Ekko Astral – lil xan goes to washington
DC punks Ekko Astral are announcing their sophomore album the beltway is burning, out April 22 via Topshelf Records. Lead single “lil xan goes to washington” sets up the concept: the titular SoundCloud rapper arrives in DC to lobby for addiction assistance legislation, gets swallowed by K Street, and becomes a sellout. It’s a dark comedy, and it was recorded immediately after the 2024 US election. The whole album plays out as a fictionalized version of the Beltway — the area within I-495 — where Adam Sandler is a god-president, the DMV is a demilitarized zone, and the place is run by butt rockers and SoundCloud rappers. Guitarist Liam Hughes puts it plainly: “In times when Nicki Minaj is tight with the president, it feels right that Lil Xan becomes a lobbyist”.
The single is frenetic and noisy, and the lyrics go harder than the premise might suggest — migrants in cages, paparazzi-nazi neighbors, Stanley Kubrick references, the whole thing circling back to one question: “what’s real?” Vocalist Jael Holzman describes the album as both fiction and document: “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 But by the time we hit the studio, we had a feeling it would be more like a historical document”.
The beltway is burning is simultaneously heavier, poppier, and more complex than their debut Pink Balloons — Consequence’s number one rock album of 2024. “lovesick american romance” is a 90s rock-indebted anthem; “this is not a call to action but a lamentation on the situation at hand (or, capital riot)” — which fans have already been losing it over live — is the centrepiece, a stretched-out barn-burner that goes somewhere entirely new.
Produced by Jeremy Snyder and mastered by Carl Saff. The album was written and recorded by Holzman, Hughes, and Miri Tyler, who has since announced she’s leaving the band — her final show with Ekko Astral will be at their Liberation Weekend festival in Washington, DC in April.
Tracklist:
- body generation
- lil xan goes to washington
- horseglue
- beltway (ft. Pop Music Fever Dream)
- wmata
- this is not a call to action but a lamentation on the situation at hand (or capital riot)
- elegy for a system (ft. Big Girl)
- lovesick american romance
- dude with guitars
- sandler ’36
- blood mountain
- comet ping pong
Tour Dates North America:
- February 14 – New York, NY – Baby’s All Right (with Agriculture)
- March 26 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile (with Mclusky)
- March 27 – Boise, ID – Treefort Music Fest
- March 28 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater (with Mclusky)
- March 30 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel (with Mclusky)
- March 31 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater (with Mclusky)
- April 25 – Washington, DC – Liberation Weekend / Black Cat
- May 29 – Kingston, NY – Tubby’s (with Perennial)
- May 30 – Burlington, VT – The Monkey House (with Perennial)
- May 31 – Portland, ME – SPACE (with Perennial)
- June 2 – Providence, RI – Machines With Magnets
- June 3 – Boston, MA – The Rockwell
- June 5 – New York, NY – Night Club 101
- June 6 – Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMOCA
