smoke and echoes
book of friends
polaroid photo album
video wednesday
partner and friends
We're giving away 2×2 tickets to join us on the 28th November 2019, at Prachtwerk in Berlin, for småll sessions live in concert! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see Mulay, Winnie Raeder and Joel Baker live on stage.
Tell all your friends about it, to increase your chances to win 2×2 tickets!
Love and good luck,
xx smoke and echoes
in cooperation with småll sessions and zart
We're giving away 2×2 tickets for Amistat in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see Amistat live on stage.
Tell all your friends about it, to increase your chances to win a pair of tickets!
Winners will be informed on Tuesday, 19th November 2019!
in cooperation with small sessions
We're giving away 2×2 tickets for Kara Marni in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see Kara Marni live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Thursday evening, 23rd October 2019!
in cooperation with KATRIN BRAUER ONLINE & PRINT PR
We're giving away 2×2 tickets for Cassia in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see Cassia live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Thursday evening, 12th September 2019!
in cooperation with Pon't Danic Music and Cassia
We're giving away 2×2 tickets for VIOLET FIELD's single release show on the 24th August 2019, at Kantine am Berghain in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see Violet Fields, The Flavians and Black Palms live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Friday evening, 23rd August 2019!
Video premiere alert – we have the extraordinary pleasure to premiere the brand new music video by our talented mate Philip Brooks exclusively before it's official release on our website – here's 'I Don't Know If I Ever Wanna Go Back Home' for you!
Philip Brooks: "This song is me reflecting on a past relationship through nostalgia-tinted glasses. Being young and in love can be so beautiful but difficult. In the beginning everything seems perfectly fulfilling and exciting, the closeness feels liberating and so right, nothing is better than spending all your time together. But when fears and personal issues creep in, the whole thing crumbles and what once felt comforting and protecting, turns disillusioning and claustrophobic. And that sucks and is super painful to deal with, because you love them like mad, but the overwhelmingness of the emotions that come with it just makes you want to run away from it all. It took me a long time to write this song and look back on all that had happened, and I came to embrace and remember all the positive moments that were shared. With this video I wanted to depict this head-over-heels sensation, all while showcasing the fragility that comes with love. I'm so happy to have Nastasia and Andrew all the way from Russia on board who are just the sweetest, most talented couple and made this video what it is. I hope you love it as much as I do!"
FOLLOW Philip Brooks:
Single+video premiere – we have the extraordinary pleasure to premiere 'Cellophane' by PeachyKeen exclusively before it's release on Sunday (16th June 2019) on our website – we hope you will enjoy listen to it as much as we do!
PeachyKeen: That's four boys made in West-Berlin who ventured an experiment two years ago: What can a warm, distorted guitar sound still do today against mass-compliant radio hits and monotonous bass buzzing on the dance floors? Friends became family and went from academic goals to long nights in the rehearsal room. The songs transport urban melancholy and sing of the ups and downs of being alive.
FOLLOW PeachyKeen:
We're giving away 2×2 tickets for SUMMER SAY on the 7th June 2019, at Cassiopeia in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see The Flavians, Me & The Monster and Strand Child live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Thursday evening, 6th June 2019!
We're giving away 4×2 tickets to see Warbly Jets on the 23rd May 2019, at Musik&Frieden in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and experience their EUROPE / PROPAGANDA tour live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Friday noon, 23rd May 2019!
We're giving away 2×2 tickets to see Good Weather Forecast on the 6th April 2019, at Privatclub in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and experience the SUPERHUMANS club tour live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Saturday morning, 6th April 2019!
in cooperation with Good Weather Forecast
Single premiere alert – we have the extraordinary pleasure to premiere a song by our mates from Fick As Fieves exclusively before it's official release on Thursday (4th April 2019) on our website for the third time – here's 'See Through You' for you!
Fick As Fieves about their new single 'See Through You':
Ever had the moment when you finally realise after all the beating yourself up, putting yourself down, that it was actually someone around you, or your own battle within that was assuming the negative thoughts. In the epiphany moment you SEE THROUGH the lies to show the truth. Your vision becomes clearer, thoughts expand and you enter the world again more confident than ever before. SEE THROUGH YOU is over in less than 2.20, but there's no need to rattle on when the point has been made so firmly.
