Last time we heard from DC punk band Ekko Astral, they were dropping Pink Balloons, one of our favorite LPs of 2024. Now, the band has returned with news of its follow-up, the beltway is burning, set to be released via Topshelf Records on April 22. The band has imagined the only way our current era can end on new single “lil xan goes to washington,” which marks the second taste of the new project following last October’s “horseglue.” The song was written by Ekko Astral’s Jael Holzman, Liam Hughes, and Miri Tyler—the latter of whom the band recently announced is exiting the project.
Regarding the new song, Hughes said: “In times when Nicki Minaj is tight with the president, it feels right that Lil Xan becomes a lobbyist. This song was pulled out of thin air in the studio while most of the album was written and ready to record beforehand. We only had the lyrics finished for this one. But once we started messing around, the music wrote itself in minutes, and we all knew we had something special.”
Added Holzman: “We always intended for the songs on this album to tell a fictional story based on real events. Some of this material dates back a decade to when Liam and I first met in college. But by the time we hit the studio, we had a feeling it would be more like a historical document.”
Check out the video for “lil xan goes to washington” below, and pre-order the beltway is burning here.
