# Above The Crowds > Independent Music Magazine ## Pages - [Friends of the Crowd](https://abovethecrowds.live/friends-of-the-crowd/) - [Cookie Policy](https://abovethecrowds.live/cookie-policy/): This page provides comprehensive information about how we use cookies on our website to enhance your browsing experience, improve website... - [Archive](https://abovethecrowds.live/archive/) - [Music Recommendations](https://abovethecrowds.live/music-recommendations/) - [Terms & Conditions](https://abovethecrowds.live/terms-conditions/): Welcome to Above the Crowds. By using this website, you agree to the terms below. Nothing too dramatic, just the... - [Welcome](https://abovethecrowds.live/) - [Privacy Policy](https://abovethecrowds.live/privacy-policy/): Above the Crowds is an independent music magazine about live shows, albums, artists and the strange human need to keep... - [Shop](https://abovethecrowds.live/shop/) - [Cart](https://abovethecrowds.live/cart/) - [Checkout](https://abovethecrowds.live/checkout/) - [My account](https://abovethecrowds.live/my-account/) - [Who are we?](https://abovethecrowds.live/about/): From a human to a human. Because in a world where algorithms keep telling us what we should listen to... - [Want to be featured?](https://abovethecrowds.live/contact/): Got a band, release, story, or live show that belongs on our radar? HOW DID WE DARE not recommend the... - [Shop](https://abovethecrowds.live/shop-2/): Opening soon! - [Cart](https://abovethecrowds.live/cart-2/) - [Checkout](https://abovethecrowds.live/checkout-2/) - [My account](https://abovethecrowds.live/my-account-2/) ## Posts - [Cleo Sol - Rose in the Dark](https://abovethecrowds.live/cleo-sol-rose-in-the-dark/): For fans of Olivia Dean, Ego Ella May, Yazmin Lacey, warm UK neo-soul and songs that sound gentle but know... - [Hania Rani - Sentimental Value](https://abovethecrowds.live/hania-rani-sentimental-value/): For fans of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, scores that stand up long after the credits and being emotionally rearranged by... - [BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft](https://abovethecrowds.live/bruit/): The French quartet turned a sold-out Berlin room into something that felt like a protest, a ritual and, somehow, a... - [Mandrake Handshake - Earth-Sized Worlds](https://abovethecrowds.live/mandrake-handshake-earth-sized-worlds/): For fans of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, sun-dazed psych-pop, cosmic krautrock grooves, and anyone... - [Tinariwen Live at Huxley's](https://abovethecrowds.live/tinariwen-live-at-huxleys/): Tinariwen brought the Sahara to a sold-out Huxleys Neue Welt, and somehow made a big Berlin venue feel warm, human... - [We Lost The Sea - A Single Flower](https://abovethecrowds.live/we-lost-the-sea-a-single-flower/): For fans of Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, MONO, cinematic post-rock, and anyone who believes hope can... - [B.B. King - Live in Cook County Jail](https://abovethecrowds.live/b-b-king-live-in-cook-county-jail/): For fans of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, live albums with actual stakes, or anyone who still believes music can... - [Olive Jones - For Mary](https://abovethecrowds.live/olive-jones-for-mary/): For fans of Cleo Sol, Amy Winehouse, Gotts Street Park, late-night soul, and anyone who still believes a voice can... - [Tokyo Tea Room - No Rush](https://abovethecrowds.live/tokyo-tea-room-no-rush/): For fans of Men I Trust, Crumb, The Marías, Japanese listening bars, and anyone who wants music to make the... - [Maruja - Pain to Power](https://abovethecrowds.live/maruja-pain-to-power/): For fans of Squid, black midi, wild saxophones, political noise, and anyone ready to put their fist in the air... - [KatzPascale - Mother (Single)](https://abovethecrowds.live/katzpascale-mother-single/): For fans of neo-classical music, leftfield songwriting, or anyone curious about how much world two instruments can build when they... - [Orchestra Baobab - Pirates Choice](https://abovethecrowds.live/orchestra-baobab-pirates-choice/): For fans of Buena Vista Social Club, Afro-Cuban All Stars, Afrocubism, or anyone starting to get curious about African music... - [Calva Louise - Edge of the Abyss](https://abovethecrowds.live/calva-louise-edge-of-the-abyss/): For fans of System of a Down, Linkin Park, Nova Twins, or anyone who likes heavy music with melody, chaos... - [Rosalie Cunningham Live at Lido](https://abovethecrowds.live/rosaliecunningham-live/): Some people try very hard to be cool. Others don't seem to have that problem. At Lido, the Duchess of... - [Dea Matrona Live at BadeHaus](https://abovethecrowds.live/dea-matrona-live/): Celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day could only really be done one way: at Badehaus, with a Belfast band, big guitars and... - [Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Live at SO36](https://abovethecrowds.live/psychedelic-porn-crumpets-live/): Worshipping a tomato sounds stupid until a sold out SO36 turn into a sold-out rock mass. - [HotWax Live at Mikropol](https://abovethecrowds.live/hotwax-live/): A weird way to get an entire room waxed at the same time, but Mikropol took it surprisingly well. Loud,... - [Lady Lazarus Live at Mikropol](https://abovethecrowds.live/lady-lazarus-live/): At Mikropol, punk came back to life sweaty, loud and one wrong move away from falling apart. - [UUHAI Live at Lido](https://abovethecrowds.live/uuhai-live/): Trying to throat sing for 15 years and failing is one thing. Watching UUHAI turn Lido into a room full... - [BAITS Live at Neue Zukunft](https://abovethecrowds.live/baits-live/): If rock and roll was a hook, Neue Zukunft swallowed it whole. The Vienna band came with big riffs, zero... # # Detailed Content ## Pages - Published: 2026-05-27 - Modified: 2026-05-27 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/friends-of-the-crowd/ Friends of the Crowd – Above The Crowds Suggestions Opinion Dark Light Above The Crowds Independent Music Magazine 0 Live Show BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft Tinariwen Live at Huxley’s Rosalie Cunningham Live at Lido Music Recommendations Hania Rani – Sentimental Value Mandrake Handshake – Earth-Sized Worlds We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower Who are we? Contact Shop Above The Crowds 0 Choice paralysis? Let destiny do its thing! Spread the love! © 2026 - Above the Crowds. All rights reserved. Independent live reviews, concert photography and music recommendations from above the crowds. About Privacy T&C Contact Popular Hania Rani – Sentimental Value For fans of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, scores that stand UUHAI Live at Lido Trying to throat sing for 15 years and failing is Tokyo Tea Room – No Rush For fans of Men I Trust, Crumb, The Marías, Japanese Cookie ConsentWe use cookies to improve your visit. They’re invisible, harmless, and unlikely to form a band. 