The Arcs, Frank Popp, Meg Baird, Fluppe: The albums of the week in the sound check

Frank Popp Ensemble: “Shifting” (Unique Records)
“Hip teens don’t wear blue jeans” was the motto a good 20 years ago, and Frank Popp had a hit with it. Now he’s back, the new album ties in with the retro sounds of yesteryear: Northern soul and funk and beats and pop come together. And lots of voices, from Jesper Munk to Aydo Abay. The lyrics don’t always make sense, the retro feeling is partly unleashed on us listeners with a steam hammer. But the songs are alive and that’s half the battle. Martin Böttcher, music journalist

The Arcs: Electronic Chronic (Easy Eye Sound)
During his long hiatus from the Black Keys, Dan Auerbach founded The Arcs. A southern soul band that had a gifted musician and doer in their ranks in Richard Swift, who unfortunately died far too early in 2018. In 2015 the debut “Your’s, Dreamily” was released and subsequently they recorded dozens of other tracks. Some of these now appear on Electronic Chronic in the original Arcs cast – with Swift. The record is a tribute to Swift, says Dan Auerbach. The mood is warm and often melancholic. Andreas Mueller, moderator

Meg BairdFurling (Drag City)
The first song is a meditation: six minutes, one chord. Meg Baird swings in and frees us. Enter a world where Spotify compatibility is not compulsory. There is a hint of 1960s folk, long songs to be heard several times, recorded by her and her partner. Baird lives in San Francisco, but she is also well versed in the English folk tradition. The musician with the trembling voice releases albums rather sporadically. Whenever a little treasure comes out of it like here, I’m fine with that. Christoph Reimann, Deutschlandfunk

Fluppe: “Boutique” (Chateau LaLa)
The Hamburg band Fluppe consists of “people who have come together”. The four musicians around singer Josef Endicott actually come from other band projects and were left over. But the term also fits quite well: On the second album “Boutique” Fluppe sound casual as usual. They play nonchalant post-punk and give German-speaking guitar music a nice modern look – at least in the good moments. Sometimes things go wrong and too much clumsy kitsch makes one think of the crimes of Sportfreunde Stiller. Silvia Silko, daily mirror

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