Ten years riding the wave of rock. Yet it feels like a century, when you think about it. Not only because the world has changed in the meantime, music included. But also because the site itself has been through several geological eras of internet evolution (you can find almost all of them here).

The OndaRock that was born as an independent domain in February 2001, with all its graphic naivety, was already a (more or less) ripe fruit. The seed had been planted a few months earlier, in the harshest and most treacherous of soils. Chances are none of you ever had the misfortune of building web pages online with Geobuilder, the prehistoric software available at the time on the now-defunct Geocities.com. But for someone like myself, approaching the web as if it were the mystery of quantum entanglement, that was already enough. There was an irrepressible thrill in those endless sessions, where creating and saving a single box could take an entire morning, waiting for that infamous hourglass to disappear. It was about the idea of being able to express yourself in total freedom. No costs, no filters, no editorial constraints. Basically, the ABCs of the internet. Today that's something we're all used to, to the point of nausea from information overdose, in the age of social networks and the blogosphere. But back then, it was magic.

It was magic just to be able to put online a biography of Stereolab on an apricot background, in an oversized black 14pt Arial font, with a photo slapped on any old way. A scrawl, looking back at it now. But that's how OndaRock was born, and maybe that's also why, over the years, it has kept a more human spirit, in some ways almost "handmade".

The site's first embryo, then, was merely the rudimentary and slightly narcissistic product (because everyone who writes is, whether they admit it or not) of a journalist who had discovered, a few years earlier, a passion for telling stories about music, in between an investigation into Afghanistan, an interview with a Kurdish leader and a report on the war in Yugoslavia. Because that, above all, is what Avvenimenti dealt with, the defunct "weekly of the Other Italy" that had the nerve to hire me, right as it was – alas – heading toward the abyss. In the end, Claudio Fracassi's newspaper also played a part in OndaRock's story, and I'll always be grateful to it.

While the ship of Avvenimenti was sinking, weighed down by its cargo of utopias and outdated ideologies, my makeshift lifeboat remained that handful of music articles, poured onto the web pages of some unspecified personal site. Then came the irreversible choice: to become an online publication. With a name that could evoke, in one stroke, the idea of surfing the web and a very specific musical attitude. My passion for new wave already supplied the perfect solution. Rock Wave, then. Actually, no, better in Italian: OndaRock. Easier said than done, especially all alone. And that's when the unthinkable happened. That tiny handful of articles, ranging from Bowie to new and little-known indie-rock acts, attracted a small band of devotees, enthusiastic and full of ideas. A few names? Paolo Sforza, Mauro Roma, Marco Delsoldato, Mattia Paneroni, Francesco Nunziata, Michele Chiusi…

A forum was also born, first black and orange, then light blue: in both cases, with the terrible drawback of shrinking as the "quotes" and messages piled up. But it was great fun. Endless discussions on the great questions of music and even philosophy, or simply about the Beatles or Scaruffi (who would always remain evergreens). One summer day, a horde of enraged Jackson fans stormed in over some word said or not said about their idol. Their "leader" signed herself Vale75. But she was born in 1985: she'd given herself ten extra years to seem more credible.

If the forum took off, it was thanks above all to one person: Paolo "Pablito" Sforza, who started running it when it had no more than a dozen regulars, and built it up with real passion, playing host to newcomers (the now-famous "hope you'll feel at home here") and cracking hilarious jokes. The first "factions" were born too: the avant-noise-drone crowd, the champions of pop, the diehard and "proudly musty" prog fans, the futurists and the nostalgics who insisted rock was dead, the goth kids and the wavers, the neo-romantics and the punk nihilists, the indie crowd (no final e) and the mainstream users. All united by one common goal: making OndaRock grow.

So much for "virtual": with OndaRock, the internet revealed its full power to bring people together at a time when Facebook wasn't even a flicker in teenage Zuckerberg's neurons. Friendships were born, many of which are still alive today, along with dinners, evenings out together at gigs. Couples formed, and some are even set to get married. For some of them, a rudimentary red chat room was all it took. It was the dark room of the heart for the earliest ondarockers.

All this while the site grew sturdier and took shape, with a split identity: half music magazine, half historical archive. A permanent space dedicated to the latest releases took root, alongside artist profiles sorted into various sections, from the catch-all Rock and Beyond to the long-running Dark Corner, devoted to the darkest sounds: at first it was just a black page, with the gate of a crumbling old manor in the background (!). There was also a "feminist" space, dedicated to Cantautrici (female singer-songwriters). It was later renamed Songwriter in the name of gender equality.

The long-awaited column on "milestones" also came into bloom, destined to spark exhausting debates worthy of a better cause, but also huge hits with readers. The idea was simple: create a space for classics and masterpieces, famous and obscure, of every genre. The name was chosen right there on the forum, but no one could have imagined how much that simple matter of terminology would spark debate ("What counts as a milestone?", "How many rock records are actually milestones?", "Are we sure it's seminal enough?", "Too many albums are Scaruffi-approved but not real milestones" and so on, endlessly).

Then, gradually, came the live reports, interviews with music critics, chapters of rock history, thematic specials, book reviews, the column on songs. And, alongside all this, the film section kept growing, until in 2008 it broke off into the long-awaited "sister" site OndaCinema. Ah, OndaCinema: impossible to talk about it without a veil of sadness, because within the space of one accursed month, two car accidents took away the person who, more than anyone else, had contributed to its growth (Elisa Goolvart) and one of its finest writers (Rocco Castagnoli). This special feature is dedicated to them, with the promise that we will never forget them.

Back then, recruitment happened spontaneously, largely on the forum, but elsewhere too. Sensational signings and, luckily for us, "free transfers" (though also unpaid ones, as they'd grumble…). Antonio Ciarletta, Gabriele Benzing, Matteo Lavagna, Marco Bercella, Michele Saran, among the first. And then so many others it would be impossible to list in a few lines. I thank all of them: active, no longer active, regular and less regular contributors. With the hope of maybe winning back some of the historic bylines we've lost along the way.

It was astonishing to discover so many unsuspected, gifted writers scattered across the internet firmament, dispelling on the spot all the suspicions and prejudices that the world of journalism held toward such an open and uncontrollable form of communication. Because while today only a few still swear that real journalism is print journalism, back then they were the overwhelming majority. OndaRock's bytes represented a daily challenge to those prejudices, both for the quality of the articles and for their polished form. In-depth pieces that were even long and detailed, whole musical sagas — I'm thinking of the memorable History of progressive or the monster profile of Prince, practically a book!

Of course, with that black background dotted with garish little musical notes, you couldn't get very far. So we were rescued by the creative hand of Gaia Zuccaro, who designed the first graphic overhaul and the first, unforgettable "logo". And that was already a turning point. But the real revolution took shape with the project of an unsuspected forum member who one day stepped out into the open: Edoardo Cappuccio, aka Oyster, who from 2004 took the reins (literally) of the site as art director, finally giving it the professional look it had been missing. That's how the splendid "frosted" homepage was born, in metallic grey-blue. Then came the decisive leap in quality, with the page-automation project and the resulting graphic and dynamic innovations.

After various adventures around the web (Network54, Forumcommunity), the forum too finally settled permanently under the ondarock.it domain. Bringing along with it a web community that had grown from a few hundred to a few thousand users, up to today's seven-thousand-plus. Not just a meeting place to chat about the record of the moment or have fun with the inevitable running jokes (which even inspired a hilarious video): over all these years, the forum has been a source of thousands of useful bits of information on records, genres, and artists of every kind. And its growth is a measure of the expansion of an editorial project that, within a few years, had become a small phenomenon, worthy of attention even from search engines: starting with the now-ancient Altavista, then Yahoo, and finally the explosion with Google.

We suddenly discovered we had become one of the leading sources of music information on the web. Certainly one of the most followed, in any case, given that from the dozen or so readers Pablito used to entertain, we'd grown to several tens of thousands of unique daily visitors. It could no longer be just the romantic spirit (or was it freakish?) driving us, because now there was a responsibility to provide a real service to readers, one to be carried forward and constantly strengthened. But it all still happened purely online. A pure online publication, where everything, from choosing new contributors to editorial meetings, took place virtually: in short, the definitive shift from magazine to webzine. With an impeccable editorial coordinator like Raffaello Russo stepping in to hold it all together.

I won't bore you with too many figures. A couple will do: the number of new-release reviews, which went from 76 published in 2002 to 971 in 2010, and the number of artist profiles, which grew from a few dozen in 2002 to today's one thousand. But even more than the numbers, what matters are the tokens of esteem we've received over the years from readers, musicians, and industry professionals. A consecration that — as a humble follower of the cult of Mister Fantasy, which struck all us wave-obsessed 80s survivors like lightning — I now see symbolically embodied in the presence of Carlo Massarini among our bylines.

But if we let it go to our heads, we wouldn't just be fools: we would betray the very reason for OndaRock's existence. A site born with many different souls inside it, but with one true common denominator: the idea of experiencing music in a healthy way, with passion (dare we even say love), free of prejudice and holy wars, with no verdicts to hand down or titles to claim. Serious, but never too serious about ourselves. Leaving to others the presumption of absolute, unquestionable truths. An "open" attitude, in other words, extended to readers too, who over the years have flooded us with opinions, encouragement, suggestions, and also criticism — often invaluable.

There's an awareness of living through a season of relentless change, especially on the terrain we've chosen, the web, perpetually unstable by definition. Today's certainties could become as prehistoric tomorrow as that old Geocities program. And there's still much to be done on the technological front, to keep pace with the innovations of recent years: interactivity, social networks, music blogs, YouTube, streaming, podcasts, net labels, and everything else.