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These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together. 90 days__utmaID used to identify users... - Published: 2026-05-15 - Modified: 2026-05-15 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/archive/ Archive – Above The Crowds Suggestions Opinion Dark Light Above The Crowds Independent Music Magazine 0 Live Show BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft Tinariwen Live at Huxley’s Rosalie Cunningham Live at Lido Music Recommendations Hania Rani – Sentimental Value Mandrake Handshake – Earth-Sized Worlds We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower Who are we? Contact Shop Above The Crowds 0 All Articles 10 Jun Friends of the Crowds·Music Recommendations·New Crowds Hania Rani – Sentimental Value For fans of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, scores that stand up long after the credits and being emotionally rearranged by a piano. 09 Jun Live Show BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft The French quartet turned a sold-out Berlin room into something that felt like a protest, a ritual and, somehow, a small act of hope. 29 May Music Recommendations·New Crowds Mandrake Handshake – Earth-Sized Worlds For fans of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, sun-dazed psych-pop, cosmic krautrock grooves, and anyone willing to take their 22 May Live Show Tinariwen Live at Huxley’s Tinariwen brought the Sahara to a sold-out Huxleys Neue Welt, and somehow made a big Berlin venue feel warm, human and shared. A night 19 May Music Recommendations·New Crowds We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower For fans of Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, MONO, cinematic post-rock, and anyone who believes hope can arrive through distorted guitars. 16 May Music Recommendations·New Crowds Olive Jones – For Mary For fans of Cleo Sol, Amy... - Published: 2026-05-14 - Modified: 2026-05-14 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/music-recommendations/ Music Recommendations – Above The Crowds Suggestions Opinion Dark Light Above The Crowds Independent Music Magazine 0 Live Show BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft Tinariwen Live at Huxley’s Rosalie Cunningham Live at Lido Music Recommendations Hania Rani – Sentimental Value Mandrake Handshake – Earth-Sized Worlds We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower Who are we? Contact Shop Above The Crowds 0 Latest Hania Rani – Sentimental Value June 10, 2026 For fans of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, scores that stand up long after the credits and being emotionally rearranged by a piano. Mandrake Handshake – Earth-Sized Worlds May 29, 2026 For fans of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, sun-dazed psych-pop, cosmic krautrock grooves, and anyone willing to take their shoes off before entering a space garden. We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower May 19, 2026 For fans of Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, MONO, cinematic post-rock, and anyone who believes hope can arrive through distorted guitars. Olive Jones – For Mary May 16, 2026 For fans of Cleo Sol, Amy Winehouse, Gotts Street Park, late-night soul, and anyone who still believes a voice can stop you mid-sentence. B.B. King – Live in Cook County Jail May 16, 2026 For fans of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, live albums with actual stakes, or anyone who still believes music can jailbreak. Tokyo Tea Room – No Rush May 15, 2026 For fans of Men I Trust, Crumb, The Marías, Japanese listening... - Published: 2026-05-13 - Modified: 2026-05-13 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/terms-conditions/ Welcome to Above the Crowds. By using this website, you agree to the terms below. Nothing too dramatic, just the basic rules that help keep the site clear, fair and legally sane. 1. Who we are Above the Crowds is an independent music magazine publishing articles, reviews, recommendations, interviews, photography and other editorial content related to music and live shows. Website: https://abovethecrowds. liveContact: info@abovethecrowds. live 2. Use of this website You may read, share and link to our content for personal, editorial or non-commercial purposes. Please do not use this website in a way that could damage it, interfere with its normal operation, attempt to access private areas, or misuse any forms, comments or contact details. 3. Editorial content The articles, reviews, recommendations and opinions published on Above the Crowds are editorial content. They reflect the views, taste and judgment of the writer or contributor at the time of publication. Music is subjective, thankfully, so you may disagree. That is allowed. Possibly even healthy. We try to keep information accurate, but we cannot guarantee that everything will always be complete, current or free from mistakes. Venues, dates, line-ups, releases and links can change. 4. Copyright Unless otherwise stated, all text, photography, design elements and original content on this website belong to Above the Crowds, Pablo Iriarte, or the credited contributor. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, sell, modify or redistribute our original content without permission. You may quote short excerpts as long as you credit Above the Crowds and link... - Published: 2026-05-12 - Modified: 2026-05-16 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/ Above The Crowds – Independent Music Magazine Suggestions Opinion Dark Light Above The Crowds Independent Music Magazine 0 Live Show BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft Tinariwen Live at Huxley’s Rosalie Cunningham Live at Lido Music Recommendations Hania Rani – Sentimental Value Mandrake Handshake – Earth-Sized Worlds We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower Who are we? Contact Shop Above The Crowds 0 Live Show BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft Jun 09, 2026 The French quartet turned a sold-out Berlin room into something that felt like a protest, a ritual and, somehow, a small act of hope. Read More Music Recommendations·New