I vaguely recall hearing about their previous identity, but never stopped to listen. Now, looking back, The Morning Benders were delightfully percussion-oriented with a tasteful jazz and blues influence. With a new album, the trio literally "pick up" where Big Echo left off, exchanging the melancholic drips and wandering guitar for soaring, feel-good pop melodies and glitzy synth, not a change just anyone can pull off.
Not surprisingly, a substantial portion of MB fans are disappointed, but who are they kidding? POP ETC is more distinct as a hip-hop/pop fusion than it had been as an indie unit. Big Echo worked, and this album works. A change in style doesn't diminish its capacity for success.
"... you experiment a lot when you're playing music or as you're living life and when, like, you're figuring it out, there's not a fear to just try all this stuff."Another case where the use of auto-tune is up to debate, POP ETC is nonetheless sure-footed, urban, and ridiculously catchy. It has an unexpected sparkle that screams summer, the way every auto-tune band does, but better. Chu's songwriting is sincere, if crude at times ("Live It Up"), and the themes are universal ("C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-E"). Musically, there is not a single lacking track on the album. The whole project seeks attention.
--frontman Christopher Chu
Truly intrigued, huh? popetcetera.com