FOLLOW Fick As Fieves:
We're giving away 2×2 tickets to join us on the 28th March 2019, at Austerclub in Berlin, for småll sessions live in concert! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see Kalon, Luke Burr and Jinka live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Tuesday, 26th March 2019!
in cooperation with småll sessions
Single premiere – we have the extraordinary pleasure to premiere 'Burning Out' by Laulia exclusively before it's release on Friday (1st of March 2019) on our website – we hope you will enjoy listen to it as much as we do!
Laulia are a 4 piece, independent band from the South East. The moody alt-rock band fuse melodic, folk inspired vocals, with grunge-driven chords and raging riffs. Solo singer Lauren met lead guitarist Ollie in a local music shop, where the pair bonded over their music taste. After selling Lauren her first Mustang, the two started writing together. The fusion of their influences has now become the creative fuel behind Laulia.
FOLLOW Laulia:
Single premiere alert – already featured on BBC Introducing and premiered on smoke and echoes, exclusively before it's official release on Tuesday (19th February 2019) – ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present 'DESTINY' by SkyFlood!
FOLLOW SkyFlood:
Fans of HOZIER, the Irish indie-folk-rock singer-songwriter is just about to release his sophomore album Wasteland Baby on the 1st of March 2019. We've been giving the amazing opportunity to raffle 2×2 tickets for their exclusive fan pre-listening event on February, the 22nd in Berlin. The more fantastic news is, that HOZIER will be there as well and you can ask him you favourite questions!
All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and listen exclusively to HOZIER's brand new album Wasteland Baby. For tour dates and more check our the HOZIER's official website and make sure you'll get your tickets before they're gone.
Winners will be informed on Wednesday, 20th February 2019!
in cooperation with Universal Music Germany and Hozier
We're giving away 2×2 tickets for Better Strangers EP release concert 'Taxi For Susie' the 10th February 2019, at Austerclub in Berlin! All you have to do is slide into our DMs on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and party with Better Strangers!
Winners will be informed on Sunday morning, 10th February 2019!
Single premiere alert – we have the great pleasure to premiere another new banger by Fick As Fieves exclusively before it's release on Friday (8th February 2019) on our website – here's 'Golden Age' for you!
Fick As Fieves about their new single 'Golden Age':
'GOLDEN AGE once again shows diversity and passion – Lyrics examine modern day selfie culture and question it's integrity for future generations. Is this the footprint we wish to leave? "They'll say we never listened, with our head in the clouds, with our feet on the table, just scrolling up and down" FUN, FUNKY, LUSTFUL!'
Eyes and ears wide open for Gus Harvey, an experimental jazz musician, producer and bandleader originally from Deptford, London. She released her first, self-licensed EP – ♢history – last September. Since then she's been in Berlin, creating ♧TXC.This EP is called ♧TXC. It will be released in four parts between 25.01.19 and April 2019, with the accompanying chapters of a film by cult director Glashier.
'My Dad is a lyricist and Mum's a dancer – between them they know a lot of songs and were quite competitive/huge show-offs – so my earliest musical memories are being sung/fully performed to sleep, in many different languages. Then waking up under sound desks in Soho at 4am and being dragged from venue to venue as a toddler. They taught me to read very young and memorise words, so at school I'd always be "the narrator" – the link with the audience, with loads of lines and no costume. I so badly wanted to be a princess or a star… never happened. My first experience of recording was in my friends' attic, six of us crammed under a duvet because the boys wanted to make hiphop and my girl and I got dragged in to sing choruses. With the crews we listened to if there were any girls it was one token one, with boys pressing buttons. I never questioned that whatsoever, until Arular came out. That was the first time I saw and heard a recognisable person in a piece of work, and the person was female. It exploded everything for me, sonically, politically and it terms of what I could do – that potentially I could be a creator. But when I got to the industry in London and started being courted by labels it was shocking how hard that was to action. Nobody would listen to me about my own work. I was told to 'pick a sound' a.k.a. one tune I'd made that I liked most, and just make loads more exactly like it. In all the infinite possibilities in music, I was constantly told to limit myself. What they meant was pick a producer, from the people we pay. A lot of the industry would rather stick with a formula they think will work than put trust in an artist. For absolutely no good reason it's twice as hard for girls as it is men. I was so disenchanted and just wanted to be onstage where I was comfortable – I had a 4-5 piece neo-soul band and a lot of my proudest achievements were completely under the radar with them. We didn't make any money because of what it costs to tour that many people and big instruments, like a double bass, but we played the Camden Roundhouse and Ronnie Scott's and Hootananny in Brixton – venues I loved – and really just toured festivals and had a good time. I think what we could do with a crowd is the most magical thing – translating that to material to release took a lot of thought and planning, as well as working out what the motivation was. For me it's to bring about change. I've formatted all my EPs as a direct attack on everything I got taught. So I'd say what I'm most proud of is conquering all the fears people put in your head to make money out of you. When I think about it I'm amazed at my own balls. If I'd listened to anyone but myself there'd be nothing here, but proving all that negative stuff wrong stays with you, as strength that you can use the next time you're faced with it. When my bandmates or the musicians I collect for my stuff tell me that what I've done makes them feel anything's possible, and then actually sit down and make more music – that's enough for me.'
– Gus Harvey
Harvey is due to return to the UK for her first headline show on 27th February, in association with Live Nation.
FOLLOW Gus Harvey:
Single premiere – we have the extraordinary pleasure to premiere 'How I Feel' by Fick As Fieves exclusively before it's release on Friday (25th January 2019) on our website – we hope you will enjoy listen to it as much as we do!
Here's an official statement of the band of what's 'How I Feel' is about:
'A new direction, or edging ever closer to our sound. FAF deliver a funky hip hop inspired track that could bring out your best moves or soundtrack your sunday. HOW I FEEL once again shows diversity and passion…'
"It's the most wonderful time of the year" – as it's the festive season again we'd like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year and hope that everyone we know, everyone who reads this and all the others are having a good time with people they love and admire. This year was a special one to us and it felt it just flew. We've been crazy busy and we know that lots of you are waiting (patiently) for some specific features on artists we've met in 2018 – they will come, we promise!
Smoke and echoes was honoured to attend the The Great Escape Festival in Brighton (for the very first time this year) and we not only just fell in love with the festival itself, we also fell instantly in love with your beautiful Brighton, people of Brighton. Later on this year we went on to attend Melt! Festival, for the third time in a row, followed by the Lollapalooza Berlin. And last but not least Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg was just the fitting end to this year's festivals season and still is one of our favourite German festivals of all time! Beautiful venues, numerous talents, interesting panels and conferences, people we met and places we've visit. Not that we have a lot of time to think about it, we're more than ready and absolutely thrilled for all the upcoming club shows and festivals in the new year, that should get us through the cold part of the year and we're more than grateful for the summer and an amazing 2018 that we had.
We are deeply thankful for all the opportunities we have been given by all of you, promoters as well as managements, agencies and artists, partner and friends. Thank you so much for your trust and letting us share our love and passion for music in this particular way over the past year. A massive thank you also to our readers, fans and follower all around the world – you guys are absolutely amazing and we're always very happy to see shared photos of ours as well as your messages and feedback on our content. We are more than excited for what's to come for 2019, our minds are full of ideas, there are many interviews and photos coming your way and we are ready to let this beautiful experience grow and to see as many of you again, plus to meet new wonderful people and to visit places we've never been before and cities we already miss a lot. We never expected our concept of smoke and echoes to be such an instant success, and certainly never expected to meet so many amazing people and new friends.
From the bottom of our hearts – it's a pleasure to share the love and passion with you!
"Smoke and echoes is more than just a random blog about music and fashion
– it's a matter that is close to our hearts."
Video premiere – we have the extraordinary pleasure to host 'Miss me Sometimes U Do (live)' by The Nice Nice exclusively for the next 24 hours on our website – we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!
in cooperation with CREATIVE MIND PR by Annika Wagner and The Nice Nice
We're giving away 1×2 tickets to see Xavier Darcy and special guests(*∆) live next week. All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see the boys live on stage PLUS your city!
11.12.18 Tsunami Club, Cologne *
12.12.18 Nochtwache, Hamburg *
13.12.18 Maze, Berlin *
14.12.18 NAUMANNs, Leipzig *
15.12.18 Muffatwerk Ampere, Munich ∆
* special guests KALON
∆ special guest Jordan Prince
Winners will be informed a day before each day!
photo by Marco Tarara
in cooperation with 3010 Booking and Xavier Darcy
Fans of Mumford & Sons, the British indie-folk-rock band are just about to release their fourth studio album DELTA on November 16th. We've been giving the amazing opportunity to raffle 2×2 tickets for their exclusive fan pre-listening event on Thursday, the 15th of November in Berlin.