Crowds Mandrake Handshake – Earth-Sized Worlds For fans of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, sun-dazed psych-pop, cosmic krautrock grooves, and anyone willing to take their shoes off before entering a space garden. Live Show Tinariwen Live at Huxley’s Tinariwen brought the Sahara to a sold-out Huxleys Neue Welt, and somehow made a big Berlin venue feel warm, human and shared. A night of desert blues, choir melodies and the kind of music that reminds you we all come from somewhere. Music Recommendations·New Crowds Olive Jones – For Mary For fans of Cleo Sol, Amy Winehouse, Gotts Street Park, late-night soul, and anyone who still believes a voice can stop you mid-sentence. Live Show Reviews BRUIT≤ Live at Neue Zukunft June 9, 2026 The French quartet turned a sold-out Berlin room into something that felt like a protest, a ritual and, somehow, a small act... - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-13 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/privacy-policy/ Above the Crowds is an independent music magazine about live shows, albums, artists and the strange human need to keep recommending music to each other. This privacy policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and what rights you have. Above the CrowdsWebsite: https://abovethecrowds. liveContact: info@abovethecrowds. live The person responsible for this website is: Pablo IriarteBerlin, GermanyEmail: pablo@piriurdi. es What personal data we collect. We only collect the data needed to run the website, keep it secure, respond to messages, manage comments, and understand how people use the site. Depending on how you use the website, this may include: your name your email address your website, if you leave it in a comment form your message, if you contact us your IP address your browser and device information cookies and similar technical data any information you choose to send us voluntarily Comments When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, as well as the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string. This helps us detect spam and keep the site safe. An anonymised string created from your email address, also called a hash, may be sent to the Gravatar service to check whether you are using it. The Gravatar privacy policy is available here: https://automattic. com/privacy/. After your comment is approved, your profile picture may be visible to the public next to your comment. Visitor comments may also be checked through an automated spam... - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-11 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/cart/ You may be interested in... Your cart is currently empty! New in store - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-11 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/my-account/ Dashboard Orders Downloads Addresses Account details Log out Hello Pablo Iriarte (not Pablo Iriarte? Log out) From your account dashboard you can view your recent orders, manage your shipping and billing addresses, and edit your password and account details. - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-20 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/about/ From a human to a human. Because in a world where algorithms keep telling us what we should listen to next, there is still something hard to beat about a real recommendation. A friend saying, “You need to hear this. ” Someone coming back from a gig and trying, very poorly, to explain how cool it was. A record passed from one person to another without a marketing plan attached to it. That is the spirit of Above the Crowds. Basically, good old ear to ear. Why the name? Is this a slightly pretentious way of saying we are above everyone else? Not really! The name is quite literal. Our main editor is tall, so at gigs he usually ends up seeing a little more than he probably should. You know, a clear view of the stage, no matter where he stands. So, that slightly higher viewpoint became the idea. Who’s behind it? Above the Crowds is made by humans who love music enough to go out of their way to write about it, in a time where almost nobody reads anymore. Great business plan, obviously. But that is kind of the point. Because having an album recommended by someone who actually cares still feels different from having it pushed into your feed by an algorithm. Some of us still remember downloading songs, legally, creating messy libraries, burning CDs, sending Youtube links and building taste. Sometimes badly, but mostly personally. You might see the name of our main editor pop... - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-20 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/contact/ Got a band, release, story, or live show that belongs on our radar? HOW DID WE DARE not recommend the incredible (insert album name you adore) from the great (insert band name you love)? Send us an email about it, or tell us you want to be featured, interviewed, reviewed, photographed, or covered live. We’d love to hear from you! info@abovethecrowds. live Or join the newsletter and get passively informed about cool live shows, great albums, and more surprises coming soon. Just type your email in the box. It’s free, and we won’t spam you. Long live spam-free living. BE COOL Loading... BE COOL Loading... Thank you! You have successfully joined our subscriber list. - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-14 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/shop-2/ Opening soon! - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-11 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/cart-2/ Your cart is currently empty. Return to shop - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-05-11 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/my-account-2/ Dashboard Orders Downloads Addresses Account details Log out Hello Pablo Iriarte (not Pablo Iriarte? Log out) From your account dashboard you can view your recent orders, manage your shipping and billing addresses, and edit your password and account details. ## Posts - Published: 2026-06-14 - Modified: 2026-07-09 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/cleo-sol-rose-in-the-dark/ - Categories: From the Shelves, Music Recommendations - Tags: Above the Crowds, album recommendation, Cleo Sol, Contemporary Soul, Forever Living Originals, Inflo, Modern Soul, music recommendation, Music Recommendations, Neo-Soul, Olivia Dean, R&B, Rose in the Dark, SAULT, sophisticated, UK soul, Why Don’t You, Young Love - Authors: Pablo Iriarte For fans of Olivia Dean, Ego Ella May, Yazmin Lacey, warm UK neo-soul and songs that sound gentle but know exactly what they’re saying. If you have been listening to the neo-soul warmth finding its way into the charts lately, or if you read our Olive Jones piece and wanted more of that feeling, Cleo Sol’s Rose in the Dark is a very good place to go next. Soul has a long memory, and this album sits in a beautiful corner of the modern UK scene: intimate, grounded and never desperate to show you how beautifully made it is. “Why Don’t You” is probably the door in. It was for us. The lyric is simple, but the way she delivers it does the whole Cleo Sol thing in one go: soft, but not fragile; loving, but not lost. That is where Rose in the Dark keeps finding its ground. Somewhere between wanting love and remembering you still get to choose. Somewhere between the old ache of “Young Love” and the grown calm of knowing yourself a little better than you used to. It is a record for the late afternoon. A glass of wine. Something slow on the stove. Nothing overly fancy, but everything done with care. The kind of music that feels simple until you realise how much depth is holding it together. Start here with Cleo Sol. Let the sauce take its time. Listen where you listen: https://open. spotify. com/album/4o5dzQHDzmBBc4Z3jSWVR9 https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=kXUtOoNUOzE - Published: 2026-06-10 - Modified: 2026-07-09 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/hania-rani-sentimental-value/ - Categories: Friends of the Crowds, Music Recommendations, New Crowds - Tags: album recommendation, Ambient Music, Film Music, Friend of the Crowd, Friends of the Crowd, Hania Rani, Joachim Trier, Modern Classical, Piano Music, Sentimental Value, sophisticated, Soundtracks - Authors: Pablo Iriarte, Eeva Lefrançois For fans of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, scores that stand up long after the credits and being emotionally rearranged by a piano. This one comes straight from a Friend of the Crowd, Eeva Lefrançois, who sent me Hania Rani’s Sentimental Value with a very simple warning: “Hania Rani is a goddess. I think I have accidentally watched every one of her concerts. None of her work misses and her music is like love. It is better when shared. ” Fair enough. I had not seen Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value when I put this on. I still have not. But by the end of it, I was looking up where I could watch it. The record starts with piano, but it never stays there for long. Things keep appearing around it: strings, wind instruments, little sounds. You can hear why it was written for a film, but it does not need the film to hold up. “Childlike” has that restless piano line that keeps stumbling forward. “Rachel” feels more open, almost like it is taking a breath. “Gustav” is the one I kept going back to: longer, darker, with more space around it. Hania Rani wrote the score from the script before the film had been edited, which probably explains why it does not feel trapped inside scenes you have not seen yet. It works as a record first. A very good one. Eeva said none of her work misses. I have only spent a few days with this one, so I cannot make that claim yet. But I am definitely going back for more. Listen where you listen: https://open. spotify. com/album/5OoZ2XvZIxa511ZkAmm3cO - Published: 2026-06-09 - Modified: 2026-06-09 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/bruit/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: Above the Crowds, Berlin Live Music, BRUIT, BRUIT ≤, Ephemeral, Experimental Post-Rock, French Post-Rock, Instrumental Music, live review, Neue Zukunft, political music, post-rock, The Age Of Ephemerality, The Machine Is Burning - Authors: Pablo Iriarte The French quartet turned a sold-out Berlin room into something that felt like a protest, a ritual and, somehow, a small act of hope. BRUIT ≤ are full of rage. That is probably the easiest thing to say after seeing them live. It is also not the whole truth. We saw them at Neue Zukunft in Berlin, in a sold-out room, and yes, the show felt angry. Properly angry. The kind of anger that does not come from wanting to look intense on stage, but from looking at the world for too long and realising the polite version of things is not enough anymore. But somehow, weirdly, it also felt hopeful. Because BRUIT ≤ are a band speaking very clearly against a world ruled by fake control. Algorithms deciding what reaches us. Platforms pretending to help artists while swallowing them. Billionaires shaping culture from rooms no one is invited into. Capitalism taking every real human impulse and turning it into something that can be measured, sold, optimised and forgotten. That sounds like an article about the internet. Or a conversation you have after two beers when someone says “no, but seriously, everything is fucked” and nobody knows where to take it from there. BRUIT ≤ take it further. They do it without a singer. Without stopping the show to explain the concept. Without making the room feel like we are being lectured by a band that read a book and got excited. They just build the whole thing in front of you with drums, strings, synths, images and tons of volume. And the room gets it. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=AIrb5oTlj0I They opened with Ephemeral,... - Published: 2026-05-29 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/mandrake-handshake-earth-sized-worlds/ - Categories: Music Recommendations, New Crowds - Tags: fun, Music Recommendations, Psychedelic Pop - Authors: Pablo Iriarte For fans of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, sun-dazed psych-pop, cosmic krautrock grooves, and anyone willing to take their shoes off before entering a space garden. You should take your shoes off when you enter a space garden. Or at least, that’s how we feel at Above the Crowds when listening to Mandrake Handshake’s Earth-Sized Worlds. Cool, but what’s a space garden? And why are we suddenly taking our shoes off? Good questions. Probably fair ones. Actually, the band themselves call it Space Beach. “A place where the sea joins the sky, the trees touch the stars,” and Mandrake Handshake invite you to stay for a while. But after spending time with the album, we see ourselves walking through a strange, colourful garden where every riff has flowers, synth reverb comes from another planet, and every little sound detail is hiding behind a leaf waiting for you to notice it. So, Earth-Sized Worlds is a psych record? Yes, indeed. Mandrake Handshake are an Oxford and London collective