A small but significant step in this direction was taken with the successful OndaDrops initiative, now in its third installment: free downloadable compilations featuring unreleased tracks that internationally acclaimed artists have given us, choosing to bet on us. A project that has become solid over time, thanks to the tireless determination of Alessandra Reale, Raffaello Russo, Francesco Amoroso and Gabriele Benzing. We've also begun carving out a space on the radio: online, with the now well-established show Blah Blah Blah OndaRock On Air, hosted by Marco Bercella and Davide Sechi, broadcast on OkMusik's online frequencies (every Monday from 9pm, repeated Tuesday at 4pm), and, starting this year, on the airwaves of Rome as well, with L'Attimo Fuggente, the show hosted by Raffaello Russo and Francesco Amoroso, every Monday (from 9 to 11pm), on Radio Città Aperta (88.900 Mhz FM in Rome and the Lazio region, and via streaming for everyone else).

The ambition is to become a fully-fledged "webzine," making the most of the internet's unparalleled potential, but also to grow further as an interactive web community. It won't be easy, because OndaRock survives solely on the strength of its content and its writers. With no financial interests or personal turf to protect. Passion for music alone has been the engine that has driven us this far, and we'll need to keep it running at full speed to reach new milestones. Jealously guarding that freedom which is, at once, our pride and our elixir of long life. If we lose it, we're finished. The same goes if we lose the drive to hunt down unknown talents scattered across every corner of the world — one of the factors that has allowed us, over the years, to build a loyal, trusting audience of our own. Laziness, homogenization and the loss of identity: these are the dangers to be avoided at all costs.

But the editorial object itself has also become slippery, almost impossible to pin down amid its constant transformations. Back in 2001, when we first stuck our nose onto the web, a music industry still existed in the traditional sense, CDs were still the primary format, record shops were in crisis, sure, but hadn't yet shut their doors. At home, people listened to music on the stereo; in the park, they jogged with a portable CD player. Some of us — yours truly included — still didn't scorn the legendary Sony cassette Walkman! The clandestine thrill of peer-to-peer seemed destined to fade with the mirage of Napster, cut short early on by a judge in the name of copyright. True, its successors were already sprouting up — Audiogalaxy, Morpheus, Kazaa... But they all seemed headed for the same brief, illicit arc. The mp3 — iTunes aside — was viewed with suspicion by music companies. Today, the very same multinationals that own the record labels churn out mp3 players, iPods and smartphones. And it's hard to imagine they're relying solely on the public's willingness to pay for mp3 downloads. The concept of the playlist and the "DIY compilation" has supplanted the already-wobbling album format. And for younger generations, the CD is a fossil — even more so than vinyl was for previous ones. Not to mention CD players, now heading toward extinction even on shop shelves.

It's easy to curse the obsessive downloading, the mp3 bulimia that has turned listeners into giant hard drives crammed with files to devour and delete in a hurry. It's easy to long for the good old days, when buying a record, even at the cost of untold sacrifices, felt like punching a ticket to the Moon. Because in the meantime the mp3 itself risks becoming an obsolete format if, as some predict, it's soon replaced by the instant streaming offered by software such as Sweden's Spotify or France's Deezer. There won't even be the effort of downloading an album and filling up a folder on your PC: all it will take is putting together a playlist and listening to it on your smartphone. And through the paradigm of grid computing, users will be able to access huge quantities of files to stream from their broadband-connected PCs, without even needing much storage capacity anymore.

At the same time, as is well known, music production has become a raging torrent. The collapse of production costs and the disappearance of traditional gatekeepers have burst the banks. With the inevitable advantages (the chance to emerge outside the usual commercial circuit) and disadvantages (an avalanche of junk) that entails. And with the paradox that right now, when it's in crisis as an industry, music is more accessible, widespread and listened-to than ever. Music floods everywhere, through every kind of format, sweeping away old boundaries and classifications. If in 2001 it was still possible to sketch out a map of the genres into which rock had splintered, today that's simply unthinkable. Even the distinction between indie and mainstream is gradually evaporating — much to the dismay of those who had built an entire worldview on that opposition.

But of course, if it's not clear what music even is today, writing about it becomes complicated too. We'll keep doing it, with no pretense of objectivity or completeness, offering our own point of view, our own deeply personal thread. But trying to keep our antennae up so as not to lose touch with reality, and not remain anchored to the past, even when the past might seem simpler, more romantic and more seductive.

There's no way of knowing whether, in a few years, all information will truly have poured onto the web, whether what remains of the music industry will finally realize that webzines are more widely read and more effective than print magazines (with all due respect to the latter's glorious history), or whether we're already in the post-web era, where the center of gravity of browsing has shifted from the Net to individual apps. What matters is to keep nurturing the dream of a free publication, one that tells the story of music with the same enthusiasm with which, back in 2001, it timidly appeared on the digital horizon. In the hope of many more decades to live (and listen) together. With heartfelt thanks and a "Youngian" wish to all our readers: keep on (onda)rocking in the free world.

