[Listen] Stream New Albums from POP ETC, Hot Chip, Bobby Womack, and The Tallest Man On Earth

Next week sees the release of some heavy-hitter releases, including new albums from POP ETC (the band formerly known as The Morning Benders), UK outfit Hot Chip, Swedish singer-songwriter The Tallest Man On Earth, and soul mastermind Bobby Womack.

After changing their name from The Morning Benders to POP ETC, the Brooklyn outfit has adopted a new musical direction. Leaning away from their original indie beginnings and more towards an electronic and pop-infused sound, POP ETC are utilizing the name change in more ways than one, and it's paying off. The entirety of their self-titled debut under the new moniker, which is set for release on June 12th, is available to stream now at MTV Hive.

Hot Chip's fourth studio album In Our Heads is set to drop on June 12th via Domino Records, and if you've yet to hear the alreayd released tracks "Flutes" and "Night and Day," no need to worry. Now, you can stream the entirety of the forthcoming 11-track effort on NPR.org.

The Tallest Man On Earth (aka Kristian Matsson), is gearing up for the release of his third LP There's No Leaving Now, yet another effort set to release on June 12th. His 10-track album is now available to stream on NPR.org, as is Bobby Womack's The Bravest Man in the Universe. Teaming up with Damon Albarn and XL Recordings boss Richard Russell, Womack has crafted a soulful, haunting soundscape that is definitely worth the listen. The Bravest Man in the Universe is out on June 12th via XL Recordings. Stream it here.

[Listen] POP ETC - "Keep It For Your Own"

It's been a few months and we've all warmed to the Brooklyn band The Morning Benders announcing their name change to POP ETC, we even got to enjoy a mixtape from the group. They've also got a full-length (kind of) self-titled debut on the way. Today we get a taste of what is going to be on that album in the shape of "Keep It For Your Own", which part of features on the album trailer that you can see above (Via CoS). The full track is up for grabs over on iTunes but see what you make of the trailer above. They may be moving away from the sound of Morning Benders but I kind of dig it. What do you guys think?

[Download] POP ETC - '1986 Weekend Mix'

In March, Brooklyn indie band The Morning Benders announced that they were officially changing their name to POP ETC, upon which they used the opportunity to release an eleven-song mixtape (available to download here). Now, they have followed up that mixtape with a new weekend mix titled 1986 Weekend Mix, which features artists that have influenced the band. The mix includes period-specific tracks from artists such as Janet Jackson, Tears for Fears, Don Henley, and many more. Stream and download the mix below.

POP ETC's self-titled debut LP is out on June 12th via Rough Trade.

[News] POP ETC Detail New Album

Brooklyn indie outfit POP ETC, the band formerly known as The Morning Benders, have announced that they will be releasing a brand new, self-titled studio LP on June 12th via Rough Trade. Following a well argued name change, the band spoke with Pitchfork, revealing that the album has been self-produced along with the help of Danger Mouse and Andrew Dawson, whose portfolio includes work with Kanye West and Lil Wayne. Upon announcing their name change, the band also released a free mixtape called POP ETC Mixtape, which featured two songs that will be included on the upcoming LP, that being "Halfway to Heaven" and "Everything Is Gone." The mixtape showed the new direction that the band is going in since departing from The Morning Benders moniker, which band frontman Chris Chu addressed in his interview with Pitchfork:

Over the last few years, I rediscovered music that I loved from when I was a kid: Boyz II Men, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper. Boyz II Men's II was my first album, and I was immediately taken aback by how it felt very familiar and nostalgic, but also completely new. What's incredible is that there's a lot of music that I go back to now that I don't have the same response to. I'll listen to Green Day, but purely for nostalgia. However, listening to Boyz II Men was like, "Whoa!" There's this whole slew of stuff that went over my head when I was a kid. At the time, I liked it because it made me happy and it sounded cool. Now, I think it's really amazingly well-crafted music."

Stay posted for more news regarding the upcoming studio effort, and head over to Pitchfork to read the entirety of their interview with POP ETC. As well, you can stream both "Halfway to Heaven" and "Everything Is Gone" below.

[News] The Morning Benders Change Name to POP ETC

In rather unfortunate news, The Morning Benders have recently taken to Twitter and Facebook to announce that “this will be the last post/tweet from The Morning Benders.” The news, while at first seemingly implying the demise of the band, was met with more welcome news. The band will not be breaking up, but instead changing their name to POP ETC.

On their former official website, band member Chris Chu explained that, "[w]hen we started this band in 2005 we had no expectations. From an early age I had a deep love for music and its power to bring people together, but the truth is, in 2005 I had just finished writing my first songs and all I wanted to do was start a band as soon as possible. That same year I had moved to Berkeley to attend college, and of the first 5 people I met, 1 of them happened to be a drummer, and 1 happened to be a guitarist. It was kismet; we started a band. It wasn't long before we got offered our first show on Lower Sproul (Berkeley's school quad). Now all we needed was a band name. We came up with two options: "The Beatles 2" and "The Morning Benders." We went with The Morning Benders."

He goes further to say: "Fast forward to 2010, many a dive bar, school quad, house party, county fair, pizza parlor later. We had just released Big Echo, and for the first time we were preparing for a world tour. We had toured a fair amount leading up to Big Echo, but never overseas, so when it came time to tour the UK and Europe we were quite excited. The touring went well, and we had an amazing time, but also something happened that we hadn't anticipated. As soon as we had landed in London people started asking us about our band name. "What does 'Bender' mean to you?" people would ask. "Are you seriously called 'The Morning Benders' ?" was a common question. For those of you reading from America, you may still be confused. Well, it turns out that the word 'bender' in the UK and many parts of Europe is a slang term for 'homosexual.' We were told our band name was the equivalent of 'The Morning Fags' in America. We had been called The Morning Benders for 5 years, and we were just finding this out now? It was shocking. And quite sad, to say the least. We had spent those years touring night and day, championing our name everywhere we could, only to find out that the name had an alternate meaning- one that made us look hateful, or at best, ignorant."

"At the time we didn't really have many options; we had already booked several tours as The Morning Benders and had just released our new album. We couldn't very well change the name right then and there. We had unwittingly gotten ourselves into a problem with no immediate solution, it was extremely disappointing. But that's all said and done. Now it's 2012. We are at the tail end of making our third album, and we have been given the opportunity to change our band name. We've decided to seize that opportunity, and here's why--

1. We simply cannot go on using a name that is demeaning to the gay community. The reason we are making music is to reach and unite as many different kinds of people as possible, and the idea that our name may be hateful towards anyone makes us sick.
2. In the UK and many parts of Europe the name has simply become too distracting. The MUSIC has always been our number one focus, and we want to present that to people in as pure a way as possible."

In commemoration of their new band name POP ETC, they've released a mixtape featuring 11 songs that can be streamed below via Soundcloud or downloaded for free at their new website.