that varies from 7 to 10 members. They describe their sound as “Flowerkraut” and even though we had to research what that meant, it does track:-Playful ear candy decoration and sun-dazed psych-pop energy? Flower check. -Locked-in grooves, the forward motion, the feeling that the song might keep walking long after you’ve stopped listening? Kraut check. The album opens with “Time Goes Up”, and it immediately transports us to their particular universe. It also immediately reminds us of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s “The River”, where the groove takes your hand and says, yes, this way. High praise, well deserved. “Hypersonic Super-Asterid” is probably the clearest summary of what... - Published: 2026-05-22 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/tinariwen-live-at-huxleys/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: Above the Crowds, Concert, concert photography, desert blues, Huxleys Neue Welt, live review, Sahara blues, Tinariwen, Tuareg music, world music - Authors: Pablo Iriarte Tinariwen brought the Sahara to a sold-out Huxleys Neue Welt, and somehow made a big Berlin venue feel warm, human and shared. A night of desert blues, choir melodies and the kind of music that reminds you we all come from somewhere. Ever felt like you needed a soundtrack to your Sahara road trip? No? Well, I guess you were not among the lucky ones watching Tinariwen at their sold-out Huxleys Neue Welt show on 30 April 2026. If you’re unfamiliar with them, Tinariwen are a Tuareg collective formed around southern Algeria, in the late 1970s. Not only they are one of the defining names of desert blue but also the main reason many of us know of it.   Their story is impossible to separate from exile, rebellion and the history of the Tuareg people. Founding member Ibrahim Ag Alhabib grew up between desert and refugee camps, and Tinariwen’s own biography tells how he built his first guitar using an oil can, a stick and a bicycle brake wire. From there, the band became a voice for a people whose identity, land and culture have often been pushed to the margins. (More on that in a recent Dazed article) And that shines on stage. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=Snu2cGohYC4 In a way, it was clear their songs went further than the tende rhythm, bluesy guitar solos and choir melodies. It was tradition, community and warmth. A way of saying we all come from somewhere, and maybe we should all head towards being a bit more human with each other. Feels like overreaching? Well, anyone who attended might fight you on it. Because even if we don’t speak the same language, wear the same clothes or worship the same gods, we were all... - Published: 2026-05-16 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/b-b-king-live-in-cook-county-jail/ - Categories: From the Shelves, Music Recommendations - Tags: BB King, Blues, Chicago, Classic Blues, Live Albums, Live in Cook County Jail, Lucille, Music Recommendations, Prison Concerts, sophisticated, Worry Worry Worry - Authors: Pablo Iriarte For fans of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, live albums with actual stakes, or anyone who still believes music can jailbreak. We don’t usually support kings at Above the Crowds. But B. B. gets a pass. B. B. King recorded Live in Cook County Jail on September 10, 1970, in the yard of Chicago’s Cook County Jail, in front of 2,117 prisoners. Most of them were young Black men, with the civil rights movement still very close in the rear-view mirror and the prison system becoming one of the places where race, poverty and power were impossible to ignore. Nice history lesson, dude. But to understand the album, the context matters. Here’s why. This is not Live at the Regal, with the crowd already leaning towards him. It’s a prison yard in early seventies America. Actually, the first thing we hear is the inmates booing the prison administration with their lungs out. Tough crowd, but fair enough. From there, we get B. B. King playing, talking, joking, stretching songs, letting the crowd answer him. On Worry, Worry, Worry, especially, he turns the performance into something closer to a conversation. And that conversation is the whole point. Because for those minutes, much like in The Shawshank Redemption, the inmates are not inmates anymore. They are regular fans at a B. B. King concert. And maybe that’s what makes Live in Cook County Jail special fifty years later. Or maybe it’s that we can hear the blues doing what it is supposed to do. No matter who you are, or where you are. Even in Cook County Jail. Or especially there. https://open. spotify.... - Published: 2026-05-16 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/olive-jones-for-mary/ - Categories: Music Recommendations, New Crowds - Tags: album recommendation, alt folk, British soul, cool, End of Time, For Mary, Gotts Street Park, jazz soul, Music Recommendations, neo soul, Olive Jones, soul music, UK soul - Authors: Pablo Iriarte For fans of Cleo Sol, Amy Winehouse, Gotts Street Park, late-night soul, and anyone who still believes a voice can stop you mid-sentence. Sometimes at Above the Crowds we get lucky and see incredible performances when we least expect them. And that was the case with Olive Jones opening for Gotts Street Park back in December 2025 at Lido Berlin. Seriously, she left tough shoes to fill and promised she would come back to Berlin. She did. This time touring For Mary, an incredible album you should probably listen to. Here’s why. For Mary feels like a collection of songs written across different moments, different years and different versions of the same person. Olive Jones herself has described it as a tapestry, or a quilt, which is probably a better way of putting it than trying to force a big red thread where there might not be one. Or, as we see it here, an open door into Olive Jones’ living room on a rainy afternoon. Because even if we can’t spot one clear conceptual line running through the whole album, it doesn’t really matter. The warmth and intimacy of the London-based singer is more than enough to carry us through 12 tracks packed with soul, blues and the kind of voice that makes you feel slightly rude for doing anything else while it plays. She grew up around soul, jazz and great voices, later found her grounding in the Leeds music scene, joined the electronic soul band Noya Rao, and eventually stepped into her own solo world. And yes, you can listen to all of that in For Mary. But for us,... - Published: 2026-05-15 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/tokyo-tea-room-no-rush/ - Categories: Music Recommendations, New Crowds - Tags: Bedroom Pop, British Dream Pop, Chill Albums, cool, Dream Pop, Indie Pop, Music Recommendations, No Rush, Psychedelic Pop, Tokyo Tea Room - Authors: Pablo Iriarte For fans of Men I Trust, Crumb, The Marías, Japanese listening bars, and anyone who wants music to make the room feel a little softer. This album found me late at night, working, looking for images of Tokyo. How fitting, huh? Tokyo Tea Room are a British dream pop band formed around Dan, Beth, Sam and Ben, originally tied to the Canterbury and Margate scene. They’re a mix of dream pop with psychedelic, bedroom pop and soft R&B touches. Before No Rush, they had already built a small world through releases like Dream Room, No Future Plans, If You Love Her and It’s Me & You, already shaping the intimate atmosphere of this album. No Rush came out in January 2025 and, according to Dan, it moves through longing, introspection and nostalgia. And I have to agree, it’s made of small moments of calm, with the sea as one of the emotional images behind it. The whole thing has a very friendly kind of cool. The Tokyo bar with an absurdly expensive stereo kind of cool, with extremely well-dressed Japanese people being cool with no visible effort. The title track opens the album by lowering the volume of the outside world. If You Love Her brings heartbreak closer and Nobody’s Perfect turns the record inward, into self-questioning. By the time Afterthought closes it, the album has made it easier to sit inside it for a while. That is probably the real strength of No Rush: its atmosphere. A beautiful record for working late, looking through travel photos, or pretending your living room has better acoustics than it actually does. https://open. spotify. com/album/6pSCibqEHlM0iunF7PufNU https://www. youtube. com/watch?... - Published: 2026-05-14 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/maruja-pain-to-power/ - Categories: Music Recommendations, New Crowds - Tags: album recommendation, alternative musicMaruja, experimental rock, Friends of the Crowd, jazz punk, live music, loud, Manchester band, Maruja Pain to Power, music blog, noise rock, Pain to Power, political music, post-punk, saxophone rock - Authors: Pablo Iriarte, Ana Parreira For fans of Squid, black midi, wild saxophones, political noise, and anyone ready to put their fist in the air against whatever is currently pretending to be normal. This one comes straight from a Friend of the Crowd, with strong words of recommendation: “The one I have on loop is Pain to Power by Maruja. Very current lyrics, crazy saxophones, and they’re really good live. ” I had heard the name before. My friend kept bringing them up. I kept doing that very professional music-person thing of saying “yeah, I’ll check them out” and then absolutely not checking them out. Then I did. And what the actual hell. Pain to Power is a protest, a breakdown, and a middle finger to the system happening at the same time. Maruja turns anger, grief and overload into something you can actually shout back with. There are many highlight on the album but the sax under the almost-manifesto of “Break the Tension” combination is just chef's kiss. Rude organized chaos. And that might be the whole point. They sound alive, annoyed, locked in, and very much not interested in behaving. Maruja are not here to decorate your afternoon 7 € latte. Actually, fuck your latte. Listen where you listen: https://open. spotify. com/album/6wymdowW8HbQ4H3nVs93Hj? si=7z-yPKW2QAimfXCFzX9q9g - Published: 2026-05-12 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/orchestra-baobab-pirates-choice/ - Categories: From the Shelves, Music Recommendations - Tags: fun - Authors: Pablo Iriarte For fans of Buena Vista Social Club, Afro-Cuban All Stars, Afrocubism, or anyone starting to get curious about African music beyond the usual entry points. Orchestra Baobab formed in Dakar in 1970 as the house band of Club Baobab, a nightclub close to the city’s political and cultural centre. The band came out of a very specific Senegalese moment, but their sound was already looking in different directions: local rhythms, Afro-Cuban influence, Wolof songs, Portuguese Creole vocals. Pirates Choice was recorded in 1982, later reissued by World Circuit, and became one of those hidden rare records you stumble upon almost by chance. It sounds like an afternoon drink in good company. Or a hotel bar with sea views. African sounds and Cuban shapes meeting in languages I don’t fully understand, but speaking a music I do. You can dig into the background, and you probably should, but you don’t need to do that first. You can just press play and let it sit there for a while. A beautiful record if you want something warm, real and full of travel. https://open. spotify. com/album/6QOun5OOEMqny6p178QLJE https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=Y7dlwwEXvQM - Published: 2026-05-11 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/calva-louise-edge-of-the-abyss/ - Categories: Music Recommendations, New Crowds - Tags: alternative rock, Calva Louise, Edge of the Abyss, experimental rock, heavy music, loud - Authors: Pablo Iriarte For fans of System of a Down, Linkin Park, Nova Twins, or anyone who likes heavy music with melody, chaos and a few strange doors left open. Edge of the Abyss caught us off guard. Calva Louise are able to mix Colombian cuatro, heavy riffs, screaming, classical piano, massive drums, Spanish lyrics hooks and pop melodies. Yes, at the same time. Edge of the Abyss sounds like a band taking everything they feel, everything they are and everything the like into one complete and cohesive thing. Calva Louise - Jess Allanic, Ben Parker and Alizon Taho - refuse to leave parts of themselves outside the room just because they do not fit neatly into one genre box. There is a bit of System of a Down in the way some songs bend and twitch. A bit of Linkin Park in the emotional overload. Some punk urgency. Some metal weight. Some electronic unease. Calva Louise have built their own internal logic, and once you step into it, every sharp turn starts making sense. Jess Allanic’s voice is a huge part of that. There is a strange pop precision in the way she places melodies, even when goes full on banshee screaming mode. uniquely cool. A friend of the Crowds said she is the Britney Spears of metal, which is funny and not entirely wrong. “Aimless” is probably the easiest way into the record. Readers by advise, it will test you. If you pass, “Hate in Me” will be the next melody you won't stop