Three articles each

We decided to "celebrate" the decade like this: giving each staff writer the chance to pick their three best articles, the ones they felt most strongly about, the most brilliant ones, or simply the ones they're most attached to for sentimental reasons. It's not just a personal showcase: through these revivals, we hope to offer a very particular "best of" from our first ten years.

Claudio Fabretti

David Bowie – The Dandy Who Fell to Earth (monograph)

This sprawling monograph, the one most loved and most labored over, could only be dedicated to him: rock's greatest genius of transformation. Portraying figures so complex and fascinating always inspires me in a particular way. But in this case the extra spark came from the emotion of listening again to some of the records that changed my life — my musical life, at least.

Donald Fagen – "The Nightfly" (pietra miliare)

A timeless classic, one of my all-time favorite records, and perhaps the milestone piece I'm proudest of. Thanks to the long New York night and the eternal frequencies of Donald Fagen, in the guise of the ineffable DJ Lester the Nightfly.

Live Report: Roxy Music in Rome (Auditorium, 19/07/2006)

The review I most enjoyed writing: dashed off in the heat of a July night, still buzzing from that historic reunion show. It's probably also one of the most pleasant to read, since I tried to convey, with a touch of self-deprecating humour, that climate of nostalgic euphoria shared by us incurable romantics.

Raffaello Russo

Interview with Glen Johnson – Piano Magic

My first interview, pieced together after a long back-and-forth by email, yet as intense as if it had been done in person, thanks to Glen's extraordinary openness. Unforgettable the shiver I felt reading his answer: "First of all the emotions [...] the lyrics have to be written by me first, at home, next to a bottle of wine and in front of the photo of my dead girlfriend."

Sigur Ros – If Emotion Had a Sound (monograph)

With them it was all a matter of the heart, the hard task of putting into words those emotions their music overflows with: the allure of the meeting between ice and fire, the mystery of the inscrutable ways of dreams and desires, in the land of hope that never dies.

Godspeed You Black Emperor! – "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven" (milestone)

My most ambitious piece, a labour doled out slowly over a long stretch of time, like a votive stone raised in homage to an all-consuming ecstasy — rediscovering it intact after so many years was at once a confirmation and an overwhelming surprise.

Roxy Music – "For Your Pleasure" (milestone)

I started writing for OndaRock hoping to find some kind of therapy to heal from an all too troubled period of my life, and I must say it worked. This is one of the very first pieces I wrote for our magazine: more a session of self-analysis than a music article.

Interview with John Foxx

The interview I'd always longed for, a conversation packed with surprises with a figure and an artist living up to expectations that all too often get cut down to size by a face-to-face encounter. That wasn't the case here — quite the opposite, in fact.

Enrico Ruggeri – Il falco e il gabbiano (monograph)

So many anecdotes lived firsthand or by reflection, the monograph that let me physically return to the places of my adolescence. Which happen to be the same places I live in today, albeit at a very different pace and with a very different outlook.

Sigur Rós – "()"

If I'm not mistaken, my first Album of the Month byline, and what an album. Back when Albums of the Month still came out whenever we felt like it, and I didn't know how to keep myself from rambling on.

Tenhi – The Secret Enchanters (monograph and interview)

The idea of having introduced this extraordinary band to a few more people, the relationship with Tenhi themselves and with their record label, which continued afterwards too, bringing along many wonderful friendships.

Richard Skelton – "Landings"

Music so timeless that it demanded few, sparing words, the only piece of mine I wouldn't change a single comma of, a perfect symbiosis between what I listened to and what I felt.

Francesco Nunziata

Today Is The Day – The temple of terror-noise-metal (monograph)

Months and months of work, between interviews, listening sessions and rewrites. Because this wasn't meant to be a mere monograph, but a declaration of love/stream of consciousness for one of the most important bands of my life. OndaRock as a witness to this love.

Mitochondrion – "Archaeaeon"

Writing about music is wonderful. But it's even more so when you pull out of the dark bands or artists you believe in and will keep supporting. Infidel?/Castro!, Won James Won, Li Jianhong, Runhild Gammelsæter, Tobias Lilja and, of course, them, coming from absolutely nowhere. Then, the friendship with the band members, the interview, the dream of moving to Canada and playing bass for them.

Husker Du – "Zen Arcade" (milestone)

Telling of youth through a record. Written in one go, in summer, at sunset, in the car... on a notepad, while the album blasted on the stereo. Unforgettable.

Special: These bloody hands – The legacy of the murder ballad

There are questions that have always fascinated me: does tradition have something to say to our present? What do old murder ballads actually tell us? Or, digging even deeper, where does evil come from?

Eels – Friendly ghosts and other revelations (monograph)

When delving into the folds of an artist's history becomes a chance to discover something more about yourself. And about the real things in life.

Bob Dylan – The prophet and his mask (monograph)

Is it possible to add anything else, after fifty years of Dylan exegesis? Perhaps only by comparing it to one's own heart: I've always thought that someone like Dylan wouldn't settle for anything less…

Charalambides – "Joy Shapes"

The second review (putting up the first one would be embarrassingly banal).

