Atlanta music and development
A survey of the shape of things to come
In 2015, development is a word on everyone’s mind inside Atlanta’s perimeter. The city is changing. The Dirty South that was so often celebrated in songs by the likes of OutKast, Goodie Mob, and countless others a decade ago has become prime real estate.
With the current wave of live-work-play construction that’s reshaping the landscape comes a dialogue about the changing nature of the city, and about class and cultural struggle. This year, CL’s Music Issue offers a look at how Atlanta’s musicians are responding to and coping with development, rising rents, and disappearing cultural institutions.
The Lakewood Heights neighborhood is a fascinating case in point. A small group of musicians has laid the foundation for a new musical community and creative incubator around a dry cleaning business. Careful not to allow their own displacement to disrupt the existing community, they’re striving to prevent their arrival from amounting to the first spin of a whole new cycle of gentrification. Elsewhere in the city, artists such as Chelsea Dunn and Casey Battaglino of experimental music duo Dux and pianist Alexa Lima are pushing for social and musical change, and are blurring the lines between compositional and noise music.
Dozens of record labels, large and small, from Janelle Monáe’s Wondaland to local hip-hop and indie rock labels such as Awful Records and Bear Kids are changing the dynamics of a label’s role in a modern musical context. Some are pillars of growing communities and harbingers of new Atlanta sounds. Others are finding ways to catapult themselves to a higher level, working hand in hand with major labels, without finding themselves beholden to major-label demands.
Development is the mantra across the board. And as the year unfolds, musicians are illustrating how they’re pushing toward the future. It’s important to pay heed to the past, but this Music Issue is no wallowing lament, no indulgent nostalgia trip. It’s a look at the first steps of a new era of Atlanta’s music scene.
Join us Fri., June 26, Downtown at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot for our annual Music Issue party. We’re teaming up with last year’s Music Issue cover boy Raury to co-host the second annual Raurfest. Come say hello and check out the sounds of Atlanta as we shift our gaze toward the year ahead.
And finally: Voting for the annual Best of Atlanta issue begins with the arrival of this Music Issue. Polls are open now, and remain open until July 19. Make your voice known and tell us who you think is Atlanta’s best of the best.