singing. Our favorite, maybe biased by our editor's Spanish roots, is "La Corriente". Check the lyrics and Jess' intensity. Just, damn. There is something... - Published: 2026-03-20 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/rosaliecunningham-live/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: Concert, Lido, Live Show Review, Rosalie Cunningham - Authors: Pablo Iriarte Some people try very hard to be cool. Others don't seem to have that problem. At Lido, the Duchess of rock and roll reminded us that the coolest people in the room rarely need to prove it. Do you remember the first time you met someone cool? Like, proper effortless cool. The type of person that just has it. Well, if you haven’t, go see Rosalie Cunningham live and you’ll know what we mean. The Duchess of rock and roll, yes, we made that title up, owned Lido on a cold Berlin night on 20 March 2026. As soon as she took the stage, we could all tell she meant business. Because rock stars have a way of being on stage that immediately oozes class and elegance. We’re not keen on comparisons, but we’ve only seen that kind of effortless control once before, with Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=8YehoejPll8 Rosalie and her band opened with To Shoot Another Day, the title track of her latest album. The record leans into what she has called “spy-chedelic rock”, which makes sense the second you hear it. It has the drama of old cinema, the strange turns of late sixties psychedelia, a bit of Bond-theme swagger and enough theatrical detail to make the whole thing feel like it should come with opening credits. Talking about the title track, Rosalie put it better than anyone could:  “I can do whatever the fuck I like, it’s my album. ”  Fair enough. That’s probably the most accurate album note you can write. Live, though, those songs came out with teeth. The set moved beyond the latest album too, reaching back into the Purson days with Wool... - Published: 2026-03-17 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/dea-matrona-live/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: BadeHaus, Concert, Dea Matrona, Live Show Review - Authors: Pablo Iriarte Celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day could only really be done one way: at Badehaus, with a Belfast band, big guitars and enough raised glasses to make it feel official. Even though I’ve never been big on celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day, this year I did.  And let me tell you, I don’t think I’ll ever top it, because on 17 March 2026, I celebrated it with Dea Matrona. The Irish duo were playing at Berlin’s Badehaus, tucked into Revaler Straße, and the room felt ready before they even started. There were more pints in the air than at a football match, which, considering the date, it was less a coincidence and more like proper scene setting. Their debut album, For Your Sins, already carries that mix of classic rock, Irish roots, country touches and big guitar energy, but live, it grew teeth. You could hear where they come from, the folk foundations, the Fleetwood Mac shadows or the Belfast busking years. Like songs that had travelled a long way and somehow arrived louder than expected.   https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=-d0d_g8zYXc There’s also a sense that Dea Matrona are already moving into their next chapter. Their second album, Hate That I Care, is set to arrive on 5 June 2026, and the singles so far point to something sharper and a little darker. Magic Spell is as hypnotic as riff-driven, while the title track talks about the exhaustion of hiding emotions and trying to stay present in an honest way. Orláith Forsythe and Mollie McGinn looked so at ease on stage that you could almost forget how young they still are. I’m pretty sure they’re in their 20s.  Wow, that’s an old guy thing to say.... - Published: 2026-03-11 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/psychedelic-porn-crumpets-live/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: Concert, Live Show Review, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, SO36 - Authors: Pablo Iriarte Worshipping a tomato sounds stupid until a sold out SO36 turn into a sold-out rock mass. I’ve never been big on religion or believing in God, but back in 2022 I discovered I could always worship a tomato.  Seeing Psychedelic Porn Crumpets live again at SO36 on 11 March 2026 confirmed my faith. Don’t click out yet. I’m talking about Found God in a Tomato, from the Perth band’s debut album High Visceral {Part One}. A track I enjoyed every second of back in 2022, and somehow even more now in 2026. Let me explain. One thing the Aussies bring is music that gets you into a trance almost immediately. No wonder they started the show by blasting Nessun Dorma at full volume before opening their set. This tour came after a ridiculously productive year for the band, celebrating Carpe Diem, Moonman and their latest release, Pogo Rodeo, where atomic rhythms, distortion up the wazoo and surprisingly stubborn melodies all get thrown into the same beautiful mess.  If this was the rock mæss, they came ready to preach. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=dayCdF0TNxE It’s hard not to smile while being pushed around in the moshpit of the legendary, and sold-out, SO36. Your writer here, also the photographer, struggled a tiny bit with a 3kg camera setup while being thrown around by the crowd. Fair. And worth it, to be honest. Because it’s all fun. Even when the music is heavy, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets never make the room feel hostile. Their lyrics and stories live in that same strange place, somewhere between cosmic nonsense and very committed imagination. Jack McEwan once explained Found God in a... - Published: 2026-02-18 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/hotwax-live/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: Concert, HotWax, Live Show Review, Mikropol - Authors: Pablo Iriarte A weird way to get an entire room waxed at the same time, but Mikropol took it surprisingly well. Loud, sharp and oddly satisfying. I’m at a point in my life where I can admit I got waxed once. How so? Well, keep reading but in any case, it hurt. Bad. I really thought I would never do it again. Well, until I got to see HotWax live. Back on 16 February 2026, I watched the Hastings-via-Brighton trio sell out Berlin’s Mikropol. They were touring their debut album, Hot Shock, a record that had been on absolute repeat in my earphones.  