Washington D.C. punks Ekko Astral release new standalone single "horseglue"

D.C. punk band Ekko Astral are back with "horseglue", the heaviest song from the band to date. The two-minute slugfest is a baptism in fire that sees the three-piece reborn as the harbingers of sludgy dystopiacore, brimming with confidence.

p: Alec Pugliese

Over rim shots ticking like keyboard clacks, Ekko Astral frontwoman Jael Holzman details her own slow descent into disillusion during her time as a reporter in the U.S. Congress, reporting on the national politics preceding the 2024 election. "Why am I so close to automatic rifles / I write my words down and shoot holes in your ankles," Holzman sneers. "Can't believe I'm just a dateline to my friends" — and then gunshot snares that lead you headlong into a concussive wall of distorted and mangled guitar, bass and drums.

Recommended if you like: Idles, Lambrini Girls, Gilla Band, Mclusky, sludgy dystopiacore

As if to hold up a mirror to the short attention spans that drive corporate media, the song barely approaches two minutes before suddenly ending with Holzman repeating the old journalistic adage: "If it bleeds, it leads."

"Ekko Astral smear raw punk, distorted pop hooks, and experimental noise like they're wiping dirt on their lids in place of eye shadow." -Pitchfork

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Read the full essay from the band telling the story of "horseglue" →

“horseglue” cover art by Murphy Gerrasch

Of the new single, Ekko Astral's Jael Holzman writes:

"“horseglue” is a screeching call for moral clarity. Anything short of courage against the rise of The New Authoritaria is complicity. It is important to focus on how integral the Messengers really are, and that some of them are the 1% too. They are rich and they are happy without consequence, as a vast majority of us suffer in the shadows of the unknown."

Ekko Astral US tour dates (* = w/ Mclusky)