Unites States Of America – "Usa" (pietra miliare)

A piece I wrote "from memory", without listening again to the album in question, in a sort of surrealist automatic writing.

Paolo Conte – The lawyer with a taste for jazz (monograph)

Monograph the one I waited longest to see published (and which sparked plenty of varied emails in response, including one from a Texan cellist eager to play with Conte).

Burial – "Burial"

Written in the heart (and with the heart) of a summer night, with the warm wind caressing the keyboard. Impossible to forget certain records and certain moments. It was love at first listen.

Killing Joke – "Killing Joke" (milestone)

My first milestone piece, for one of the albums I'm most attached to. A wild, unpredictable shard of a record.

By far the review that means the most to me.

Paolo Sforza

Low – "Trust"

Low's "Trust", an album from I don't remember which month. What I remember very well, though, is a lightning trip to Bologna to see them live. Loneliness, hope, and all the attempts I made to regain the trust that Low sing about on this record.

Black Dice – "Beaches And Canyons"

My self-mockingly labeled "avant-garde" period. I came to this kind of music in a naive way, with no traditional background. In the end, I have no regrets. And I met a lot of people, some genuinely important even if they don't know it themselves, even if I don't even know whether I'll ever see them again…

Tottemo Godzilla Riders – "Tottemo Godzilla Riders"

I remember an endless traffic jam on the Rome ring road, listening to it. It reminds me that this record really is beautiful, and that the people at OndaRock are wonderful. A conflict of interest, where my interest is having someone to care about, someone to truly admire, and the balance sheet is wildly in the black.

Michele Chiusi

Rock History: progressive rock

The intent was to put together a small guide for newcomers, but without it turning into a shopping list — rather, aiming for at least a minimal, if schematic, critical edge. I really enjoyed writing it, and I have to admit I've often received compliments on it. Rereading it after all these years, I still think it turned out well.

Gatto Ciliegia contro il grande freddo – "L'irréparable"

It was the era of post-rock, and the review is also the result of some general thoughts about that genre that were swirling around in my head at the time.

Fantomas – "Delirium Cordia"

Yes, I know, it's a wordy and somewhat pretentious review, but it's also an attempt to write about my/our relationship with music.

I haven't written reviews for years now, but I fondly remember the time when I did, discussing music with other users back then — something I still consider an excellent and noble topic of conversation, as well as of knowledge. I'd like to thank OndaRock and Claudio for the space and the kindness they showed me, and I send my regards to anyone who remembers me and interacted with me on the forum back in the day.

Francesco Giordani

Samuele Bersani – The Fisherman of Asterisks (monograph)

I admit it. I was fervently hoping that, through the publication of this monograph, Bersani would become my pen pal. Of course, like all true heroes, he never replied to my message.

Even pans have their own dignity, not to mention a long history, for as long as this thing called rock has existed. I don't think I've ever had as much fun trying to write one as I did with this piece.

The review that made me realize that it's only when I'm dealing with a certain kind of witty, vaguely British pop that I manage to reach the last line fully satisfied with what I've written (or almost).

Alessandro Biancalana

Dot Allison – The Lights of the Scottish Angel (monograph)

The monograph I care about most and the one I put the most energy into. For an artist who's underrated but possesses tremendous emotional power.

Written during a decidedly peculiar period of my life, this is perhaps the review that most truthfully expresses my nature as a reviewer.

An album that symbolizes my love for music and a key turning point in my modest career as a "journalist", the Anoice record moved me from the very first listen.

Salvatore Setola

Butthole Surfers – The Rock of Degeneration (feature)

My first feature for OndaRock: I pick it not because it was the first, but because I poured my soul into it.

Korn – "Korn" (cornerstone)

Because Korn are a band often reviled despite their absolutely huge debut. And because I believe this is my best piece.

Primal Scream – "Screamadelica" (cornerstone)

Because "Screamadelica" is an album that escapes any definition: a bastard mix of blues-rock, psychedelic pop, electronica and house.

Marco Sgrignoli

Vampire Weekend – "Contra"

The review I feel came out best.

The Streets – "Let's Push Things Forward"

The piece for the juke-box section, dedicated to songs.

Feature: New Choral Sensibility

The in-depth piece I'm proudest of.

Nicola Minucci

Sebastien Tellier – "Politics"

After a year on the forum, this was my nerve-wracking debut as a reviewer. Reading it again today I feel almost embarrassed, a bit like when your mother shows your girlfriend photos of you naked on the beach at age three.

Live Report: Pan Sonic + Dj Spooky in Rome (Auditorium, 20/10/2004)

In my view, along with the one on the Suicide gig, the best review I've ever written for OndaRock – mainly because that concert was a genuinely illuminating experience. Curiously, though, this report never got me any compliments: those only ever come for the takedowns!