Released in 2025, it pulls together grunge, alt-rock, post-punk and hooks that immediately make you know the songs by heart. They started the set with Strange to Be Here, my personal favourite, and moved on with hit after hit.  She’s Got a Problem, Wanna Be a Doll or Tell Me Everything’s Alright all doing that thing HotWax are very good at: sounding messy, sharp and fully in control at the same time. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=HcLMRIOMTGE Tallulah and Lola looked like they had been playing together for 35 years, which is impressive considering they’re probably closer to their early 20s. Their chemistry has that rare thing where guitar and bass don’t feel like two separate instruments. I was going to compare them to Frusciante and Flea, but that feels a bit too classic-rock-dad.   Maybe the better reference is Kim Deal and Kelley Deal.  Very locked in and somehow always cooler than the room around them. Big names, I know. But HotWax are bringing fresh air in a way that feels genuinely exciting. Let’s not forget Alfie Sayers on drums, with the arduous task of keeping the... - Published: 2026-02-11 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/lady-lazarus-live/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: Concert, Lido, Live Show Review, Mikropol, Supporting Band - Authors: Pablo Iriarte At Mikropol, punk came back to life sweaty, loud and one wrong move away from falling apart. Look, I won’t pretend I knew them first, followed them from the beginning, or any of the other pretentious shit music writers sometimes do.  No.  Lady Lazarus were a surprise. And a pleasant one at that. I discovered them opening for HotWax at Mikropol on 16 February 2026, and their performance pretty much blew my fucking head off. Sorry if I got a bit carried away in that last sentence, but it’s tough to describe it any other way.  Well, maybe this:Raw, pure performance. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=k_EkraVGgjM Caroline Parks was delivering every lyric in a flow state closer to possession than anything else. Which makes sense, in a slightly dangerous way. Lady Lazarus took their name from Sylvia Plath’s poem about death, survival and coming back again, and there was something in Caroline’s performance that carried that same refusal to stay down. Mic cable noose, sweat and someone shouting “I’m so sick of this adult shit” like it was the only rational thing left to say. It took me back to the time I saw Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes open for Foo Fighters at London Stadium in 2018.  Frank literally walked over us. Their set was as thunderous as the sick bass lines Isabel Rakuljic was delivering, and it went by quicker than any of us would have wanted. Julia Nienhaus on drums and Gary Norman on guitar were the glue keeping the Lady Lazarus Jenga tower from falling. And that’s the thing. It looked like it could collapse at any second, but it... - Published: 2026-02-08 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/uuhai-live/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: Concert, Lido, Live Show Review, Mongolian Metal, UUHAI - Authors: Pablo Iriarte Trying to throat sing for 15 years and failing is one thing. Watching UUHAI turn Lido into a room full of imaginary Mongolian warriors is another. Heavy, communal and much closer to a rite of passage than a normal gig. Back in 2012, when I was too young to not be naive, I found a Mongolian throat singing video and lost it. I tried to learn how to do it and, almost 15 years later, I still can’t. So imagine my excitement when I got to see UUHAI live. Seriously, I knew they were cool. Their album is fantastic, more on that later, but what I wasn’t expecting was to leave Lido wanting to become a Mongolian warrior who throat sings. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=2REyhJeZgD4&t UUHAI are a Mongolian folk metal band from Ulaanbaatar, formed in 2020. Their sound brings together traditional Mongolian throat singing, morin khuur, also known as the horsehead fiddle, and heavy rock that feels built for open landscapes, galloping rhythms and very large imaginary horses. They were touring Europe with Nanowar of Steel, a combination I would have never guessed worked, and the room was as excited as I was. The seven-piece band jumped on stage and immediately opened with Human Herds, the second track from their debut album of the same name. And honestly, that album does exactly what you hope it will do. It takes Mongolian tradition, folk melodies and heavy riffs, then turns them into something cinematic, physical and weirdly easy to follow, even when you don’t understand a single word. It feels ancient and modern at the same time, which is a sentence that sounds like a press release until you hear the band actually do it. The record has that same pull all the... - Published: 2026-02-07 - Modified: 2026-06-03 - URL: https://abovethecrowds.live/baits-live/ - Categories: Live Show - Tags: BAITS, Concert, Live Show Review, Neue Zukunft - Authors: Pablo Iriarte If rock and roll was a hook, Neue Zukunft swallowed it whole. The Vienna band came with big riffs, zero posing and the kind of live energy that gets you. If pure, unapologetic rock and roll was a hook, we would all be BAITS. Yes, because this Vienna-based band is anything but fishy. They throw the riffs out, wait about three seconds, and suddenly you’re the one hanging from the line, grinning like you didn’t see it coming. After listening to their latest album, All Filler No Killer, I was reeled in. I know. I can’t resist a good bait pun. Anyway, BAITS played at Neue Zukunft on February as part of their gearing up for a new chapter with songs like On The Run. Their power-chord rock style brings me back to when rock and roll was about fun and community. When we shared ripped CDs with each other and talked about how cool it would be to front a garage rock band. But again, BAITS are much more than that. https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=zKRRmVWSFdc Sonja Maier’s lyrics go further and cut deeper than you might expect on first listen. It’s amazing how someone so badass on stage can still feel vulnerable at times, pulling you closer for an intimate chorus like in Hello My Love. Fazo’s drums go absolutely nuts on songs like Playing God, and Zock’s guitar has the kind of energy that pulls you in before you realise there’s no way out. Bernd Faszl keeps the whole thing glued together, even when it looks like chaos. It isn’t. He also brings some of the funniest facial expressions of the gang, which, honestly, should count as an instrument. It...