All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and listen exclusively to Mumford & Sons brand new album DELTA. For tour dates and more check our the bands official website and make sure you'll get your tickets before they're gone.
in cooperation with Universal Music Germany and Mumford & Sons
We're giving away 1×2 tickets to see join us on the 9th November 2018, at Austerclub in Berlin, for småll sessions live in concert! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see Alex St. Joan, Cedric Perry and Madanii live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Friday, 9th November 2018!
To celebrate Munich based newcomer band The Nice Nice first live session music video for their debut single 'Beached', we're giving away these two baby blue beauties.
The A and B side includes some fantastic covers of 'Seabird' (by Alessi Brothers) and 'Josephine' (by Chris Rea). If you wanna win one of the Cassettes Covers #1, slide into our DM's on Instagram and tell us something NICE! We can't wait to read all your message.
Winners will be announced on Thursday, 18th October 2018!
Check out 'Beached' live at Monaco Sessions, lean back and enjoy listening to a mellow tune.
Love & good luck,
in cooperation with CREATIVE MIND PR by Annika Wagner
We're giving away 2×2 tickets to see PABST, 15th September 2018, in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go and see PABST live on stage.
Winners will be informed on Friday, 14th September 2018!
in cooperation with Landstreicher Konzerte
On a desperate search for a woman to make music with, Tim Sullivan from Australia, found Tom Apell from Munich instead. One coffee after the other, talks and the shared passion for music by Chris Issak and Chris Rea, they decided to form the band which is called The Nice Nice.
Here's what The Nice Nice sounds – a cover of 'Seabird' by Alessi Brothers.
If you want to hear more of The Nice Nice, you should stay tuned, they've got some EP's ready for you, which will be released next year!
We're giving away 2×2 tickets for musikexpress klubtour, 2nd September 2018, in Berlin! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to party and see Isolation Berlin, Der Ringer, Yukno and Kann Karate.
Winners will be informed on Thursday, 30th August 2018!
How about catchy songs which are the ideal addition for your summer playlist or even for the colder nights, whilst sitting by the window filled with wanderlust?
On our perpetual search for new artists and talents we came across an indie rock band from Berlin, just formed by Janik Setz (singer songwriter) and Tobias Hanel (guitar) in 2017. After playing several shows over the last few months in Germany, the UK and Norway as a duo, Janik and Tobias decided to start playing with an entire band and so Fréderic Auburger (drums) and Fabian Timm (bass) completed the band, which is KALON!
We have the extraordinary pleasure to host their very first music video for 'Gotta Let Go' (released 8th June 2018) exclusively for the next 24 hours on our website – we hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!
STAY TUNED for our interview with KALON to get to know them better – out soon!
Follow KALON:
It's the time of year – Melt Festival is ready to open their gates again for an unforgettable weekend, at a very unique location near Dessau (Saxony-Anhalt) and with a brilliant line-up. You shouldn't miss it!
We're giving away a pair of tickets for this years Melt! All you have to do is send us a DM on instagram and tell us with who you'd like to go to Melt. Tell all your friends about it, to increase your chances to win 1×2 tickets!
Winner will be informed on Wednesday, 20th June 2018!
in cooperation with GEMEINSAME SACHE GMBH & CO. KG
As you know we're also still looking for new talents and music and we found something very interesting for you, with a modern sound and nostalgic vibes – SAINTS!
SAINTS are Dean and Daniel, currently Berlin based, who just released their first ever EP 'Too Deep' exclusively for a free stream on SoundCloud. Click here to listen to 'Too Deep' and dive into another world of sound and emotion.
Stay tuned for our feature on them, which will be out soon!
Follow SAINTS:
It's the time of the year – it's Christmas time. We'd like to thank you for your love and constant support and thought it might be a great opportunity to surprise you the following 24 days with some very special things!
The rules of this competition are pretty simple. Just drop us an email with the subject 'CHRISTMAS' to smokeandechoes@gmail.com and tell us the day of the surprise you wanna win and your name (for example: DAY 1 / NAME LAST NAME). If you're one of our lucky winners, you will receive a separate email the following day. Stay tuned and enjoy the festive season with us!
A very special thanks to Universal Music Germany, for making it possible to create this advent calendar!
We have the extraordinary pleasure to host the preview of the debut solo EP 'AM-BPM' by Russell Swallow exclusively for the next 24 hours.
Click here to listen to 'AM-BPM' and enjoy the next 14 minutes and 31 seconds with Russell Swallow's first EP on SoundCloud!
