Atlanta Soundtrack: New music by Lesibu Grand and Clairo — and vintage Hole

We were supposed to have flying cars by now. Instead, we have obsolescent supercomputers deep-faking their way through election cycles and metaverse Burberry. Rejoice! Our times are intolerable. 

Lesibu Grand

Here to make those times a bit more tolerable comes indie-punk outfit Lesibu Grand with “Anarchy.” Anthemic and punchy, “Anarchy” grounds its chugging verses with post-punk poise serrated by hook-driven, garage rock fervor. Retrofuturism gets a punky re-imagining in the accompanying Jetsons-inspired music video (directed by Nathan DuCongé), with Rosey the Robot maid-turned-Amazon-drone trading the chains of labor exploitation for fiery revolution.

“Anarchy” is the final single from Lesibu Grand’s debut record, Triggered, which was released earlier this month via Kill Rock Stars. You can check out the music video below. 

::

Clairo

Clairo’s come a long way since her days of webcam-recorded bedroom pop.

“Juna” emerges as a surprise hit from the singer-songwriter’s recently released third album, Charm. Cruising on the pastoral palette of a previous project, Sling, “Juna” finds Clairo contemplating intimacy and femininity over Marvin Gaye-friendly grooves and mouth trumpet solos. The track’s subject matter is thoughtfully juxtaposed by the slo-mo wrestling match of the Atlanta-born singer’s first music video since 2018 — a visual concept which was initially born from a fan idea. 

Tap into the ring and give “Juna” (directed by Bradley J. Calder) a listen below.

Hole

In late 1993, in an unassuming business park just outside of Atlanta, Hole began recording the record that numerous critics would later herald as one of the most important albums of all time: the multiplatinum, era-defining, punk-feminist epic Live Through This.

Although Hole, with their L.A. bluntness and grunge-y Pacific Northwest roots are famously West Coast in origin, the band’s seminal record was birthed amidst Marietta suburbs at the now defunct Triclops Sound Studios. Booked at the recommendation of The Smashing Pumpkins (former touring mates who had just completed recording for Siamese Dream at Triclops), Hole enlisted producers Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade after Courtney Love heard their co-production work on Radiohead’s Pablo Honey. Despite intense sessions of writing and rewriting, recording for Live Through This was completed in 23 days. 

Of the record’s dissertation-provoking track list, “Doll Parts” stands out as its most haunting thesis. Adapted from a poem Love wrote during the early days of dating Kurt Cobain, “Doll Parts” invokes the image of a porcelain plaything as a mirror for examining objectification, authenticity, insecurity and desire. The song’s approach to traditional femininity is both perfect and pockmarked; such contradictions are a hallmark of Love’s writing and a powerful tool for examining the broader emotions and gender politics that Live Through This would quickly and controversially become known for. When the controlled backing vocals of musician Dana Kletter join in with Love’s raw bellow on the song’s outro, their voices become two sides of the same knife, twisting timelessly into the cultural psyche as they proclaim: “Someday you will ache like I ache.”

Those false autumn breezes got you feeling introspective? Stoke the fire of late summer’s melancholy with the “Doll Parts” music video (directed by Samuel Bayer) below. 

::

Lindsay Thomaston is a photographer and culture writer with a background in media and politics. Her work has also appeared in Paste Magazine, Rolling Stone, i-D, Dazed, Fashionista and Immersive Atlanta, among others.