Kevin Corcoran works with sound in contexts of music, art, communication and place. His approach combines percussion, location recordings, electronics, image-making, writing, and walking.
As a percussionist he is focused on extended techniques which emphasize textural sound, friction, sympathetic vibration, sustained tones and the use of found objects. Whether working in sparse sound with a single drum and cymbal or frenetic contexts on the drum kit, improvisation is crucial to his practice as generative method and non-hierarchical exchange of ideas.
In field recording practice he listens and interacts with sites and objects. Specific interests in land use and delineation through disuse, excess, contamination, decay, and slippage between infrastructure and open space lead to noticing how intentional and incidental details of places continually emerge, erode, and reassemble.
Electronic sound features in his work through the use of cassette tapes, location recording playback, computer software, feedback systems and various means of amplification.
Based in San Francisco, California, Kevin collaborates across disciplines and borders having performed in the US, Mexico, Europe, UK, Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan with musicians, dancers, filmmakers, writers and visual artists. In addition to making live and recorded sound and music, he works with installation, text, photography, and video.
Since 2015 he is co-founder and co-organizer of the performance series Re:Sound which takes place in disused navy architecture on Mare Island and operates under 23Five, a long running nonprofit dedicated to the increased awareness of sound in the arts.
photo by Rae Diamond