Stay tuned for our interview with Mister Swallow and more information about this talented British man. Psssssst sign up to Russell's mailing list at www.russellswallow.com and you'll get a bonus track.
copyright @ Russell Swallow
Follow Russell:
It's really happening!
Our friends from small sessions asked us if we wanna jump on board for their beautiful concert tour 'small sessions live' at Auster Club, Berlin. It's such a lovely concept and we're happy to be officially a part of it!
Incidentally we would like to take the opportunity to say THANK YOU!
We're stoked and deeply grateful for all the love and support we received over the last one and a half year and wanna say thank you to every single one of you!
A massive thank you to all of our constant readers, all the lovely and motivating things you said, the opportunities we were given, the mails we're getting every day, every like and heart, to all of you artists who already worked with us and at least for sharing the art and love with us!
We know that we've been a bit quiet these last few months due for a variety of reasons and we're really sorry about that, but we're trying our very best to feed you with loads of delicious things very soon!
So stay tuned and keep ya ears and eyes peeled – great things are here to come!
These four Londoners are absolute legends. They used one of our Polaroids and made a poster out of it. We love it!
Check out their latest music video 'You Said You Saw Us' below and don't forget to catch them live, their sound is a smashing mix of glam-rock, psych-rock and post-punk tunes and definitely worth a listen.
Stay tuned for our interview with Matt Saunders (vocals, guitar), Matt Wood (guitar), Oli Paget-Moon (bass) and Jordan Cook (drums).
(german version below)
Goodbye, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen. Over and out. We're back from our 4 day trip to Hamburg's Reeperbahn Festival. Beautiful venues, numerous talents, interesting workshops and conferences, and a passionate organisation with an eye for the details summed up the heavy hearted ending to this year's festival season. Not that we have a lot of time to think about it, we're more than ready and absolutely thrilled for all the upcoming club shows that should get us through the cold part of the year and we're more than grateful for the summer that we had. Smoke and echoes was honoured to attend the Flying Vinyl Festival in London and the Immergut Festival to open the season in may. We then went on to attend Melt! Festival, followed by the Pure & Crafted in Berlin and the Lollapalooza Berlin. The Reeperbahn Festival was just the fitting end to this year's summer season.
We would like to let you know how much we appreciate the opportunities we have been given by all of you, promoters as well as managements, agencies and artists. Thank you so much for your trust and letting us share our love and passion for music in this particular way. We never expected our concept of smoke and echoes to be such an instant success, and certainly never expected to meet so many amazing people and new friends. We are more than excited for what's to come, our minds are full of new ideas, ready to let this beautiful experience grow.
Wir sagen Goodbye, Auf Wiedersehen und Au Revoir zur diesjährigen Festivalsaison. Hinter uns liegen 4 wunderbare Tage und Nächte im Herzen von Hamburg – der Reeperbahn. Neben imposanten Venues, zahlreichen Talenten, informativen Workshops und Konferenzen, liebevoller Aufmachung und Detailverliebtheit fand unsere Festival Saison dieses Jahr nun schweren Herzens ein Ende. Doch für uns noch lange kein Grund traurig zu sein, denn wir dürfen uns alle auf tolle Club-Shows im Herbst/Winter freuen und sind mehr als dankbar für diesen wunderbaren Festivalsommer. Für smoke and echoes durften wir neben dem Flying Vinyl Festival in London auch das Immergut Festival als Auftakt der Festivalsaison, im Mai, für euch besuchen. Weiter ging es mit dem Melt! Festival, gefolgt vom Pure & Crafted und dem Lollapalooza Berlin. Als krönender Abschluss durfte das Reeperbahn Festival natürlich nicht fehlen.
An dieser Stelle möchten wir uns von ganzem Herzen für das entgegengebrachte Vertrauen, sowohl von Veranstalter-Seite als auch von Seiten der Managements, der Agenturen und der Künstler, bedanken. Vielen Dank für eure Zusammenarbeiten und dass ihr eure Liebe und Leidenschaft zur Musik mit uns teilt. Wir hätten uns nie träumen lassen, dass unser Projekt smoke and echoes auf so viel Zustimmung stoßen würde, nie hätten wir gedacht so viele tolle Menschen und Freunde dadurch kennenzulernen und zu treffen. Wir schauen positiv in die Zukunft, unsere Köpfe sind gefüllt mit Ideen und viel Energie, die nur so darauf wartet wie ein Feuerwerk den Himmel zu verzaubern.