Suffering Jukebox

This week's episode features an interview with Rhys, the drummer for Moffat Beach based egg-punks Electric Prawns 2. Mano Oculta is the latest Electric Prawns 2 release, with the EP being released in December of last year. This morning sees the debut play of their latest track, City Streets. Stay tuned for more Electric Prawns 2 in the near future! You can find out more about Electric Prawns 2 (and purchase their music) here; https://electricprawns2.bandcamp.com/

Nick's Pick of the Week is Asteroid Ekosystem's Sounds Have Dreams, which was released on Friday February 13th. You can hear it in all the usual places, or purchase it here; https://alisterspence.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-have-dreams  and my review can be read below.

Asteroid Ekosystem: Sounds Have Dreams (Alister Spence Music)

Released 13th February 2026

An improvisational supergroup that features Alister Spence on piano, Ed Kuepper (The Saints, Laughing Clowns) on guitar and pedals, Lloyd Swanton (The Necks) on double-bass and Toby Hall (The Catholics) on drums, Asteroid Ekosystem are resistant to characterisation and defy expectations. Sounds Have Dreams is their second studio album, following 2021’s self-titled album, and it finds the group in far more expansive but reflective mood. 

Where their self-titled album was playful, jazzy affair, Sounds Have Dreams, leans far more into the ambient, experimental realms one would expect from Spence and Swanton. Interestingly, the album’s genesis was in some improvised guitar that Kuepper recorded solo in Brisbane in 2024. Spence took these recordings and built some basic structures around them which the band further developed as a group in Sydney in early 2025. Kuepper’s early improvisations were retained and added to the final compositions in the form of intros and outros, as well as to add further colour to the body of the songs.

Cirrus opens the record, a short two-minutes and ten seconds of dissonance, it gives way to the far more peaceful, though still unsettling, Storm Advance, which commences with the rumbling drones of Kuepper’s distorted guitar work. April Dance begins with a middle-eastern vibe, before channeling the jazz structures of the groups debut and from here Sounds Have Dreams tends to alternate and oscillate between longer drawn out compositions and shorter tracks that almost function as interludes.

Unsurprisingly, the longer tracks, such as Perpetual Fantastic, Sun Spiral and (the aforementioned) Storm Advance provide the album with its stand-out moments —if only because it allows the band the time and space to experiment and explore. A rare exception to this rule, is the slightly demonic album closer, the three-minute, A Slower Dance. Built over a continual guitar drone, the rest of the the band soon joins in, sounding —gleefully— like a jazz band from hell.

With Sounds Have Dreams, Asteroid Ekosystem have created a defiantly unique record that, despite its challenges, never strays into the category of being difficult. It may still be a acquired taste, but it is an enjoyable ride for those who know what they are in for from the get go. It would be an experience to behold live, particularly as the songs are likely to change with each performance. With two impending shows booked in Sydney, here’s hoping the group venture north in the near future to allow local audiences an opportunity to experience the full sonic spectrum of Asteroid Ekosystem.

Nick Stephan