Leonardo Di Maio

Born in Rome on a cold morning on December 29, 1968, he was struck at the age of 8 by hearing J. S. Bach's "Dorica" and Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5". Never was an approach to music more fateful. From 1977 to 1983 he went on to listen almost exclusively to classical music (with a predilection for the Italian Renaissance and the Baroque) and quite a lot of jazz (Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman in particular), so much so that his parents thought about enrolling him in the conservatory, but his rebellious nature towards academicism and his introverted character caused this attempt by his father and mother to fail (though he does owe them his first listens to classical music, since those records belonged to them). Solo Only from the age of 15 did he occasionally start approaching rock (always alternating his listening between a Palestrina polyphonic mass and Monteverdi's Madrigals), listening first and foremost to "Velvet Underground & Nico" (which he'd heard praised to the skies around him) and the Ramones' first album, since several of his high school classmates were fans of theirs. From there he realized that not everything in rock is to be dismissed, although still aware that rock'n'roll is above all a kids' game. He never really became passionate about "classic rock", even though he's listened to plenty of it, and has always favored more borderline, avant-garde phenomena, even when it comes to simple easy-listening. He certainly doesn't love clichés in any art form, just as he's bored by posturing, stereotyped people. From 1980 to today, he has accumulated a few thousand vinyl records and CDs at home, which he has for years been vainly trying to catalogue alphabetically and by genre. A titanic and almost impossible undertaking, given also his proverbial laziness as a good Roman. He contributed to the magazine Blow-Up from 1996 to 2001 and to Rockerilla from 2000 to 2001. About a decade ago he curated a section of avant-garde and jazz records for the website of his friend Piero Scaruffi, to whom he gave some tips for his 5th Volume of the Storia del Rock (Arcana, 1994). He doesn't consider himself a critic, but simply a music and art enthusiast who, at a certain point in his life, wanted to make use of the many years spent alongside (often behind the scenes) industry insiders, musicians, professional critics and ordinary but attentive listeners, writing — only when he feels the need to — about some deserving band or musician. He's a great lover of good food (especially Roman cuisine) and an incurable dog lover. He sports a left-wing philosopher's little beard and glasses. All in all, he's also a likeable guy.