Today’s Sounds

Record

Bravestation’s Giants & Dreamers

The term yacht rock was only coined years after the genre’s late-’70s heyday. Likewise, in two decades or so, we’ll look back on the present as the halcyon days of the as-yet-uncoined condo rock movement.

Now, determining what qualifies as condo rock is a matter for debate, but imagine the type of music you might be inclined to listen to while lounging in your Brian Gluckstein-inspired study of solitude overlooking whatever gentrified neighbourhood you call home. What music would best complement the jumpy monkey maté bombilla you sip from as you mull over which Montessori pre-school is right for your unborn child?

There are bands that are already capturing the restrictiveness and underlying stress of the condo lifestyle, and naturally they’re coming out of Toronto. The best example would be Eight and a Half, a group made up of former Stills members and former Montrealers Dave Hamelin and Liam O’Neil. As you can read here, the group lured their fans to a secret concert — only it was actually an event designed to show off a new condo development. Turns out their name wasn’t inspired by the Fellini movie, but in fact a liveable space for a hip, young family unwilling to give up its urban edginess.

Also from Toronto, Bravestation are in no way overt about their leanings nor likely cognizant of them. Their coupling of dusk-hour lagoon pop polyrhythms with emotive but distant vocals is a telltale sign that something very classy and refined is afoot (with a vague sense of adventurousness, thanks to an unexpected rubato on “Tides of the Summit”), but it’s their meticulous arrangements that are especially grabbing. With so many bands preaching energy above all else (often to the detriment of the recording), for Bravestation to be so diligent concerning intricate little touches in a world of decreasing bitrates constitutes a pretty calculated risk. Clearly they presume their listeners own nice headphones or home audio systems and are capable of appreciating the lengths the group went to to make it tough to differentiate between electronic and live percussion.

I use the term condo rock not to put down Giants & Dreamers — in fact, I highly recommend you give the album a whirl. Just be prepared for methodical adult pop devoid of awkward youthfulness. This is rooftop terrasse and mimosa music, heralding a future we no longer have to be afraid of embracing.
 

Track

Listen to Hot Panda’s “Future Markets” from the Vancouver band’s new record, Go Outside, out today on Mint Records.

 

Video

Correatown’s “Further” is the first single from their upcoming album Pleiades. Read more about L.A.’s Angela Correa and her embrace of shoegazing and dream pop here.