Interview with Uochi Toki

The most fun I've ever had doing something for this site. Two hours of interview-over-breakfast with Uochi Toki, who besides being great musicians are also great people. Friendly, sharp, full of interesting things to say. In a world where musicians grant you half an hour at most, they were the ones who asked to have that much time with me!

Alberto Asquini

Emeralds – "Does It Look Like I'm Here?"

An album that bewitched me, music that guided my pen.

Gas – Flashes in the Void (artist profile)

The artist profile I'm probably proudest of. Written in one late-summer Sunday morning.

Live reports: Dirty Three in Venice (Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, 26/05/2007)

In Venice. For a band that named an album after the sea, there could be no other setting.

Roberto Mandolini

Red Temple Spirits – The cult of the psych-gothic temple (monograph)

Thanks to Maurizio (Transmission), I've got a solid stash of RTS vinyl, so I can sleep easy.

William Basinski – Time out of joint (monograph)

Thanks to Carlo (Camilloni), I bought Basinski's first CD-Rs. I also got the CD versions and then the latest reissues. Two or three copies of every title, because, as everyone knows, the compact disc is less reliable than vinyl.

Orb – Sounds from the other world (monograph)

Anyone who remembers Crash (the magazine), raise your hand. By email works too.

Mimma Schirosi

The Fall – The weltanschauung of the middle class (monograph)

Their latest work, chronologically speaking, and their most tortuous, in a measure exactly proportional to the person of Mark E. Smith. A point of arrival and a new beginning.

Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire De Melodie Nelson (milestone)

Fascination, decadence, catharsis, tears and beauty. A review written with the overbearing force of a tyrannical heart.

Interview with Fausto Rossi

The need for an encounter that would confirm a feeling. When human interaction happily and desolately puts you in front of a mirror.

Francesco Paolo Ferrotti

The Beach Boys – "Pet Sounds" (pietra miliare)

With the long-standing milestone that is "Pet Sounds", in 2006 I wanted to celebrate the album's 40th anniversary. Brian Wilson's work deserves a place among the great, immortal testimonies of the human spirit, and I tried to explain why.

Sex Pistols – God save rock'n'roll (monograph)

In the Sex Pistols monograph, published in 2007, I sought an approach to the aesthetics of punk rock from the standpoint of art theory. The monograph was also paired with my interview with Glen Matlock, bassist of the original line-up.

Interview with Michael Nyman

On two occasions (2006 and 2008) I had the privilege of interviewing Michael Nyman live, the English composer who marked the break from the avant-garde, toward minimalism and "beyond". A few months after the second interview, OndaRock's "Avanguardia" section was renamed "Other Sounds".

Pier Eugenio Torri

Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Stadium Arcadium"

A teenage passion turned into a review for OndaRock.

Oasis – Showcase Britpop (monograph)

A teenage passion turned into a monograph for OndaRock.

Elliott Smith – Elegy of Loneliness (monograph)

The monograph I feel most attached to.

Tommaso Franci

Black Sabbath – The Black Masses of Hard Rock (monograph)

The "dark" evolution of metal.

Litfiba – Rise and Fall of the Italian Wavers (monograph)

Or, how a great band ended up ruining itself.

Byrds – A Hair's Breadth from Rock (monograph)

The story of a band and a sound that defined an era and remain influential to this day.

Trail Of Dead – "Worlds Apart"

I started contributing to OndaRock in late 2004. After spending many years working as a DJ and radio host, around the age of thirty I decided to keep my passion for music alive by writing (as well as playing). After writing a few pieces for Il Mucchio (back when it was a weekly), and after co-heading the artistic direction of Castle Rock's Music Zone (now closed), Claudio Fabretti welcomed me into his wonderful creation. I don't remember what the first article I wrote was; the review of Trail Of Dead's "Worlds Apart" is the oldest one I still have on my hard drive. A rough, very imperfect review, but that's more or less where my contribution to OndaRock began…

Interview with Baustelle

I think it's the most important thing I've written for OndaRock, and I'd also guess the one that got the most hits. The exclusive interview with Francesco Bianconi of Baustelle, an artist I've always admired and followed, on the occasion of the reissue of "Sussidiario" a few months earlier. I would have liked to ask him a thousand questions, but the time available was strictly limited. It's these small satisfactions that make this work unique and rewarding.

Special: Jeff Buckley: una goccia pura in un oceano di rumore

I would have liked to point to my live report of the Wilco show in Florence in 2009: one of the most thrilling events I've ever attended. But I feel I owe tribute to an immense artist: Jeff Buckley. A few months ago a fine biography was published by Arcana, which I read and reviewed. It was my personal tribute to an extraordinary singer, whom I loved intensely even while he was alive.

Gianfranco Marmoro

David Sylvian – "Manafon"

Even though I remember perfectly well the first review I wrote for OndaRock (Louis Philippe), I'm certain that "Manafon" is my true starting point — a challenge tied to the very short listening time and the difficulty of having to dissect a complex album that elsewhere was only being evoked through emotions and quick verdicts. It earned me one of the funniest compliments I've ever received ("finally someone who doesn't listen to Sylvian while his wife nags him for not mopping the floor properly").

