Remember Coast 800? Outside of college radio, in the early '90s, Coast was giving listeners in Vancouver their only broadcast outlet for alternative and independent music. It was all over by '93, when a small but loyal audience lost the one commercial radio station that also enthusiastically spiked its playlist with local bands.

The problem with that, at the time, was the iffy quality of the music. For every track Coast played from the legendary Circle C album, you were obliged to suffer through six from Rymes with Orange and another by Econoline Crush.

In 2011 we have not one but two healthy radio stations giving heavy air time to Vancouver's independent musicians, one of which -- Peak FM -- mounts a massive (and very generous) battle of the bands competition every year. You might quibble with the playlists, but you can't argue that the music hasn't improved. The last decade has been a golden age for modern, fairly grown-up pop in the Tegan and Sara, Said the Whale, Hannah Georgas, Mother, Mother mold.

Oh, and look at that! They're breeding. Guns Sex & Glory is the debut album by Rococode, a group comprised of Tegan and Sara's rhythm section (Johnny Andrews and Shaun Huberts), a former keyboard player from Said the Whale (Laura Smith), and Hannah Georgas's sideman, Andrew Braun.

Mother Mother's Ryan Guldemond produced the bright, often outstanding disc, presumably injecting some of his own anxious energy into a project that flips from tight and twisty electro-noir on "Death of a Payphone" to the sumptuous, slightly operatic pop of tracks like "TINA" and "Concentrate on Me" -- the latter of which is reprised, towering melody intact, two-thirds of the album later on acoustic guitar.

Guns Sex & Glory is released on Feb. 7. Until then, you get the two tracks Rococode made available a few months ago, either of which plays up the band's heat-seeking pop side, along with the dual vocal leads of Smith and Braun. "Empire" especially announces itself as the kind of song whose future on all your electronic devices is assured, whether you want it or not, and especially if you're a Metric fan.

Mind you, the band heard on the album is far more ambitious than either "Weapon" or "Empire" suggest, with Rococode demonstrating a seriously impressive knack for finding the sweet spot inside angular, almost cheerfully psychotic exercises like "Blood." If there's a complaint, it's that there's a happy-vanilla quality to the proceedings, regardless of subject-matter (which might be necrophila, for all I know). And it's a characteristic shared by all the bands that converge here in one way or another -- like the brilliant Said the Whale, who all smile too much, or the equally impressive Mother, Mother, who I wish didn't look so healthy.

On the other hand, many years ago I heard the song "Marvin" by Rymes with Orange, and because of that, part of me is dead forever. Smiles and nice complexions aside, I'm still very grateful for what we've got.

[Tags: Music]