solo LP Another Dull Dawn. Rangda, his trio with Ben Chasny and Rick Bishop, debuted with the Drag City release False Flag in 2010. The same year saw High and Dry by the Chris Corsano Band (otherwise comprising anonymous players) and two Jailbreak albums recorded with Heather Leigh Murray. Under a Double Moon, the first of many projects with Joe McPhee, appeared in 2011. Corsano’s solo album Cut emerged on Hot Cars Warp in 2012, followed by The Raw and the Cooked with former Harry Pussy guitarist Bill Orcutt on Palilalia Records in 2013 and the Feeding Tube-issued Low Cost Space Flights by the Flaherty-Corsano Duo in 2014.

Further pairings throughout the decade involved Okkyung Lee, Evan Parker, Glenn Jones, Ghédalia Tazartès, and many others. In 2017 Corsano received the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artist Award. Multiple Orcutt collaborations arrived in 2018, including the widely noted Brace Up!; 2019 brought Electric Smog, a split with the Dwarfs of East Agouza, plus No Place to Fall with Rodrigo Amado on Astral Spirits and Monofonus Press. Additional sessions that year featured Susan Alcorn, Lol Coxhill, and Christine Abdelnour. The digital album Mezzaluna appeared in 2020, and Made Out of Sound, another set with Orcutt, followed in 2021.