***Ragdoll Dance is the 4th album by New York-via Texas punks Institute. Most underground punk bands don’t make four albums, but it makes sense for Institute. Even on their earliest releases, Institute’s sound teemed with possibility, drawing from a long history of anarcho-punk, post-punk, and hardcore, and fusing those aesthetics with great, classic-sounding songwriting. Ragdoll Dance finds Institute back with their original lineup (including Albert from Nosferatu and Altar of Eden on drums) and returning to a DIY approach to recording, working both at home (using the same setup as singer Moses Brown’s solo project, Peace de Résistance) and with Joe and Owen of D4MT Labs, whose gritty yet vital recordings have documented some of DIY punk’s best contemporary bands. Institute also chose to work within the international hardcore community to release the record; Brown plays drums in Secretors alongside Joe from Roach Leg Records, whose label is known for releasing some of the noisiest, most fringe recordings in the punk sub-underground (across the pond they’ve gone with the iconic La Vida Es Un Mus). While Ragdoll Dance is culturally embedded in the world of DIY hardcore punk, musically it tends to move back toward the more eclectic sound of Salt and Catharsis. The album’s title is a nod to Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Brown also cites arty post-punks Magazine as an influence on the record, which shows on tracks like “City” and “Where’s It Go,” energetic, left-of-center pop songs that challenge but also gratify. If you’re looking for...
LP $25.35
11/10/2023
***One of the many bands popping up in Austin’s buzzing punk scene, INSTITUTE leans to the punk side of post-punk. They recall Crisis & Coitus Int. with a mix of anarcho bands thrown in there too. Members of WICCANS, GLUE and RECIDE. This 12” is a vinyl pressing of their superb demo. They also have a fantastic 7” coming out in Katorga Works in the near future.
12" $13.00
06/24/2014