The debut longplayer from Washington, DC-based Ekko Astral -- Jael Holzman, Liam Hughes, and Miri Tyler -- is a complex mesh of bubblegum noise punk and no-wave art rock that holds an elastic space for the knotty, tangled horrors of living in the imperial core. Their songs thrash with intense, necessary defiance against codified gender-based violence, their distortion and sibilance a direct response to the dangers outside our front doors. It's blistering. It's frightening. It's Ekko fucking Astral.

pink balloons -- produced and mixed by Jeremy Snyder (DITZ, Lambrini Girls, Pure Adult) -- was widely acclaimed, garnering fawning coverage from the likes of Pitchfork (#1 Rock Album of 2024), Stereogum, The Washington Post, The Line of Best Fit, Paste Magazine, and won Ekko Astral year-end plaudits from NPR Music, Uproxx, FLOOD, and KCRW, where host Henry Rollins declared the album his favorite of the year. pink balloons was also recently nominated for "Best Punk Album" for the 2025 Libera Awards.

To commemorate the first anniversary of the album, Ekko Astral and Topshelf are releasing pink balloons: popped, a deluxe CD version featuring the original release's 11 song tracklist along with five bonus tracks including "pomegranate tree" (originally released as a stand alone single), "shred empty blues ('head empty blues: popped version')" by Mikie Mayo + Dreamrats, "uwuwuwu" ('uwu type beat: popped version')" by pet wife, "unbrand ('on brand: popped version')" by They Hate Change, and a radio edit of "sticks & stones."

Pressing Info:

first press:
/100 - 180g black
/200 - "uwu pink"
/200 - "head empty blue" (retail exclusive)

open edition:
/unlimited - "head empty blue"