Beatles – "Stereo e Mono Box"

I don't think I have the gift of brevity, but with two boxes and almost 30 CDs to listen to and compare, I managed to keep in mind the poor reader who risked spending money for nothing.

The Duckworth Lewis Method – "The Duckworth Lewis Method"

My first "Album of the Month" pick, but above all a record that slipped through the net of international critics, which went on to enjoy unexpected success on the forum.

Francesco Amoroso

Clientele – Shadows, fog and suburban pop reflections (monograph)

My only monograph: I'm generally against "historicizing" so-called popular music, but I made an exception for a band I love and that has never let me down.

Interview with Kesang Marstrand

Interviews (done face to face) are what I most enjoy writing: sometimes, as in this case, it happens that you meet special people and it's the start of great friendships.

John Grant – "Queen Of Denmark"

My only "Album of the Month" pick, and an album I felt I could bet on from the very first listen. I have a feeling this work will endure.

Lorenzo Salzano

The Cure – L'innocenza perduta (monografia)

The monograph on the Cure is the piece with which I debuted at OndaRock, timed to coincide with the band's 2008 tour stop in Italy. Paradoxically, I later discovered that many of the traits I attributed to the Cure in that article match the coordinates of indie music traced by Simon Reynolds in his essay "Younger than yesterday", anthologized in "Bring the noise" (which I hadn't read yet at the time). The Cure as a proto-indie archetype?

Csi – "Linea gotica" (milestone)

Just to avoid giving in entirely to a fondness for all things foreign, here's a "milestone" dedicated to an album that left its mark on many fans of Italian rock in the Nineties. As in other pieces, here I tried to highlight the dense web of references to facts and even non-musical languages, in an attempt to shed light on the "Ferretti enigma".

Speciale: David Bowie, Sound and vision

A special feature dedicated to a figure who has always fascinated me, remarkable for his ability to move freely between music, art, film and theatre. To make it all more digestible, I opted for a playful structure and a tone somewhere between serious and tongue-in-cheek, along with OndaRock's usual lavish graphic design.

Alessandra Reale

Interview with Hezekiah Jones – Chris Bathgate

This was my first interview, and I always remember it with great fondness. What's more, with Raphael Cutrufello (Hezekiah Jones) a friendship was formed that continues to this day. A truly lovely person, whom I hope to meet in person one day.

Olivia Tremor Control – Circulatory System – Pop fluctuations among cubist clouds

Managing to reach Will Cullen Hart for an interview was quite difficult. After several months of chasing him down, I had finally given up and dropped the whole thing. So it was thrilling to receive an email from John Fernandes (the Olivia bassist) asking me to send my questions to him, with the promise of passing along Will's answers. A truly great band.

OndaDrops vol. 1

OndaDrops is a project I've "lived" a great deal. I saw it born, I see it grow with every new chapter, and I feel a bit like its "godmother". The first volume is definitely the one I'm most attached to, because it was the pilot chapter, the one where everything still had to be decided and defined, including the title.

Stefano Bartolotta

Live reports: Art Brut in Trescore Balneario, Bergamo (Festa della birra, 25/08/2009)

Every first step of a new adventure always ends up being one of the ones you become most fond of. This is the very first article I wrote for OndaRock, so it's only natural that I remember it with particular affection.

Bambi Molesters – "As The Dark Wave Swells"

Writing for OndaRock also means having the privilege of receiving musical suggestions that would otherwise be much harder to stumble upon. Among the albums I discovered thanks to this position of mine, this is without doubt the best.

Mansun – The Grey Lantern takes on Britpop (monograph)

The piece I'm most proud of, bar none, since I started writing about music. It's not right to blow one's own horn, but every now and then a shot of self-confidence is needed, and here I feel I did justice to the career of one of my favourite bands.

Gaetano La Montagna

Captain Beefheart – "Trout Mask Replica" (milestone)

My first review for OndaRock, the milestone piece dedicated to one of the most controversial albums of all time.

Robert Wyatt – "Rock Bottom" (milestone)

My declaration of love for an album and an artist who were fundamental to my musical education.

Keith Jarrett – "The Kohln Concert"

The album that introduced me to jazz about twenty years ago.

Magda Di Genova

Interview with Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh shows a love, a dedication and a professionalism that not every artist brings to their art, even when they know they won't be repaid with mountains of gold. It's partly for that love that I enjoy turning into an "assault interviewer".

Interview with Mogwai

Before, during and after interviews all sorts of things happen (including being invited to romantic dinners, receiving marriage proposals, taking a slap and giving back two. All of it really happened). But never as much as in this interview does the pleasure and fun I had during the chat come through.

