Dominique Leone

Dominique Leone is an American musician and writer based in New York City. He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on December 29, 1973, and grew up in the Dallas, Texas area.

Leone began writing music reviews for Pitchfork Media in 2001, and was a regular contributor until 2007. He has also written for Paste Magazine, All-Music Guide and Trouser Press. His first release as a musician was the Dominique Leone EP on Hans-Peter Lindstrøm's Feedelity label in 2007. In 2008, Lindstrøm and Smalltown Supersound's Joakim Haughland released Leone's first full-length CD on their Strømland label, with art by Kim Hiorthøy.[1] American experimental music label Important Records released his second CD Abstract Expression in October 2009. He recorded and staged a version of Igor Stravinsky's Les Noces in 2011, and released the digital album San Francisco in 2015.

Leone received a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance in 1998 from Texas Tech University,[2] focusing on classical trumpet. As a recording artist, Leone has been compared to Harry Nilsson,[3] Brian Wilson,[4] Boredoms,[5] and XTC.[6] His music has been described as containing "stubbornly original song structures and chord progressions",[7] and British electronic pop musician Max Tundra noted that Leone is "one of the greatest practitioners of the chord progression".[8] He has collaborated or performed with Kevin Blechdom, R. Stevie Moore, Lindstrøm, Mungolian Jet Set, Matmos, Cryptacize, Odawas, Bob Drake, William Winant, as well as contributing vocals and trumpet to Boredoms' Super Roots 10 release.

In 2010, Leone won Grand Prize in a Steve Reich remix contest, judged by the composer Reich himself, and celebrating the composer's 74th birthday.

As a music critic, Leone was known for championing modern experimental and fringe artists, as well as older electronic music, progressive rock, and psychedelia. For Pitchfork, Leone penned early reviews of Animal Collective,[9] Devendra Banhart,[10] as well as several for influential Japanese band the Boredoms.[11] He also wrote frequently cited reviews of Can,[12] Igor Wakhévitch,[13] The Beach Boys,[14] and for Trouser Press, a lengthy overview of France's Magma.[15] In 2007, Leone authored a monthly column for Pitchfork entitled "Out Music".[16] He presented his paper "What You Hear is Never What They Heard, and What You Get is Never What They Had" at the 2007 Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame Pop Conference[17] in Seattle, Washington.