Simon Popp

The trio led by Munich-based drummer and composer Simon Popp navigates polyrhythmic structures with an incredible sense of timing and mood. Contrasting light and dark, organic and synthetic sounds, his compositions engage in a dance of subtle complexities, enticing the listener into the practice of close listening. Alongside exceptional drummers Sebastian Wolfgruber and Flurin Mück Popp has showcased his trio on numerous stages, making a forceful statement of what contemporary drum music can sound like today. Exploration and play are at the core of Simon Popp’s creative process. Trained in jazz drumming and polyrhythm, the Bavarian-born artist draws from a vast array of percussive instruments to build his expansive sound palette. Popp's ravenous musical curiosity resonates throughout his extensive output, both as a solo artist or through his collaborative projects like Fazer, 9ms, Poeji, or Polygonia & Simon Popp. Popp’s albums Laya, Devi and Blizz make use of rhythms as storytelling mechanisms. Contrasting light and dark, organic and synthetic sounds, his compositions engage in a dance of subtle complexities, enticing the listener into the practice of close listening. The Line Of Best Fit praised Popp’s work with “music you can get totally lost in, where the lines between organic and electric are blurred so as to be indistinguishable." Alongside acclaim from the likes of Clash, Juno and Ransom Note, Bleep drew comparisons between Popp and experimental heroes Philip Glass and Steve Reich. In 2023, Popp received the Advancement Award for Music from the City of Munich. In 2025, he was nominated for the German Jazz Prize. „[...] Simon Popp’s Laya is a transcendent work of strange beauty. Its beats are undoubtedly rooted to the earth, iterations of humanity’s shared ritual past, present and future — and yet its staunch minimalism sends it floating to the aether. It’s with masterful precision that Popp invokes sacred music, as well as boundary-pushing work by Philip Glass and Steve Reich.“ – Bleep "Simon Popp is one of Fazer's drummers. Influenced by percussionist of the east he just did his thing and recorded an album of immense deepness and rhythmical convergence. I'm collecting these obscure drummer solo records for years and then a young men comes along and makes them all sound boring.“ – Growing Bin Records „[...] The Munich based musician weaves a tapestry of wondroud melodies and percussive elements across a record which is as deep and poetic as it is danceable." – Ramson Note „Popp's 'Holort' Is A Percussive Workout." – Clash Magazine