Runaways – The queens of rock'n'roll (feature)

A piece I cared about, one that was just waiting for an excuse to be written. A piece written for my cousin, twenty years old at the time, who has breakfast reading international economics magazines and couldn't learn a thing about music even from an ice-cream ad. Because she was convinced Britney Spears was the first teenager ever dragged into music. No, but then she got lost in partying. No, because she went bad on drugs and alcohol. No, but then she got swindled out of all her money. No, but then she... Well, what did you say their name was again? Wasted youth. (And yes, she thought "I Love Rock'n'Roll" had been written for Britney).

Lorenzo Righetto

Sharron Kraus – "The Woody Nightshade"

Donner Party – Quasi – Sleater Kinney – Rock's free love triangle (feature)

Interview with Shannon Stephens

What I've valued most about working at OndaRock has been the collaborations. They've helped me bring order to the organization of what, at times, feels like a stream of consciousness, however passionate. And it's been the best way to give a human aura to an "alternative reality".

Filippo Neri

Pink Floyd – Exploring the Dark Side of the Moon (monograph)

My first musical infatuation, my first effort in these parts. Writing that's still a bit rough and naive, but plenty passionate.

Interview with Jean-Hervé Péron

Interview with an extraordinary figure, made possible thanks also to a collaboration with an extraordinary person.

Syd Barrett – "Barrett" (milestone)

The swan song of one of the greats.

Alessandro Liccardo

Prefab Sprout – "Let's Change The World With Music"

This is my first review written for OndaRock. It all began after a chat with a longtime editor, with whom I was in touch and whom I met in person a little later. Not a bad way to start, with one of my favourite bands, one I'll soon be dedicating an entire monographic profile to. Looking back, I think it's one of the best pieces I've written.

Interview with Alberto Fortis

The interview with the singer-songwriter from Domodossola celebrates his thirty years in the music business and the release of his autobiographical book "AL Che fine ha fatto Yude?". For now, he's the only Italian artist (in my opinion one of the most underrated) I've covered, and I met him again just a few months later in my hometown.

A-ha – "25"

A review that's a bit like a monographic crib sheet (chosen because I hadn't yet tackled milestones or in-depth profiles), and one that met with completely unexpected success – the Italian fan club noticed it the very day it was published, and I received a flood of emails. And here I was, not even wanting to deal with it anymore…

Veronica Rosi

Magnetic Fields – The pop variety show of the magnetic fields (monograph)

The last thing I wrote for OndaRock, on the subjects I'm absolutely most qualified to talk about: pop, love and weirdness. I wanted to write a monograph that reflected the band's tone and style. An ambitious project, but you know what? I think I pulled it off.

Knife – "Silent Shout"

The review that's received the most compliments by far, so I can only conclude it's the best one. There was certainly plenty of material to draw inspiration from, and I think I wrote it in under an hour.

Air – "Moon Safari" (milestone)

I still get emails from people outraged by the content of this review. Now I finally have a public chance to set the record straight: it was just cruel sarcasm. Very cruel, but that's who I was back then. Older and wiser now, I'd probably write something different today, but reading it back I still find it incomparably funny and sharp.

Gianni Candellari

Mark Lanegan – In the dark depths of folk (monograph)

His profile is my first piece for OndaRock. It couldn't have been any other way.

Luigi Tenco – "Tenco" (milestone)

Because I was a bit sorrowful and melancholic, just like Tenco. An artist that Italians (and not only Italians) should discover, love, rediscover and love again.

Johnny Cash – "At Folsom Prison" (milestone)

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash…". Applause. I've heard it 100 times and 100 times it's given me chills.

Federico Savini

Microphones/Mount Eerie – Climbing the Scary Mountain (monograph)

Even though it isn't entirely mine, it dates back several years, concerns an artist who has never stopped surprising, and I still find myself reading it again with remarkable consistency.

Charlie Tweddle – "Fantastic Greatest Hits"

A few longueurs and some excesses, but it remains one of the pieces I've most enjoyed writing.

Various Artists – "Pisspounder"

In its own way a summary of the fiercest sound of the decade, and another piece written with sheer delight.

Giuseppe Pias

Live reports: Zu in Cagliari (15/04/2004)

My first piece of writing online, a year after discovering OndaRock. I find it naive and didactic now, but ever since then I've wanted to stay true to this kind of description, thinking of readers who don't know an artist and wonder what they're like.

Death In June – The Dark Ballads of a Distinguished Loser (monograph)

Perhaps the piece I'm most attached to: it was a very long process in terms of time, since I wanted to do this band justice by speaking openly about its huge ambiguities too, while at the same time trying to explain just how great its music could be. A small satisfaction: it was the first well-argued monograph in Italian to appear online, even before Wikipedia's.

Brian Eno, David Byrne – "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts" (pietra miliare)

This record was a revelation, so cold and labyrinthine, so rich in ideas and sounds. In the review I tried to combine a certain schematic rigor with warmth and passion for this work, in an impossible attempt to reconcile the two approaches.

Thanks to Alessandra Reale for the archival image research.

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