In a statement shared on Instagram and X, Topshelf Records has announced that it’s parting ways with Washington, D.C. punk band Ekko Astral. “We can no longer support Ekko Astral and will not be releasing their album the beltway is burning,” the label wrote. “This includes the end of in-house PR service from the label. Refunds for pre-orders will be issued within 5-10 business days.” the beltway is burning’s April 22 release date was announced not even two weeks ago, on February 11. The news comes after Washington City Paper writer (and Paste contributor) Taylor Ruckle reported that frontwoman Jael Holzman filed a peace order petition against her former bandmate Miri Tyler on February 6, accusing her of “making threats” on social media.
The “threats” in question come via a poem that Tyler wrote in jail and later shared on TikTok, which includes the lines “She wants so bad to be like me, the bass, the bangs, the cause, the jeans / If she could practice empathy, identify by her core beliefs, then maybe she could remedy those glaring insecurities.” Tyler was in jail on property destruction and resisting arrest charges, an incident “unrelated to the band.” Despite not being named directly, Holzman interpreted Tyler’s poem to be about her, and she wrote in her petition that she did not want to see Tyler go to jail, “but I need her to stay far, far away from me and leave me alone, so we can both move on and she can find the help she clearly needs.” The peace order against Tyler is in effect until August.
It’s the latest in a series of public disputes centered around Ekko Astral, after members of the D.C. punk community and other former bandmates accused Holzman of, as Ruckle writes, “bullying and abusive behavior.” After the band shared their debut album, pink balloons, in 2024, an album we liked so much that we named Ekko Astral the Best of What’s Next that May, bassist Guinevere Tully and guitarist Sam Elmore both departed the group in early 2025, with Tully citing “a negative toll on [her] physical and mental health” and a decision to pivot toward her solo project, Rossyln Station. Tyler announced her departure from Ekko Astral on January 28, 2026, just days after being released from jail, but planned on playing at Ekko Astral’s event, Liberation Fest II—a trans liberation and punk festival raising money for mutual aid—presumably with her other band, Pretty Bitter. Holzman confirmed to Stereogum that Tyler is not barred from playing the festival, because it’s a “community event for anyone, the order speaks nothing on that, and I would do anything to make sure that mission stays true.”
In a since-deleted Medium post, Holzman apologized for “being a jerk” and making a threat about “shov[ing] a barbed wire dildo” up somebody’s ass, explaining that her behavior was stress-induced, due to both her full-time job as a D.C. reporter and her role managing Ekko Astral by herself. “My mental health deteriorated and I began behaving in ways during this time I recognize as callous, harmful and counter to the mission and the message that Ekko Astral stands for.” As told to Ruckle by Holzman, she took down the Medium post “due to harassment incited by [Tully’s] post and the fact my struggles with an eating disorder were revealed publicly without my consent.”
The “can no longer support” phasing is vague enough to leave more questions than answers around this situation, but Topshelf Records has also confirmed that “all of these events, and more, have irreversibly impacted our ability to continue working with this band or releasing their music.” Holzman delivered a statement of her own to Pitchfork, sharing that “there is a lot of misinformation spreading about this story. We will have more to share in the near future.” Things are not looking good for Ekko Astral. At our South by Southwest party in 2024, the band was a five-piece gaining steady momentum as one of the most exciting up-and-coming rock acts in America. Now, the band’s membership is down to just two people, Holzman and guitarist Liam Hughes. Ekko Astral, as of this week, plans to release the beltway is burning independently.
