MALONE-MAIL No. 7: The Thaw

EVERYONE, COME AND SEE HOW GOOD TIANA TUCKER MADE THIS NEWSLETTER (AND ME) LOOK!

Good morning, pickles, and greetings from annoyingly, ironically rainy Los Angeles! This should have gone out yesterday, but unfortunately I have been utterly bewitched by Pacific Standard Time (if not the sunny weather I was hoping to take advantage of by absconding here for the final few weeks of winter). Sunday mornings are as good for weekend reading as Saturdays, though, right? Tastes good with pancake brunches.

Here's what I've been writing:

I wrote a very long cover story for this past week's Village Voice about St. Vincent and the powerful mythology she's crafted for her newest album.

For WIRED, I interviewed one of the guys responsible for Wayfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles, a ridiculously awesome compilation of rare, Dungeons & Dragons- and J.R.R. Tolkein-themed hard rock from the early '70s.

For Pitchfork, I reviewed NVM, the startlingly excellent second LP by the equally, if not more, excellent Seattle band Tacocat.

Here's what I've been reading:

Zeynep Tufekci's stunning piece on Medium about updating our ideas about technological dystopia.

This fabulous ELLE interview with the even more fabulous HBIC Aminatou Sow.

Jeremy Gordon's breakdown of the Criterion Weed Collection (yes, it's exactly what it sounds like) on The Toast.

Doree Shafrir's Buzzfeed essay about stopping the creative industries' intern hamster wheel.

Molly Lambert and Emily Nussbaum take on how gender is portrayed in True Detective.

That Roger Angell essay about living in New York as a nonagenarian that everyone, including me, says they cried while reading.

And in mind-bending, perennially interesting weekend reads — Is the universe a simulation?

Here's what I've been listening to:

I can't stop repeating Kelela's Cut 4 Me, her breakout album from last year. Perfect blend of instrumental innovation and incredible lyricism. Also makes me think a lot about TLC.

Also, this video/song by MNEK, "Don't Call This Love," has been practically on loop since I heard it earlier this week.

ANYWAY, that's all for now! Hopefully many more exciting things in the works, so as always, stay tuned and tell your friends about MalonEmail!

xoxo,

Devon

P.S. (Parting Shot):

Enjoy the Oscars the best you can tonight, because we all know the things we want probably won't happen. I, for one, will be missing this: