[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.