Malibu, the humans moderating your AI content, and Mulholland Drive.


MUSIC


In honor of her show at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis this Friday, this week’s picks are focused on Malibu. I recently described her to a friend as “Enya on heroin”—clumsy, maybe, but directionally accurate. Think ambient music just as informed by trance and moody 90’s pop as it is drone and neo-classical. You can always just jump into her latest LP Vanities.


Malibu - “Tilting On Windmills”

My intro to Malibu: elegiac pads, twisted, mournful auto-tuned vox, punctuated by sub-bass. Better to just dive in than overthink it.


nthng & Malibu - United In Flames - Dec 2025

Malibu is also renowned for her regular NTS radio show, United in Flames, often joined by notable guests. I chose this episode because of the reworked DJ Rolando classic “Knights of the Jaguar” about 45 minutes in.

dj lostboi - “All The Clouds Disturbed”

This feels like when the sequel somehow outdoes the original (John Wick Chapter 2 fans stand up). dj lostboi is Malibu’s alias focused on pop edits, which comes with none of the cringe that usually accompanies that designation. Significantly obscured from the source material, and a real treat.

LINKS


Currently I’m learning about how AI and social media moderation is often done by human beings, resulting in some horrific privacy violations and working conditions. Some of the workers are understandably fighting back.


I keep thinking about My Bloody Valentine live-review headlines and why they go so hard: Distortion and Reverberation as a Force of Nature, Embrace the Volume, Noise is a Healing Force. 


I rewatched Mulholland Drive last night (in the theater) and today found this breakdown of the plot. Of course, the plot is not the point, and this is just one interpretation, but a helpful map nonetheless.


MORE


I went back through my old radio shows and found this floating ambient-focused mix that drops Malibu (which was also featured on Pitchfork).