broken smokes

An overhead photographic view of a circular table covered with mismatched, colorful guitar pedals, cracked plastic toy instruments, and a small, open reel-to-reel tape machine with tape looping loosely around like wisps of smoke. The table surface is a worn, light wood with paint splatters, surrounded by blurred hints of a cozy recording nook. Soft afternoon window light spills across the scene, creating gentle highlights on metal knobs and subtle shadows between objects. The composition is playful and chaotic yet balanced, with a sharp focus on the center pedals and a gradual blur toward the edges, suggesting experimental music built from joyful noise and broken sounds.

Broken Smokes

Off-kilter melodies, tape haze, and late-night rhythms drifting between noise and memory.

About

broken smokes is a shapeshifting sound project, piecing together cracked beats, tape warble, and found noise to score daydreams, night walks, and strange cinemas where every mistake becomes part of the melody.

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A detailed photographic close-up of a black studio microphone whose metal grille appears subtly warped and dented, with tiny curls of translucent smoke weaving through the mesh as if sound itself is escaping. The mic is mounted on a shock mount and boom arm, positioned in front of a blurred, colorful visualizer screen showing playful, wavy audio patterns. Soft, cool-toned studio lighting from above and behind creates a gentle halo around the mic, with delicate rim highlights tracing its silhouette. Shot with a shallow depth of field at a slight upward angle, the mood is experimental and whimsical, suggesting music that bends, breaks, and billows like smoke.
A high-resolution, eye-level photograph of a translucent glass ashtray reimagined as a miniature drum kit, with tiny chrome cymbals, snare, and kick sculpted from deconstructed cigarette filters and silver foil. The ashtray sits on a dark wooden studio desk beside a chunky audio interface and a pair of headphones, slightly out of focus. Warm ambient desk lamp light creates a golden, cozy glow, catching on the glass edges and metallic drum details. The mood is playful and surreal, blending everyday objects with music gear. The depth of field is shallow, emphasizing the whimsical drum-ashtray while the studio background remains a soft, inviting blur.
A macro photographic shot of a cracked vinyl record lying flat on a smoky charcoal background, the grooves sharply defined and glimmering with faint iridescent reflections. From one of the cracks, wisps of stylized, semi-transparent white smoke rise upward and curl into abstract waveforms, suggesting sound visualized as vapor. Dramatic side lighting from the left creates strong contrast, with bright highlights along the record’s edge and deep, velvety shadows on the opposite side. The composition uses rule of thirds, placing the crack and smoke off-center. The atmosphere is mysterious yet playful, evoking experimental music where broken media still sings in strange, beautiful ways.
A wide cinematic photograph of a dim, neon-lit room filled with unconventional sound-makers: glass bottles tuned with different water levels, dented metal pipes hanging from the ceiling, and cracked ceramic bowls arranged like a marimba on a rough wooden table. Purple and teal neon strips line the walls, casting colorful reflections and soft shadows, while a soft overhead diffuser keeps details visible. In the background, blurred modular synth cables add a subtle electronic vibe. Shot from a low angle with moderate depth of field, the image feels like a secret lab for playful sonic experiments, where everything, even broken objects, becomes music.

Reviews

An overhead photographic view of a circular table covered with mismatched, colorful guitar pedals, cracked plastic toy instruments, and a small, open reel-to-reel tape machine with tape looping loosely around like wisps of smoke. The table surface is a worn, light wood with paint splatters, surrounded by blurred hints of a cozy recording nook. Soft afternoon window light spills across the scene, creating gentle highlights on metal knobs and subtle shadows between objects. The composition is playful and chaotic yet balanced, with a sharp focus on the center pedals and a gradual blur toward the edges, suggesting experimental music built from joyful noise and broken sounds.

Aya Nakamura

“Sounds like a VHS dream of a rave you never went to—smudged drums, ghost voices, and smoke in every frequency.”

A detailed photographic close-up of a black studio microphone whose metal grille appears subtly warped and dented, with tiny curls of translucent smoke weaving through the mesh as if sound itself is escaping. The mic is mounted on a shock mount and boom arm, positioned in front of a blurred, colorful visualizer screen showing playful, wavy audio patterns. Soft, cool-toned studio lighting from above and behind creates a gentle halo around the mic, with delicate rim highlights tracing its silhouette. Shot with a shallow depth of field at a slight upward angle, the mood is experimental and whimsical, suggesting music that bends, breaks, and billows like smoke.

Mateo García

“Broken smokes turns broken gear into cinematic fuzz-pop, balancing grit and tenderness in a world of beautifully unstable loops.”