Yo, I hope y'all have been well! Here's the first offerings from the Beach Impediment Label for the year 2022. Let's do it:
MERCENARY - DEMOS COLLECTION 12"
While this is titled “Demos Collection,” it’s actually a discography–the collected works of one of the most ferocious hardcore groups to come out of the Southeast in the last decade. Mercenary’s noisy, heavy riffing blends Scandinavian and Japanese influences, and the drums blaze a frantic d-beat. It’s the vocals, though, that propel their recordings into the stratosphere. Vocalist Michael “Ruby” Rubenstein was at his most unchained in Mercenary, and his performance here has been likened to a “Neanderthal’s battle cry.” While modern science has concluded that Neanderthals were complex primates capable of art and symbolic thought, they were probably terrifying to face in a struggle for survival. While they had some enticing opportunities, the band never committed anything to vinyl save a comp track. They broke up in 2015, leaving behind two tapes and achieving legendary status for their pummeling live performances in Atlanta.
In 2021, Ruby passed away unexpectedly, a devastating loss for friends, punks, and music dorks around the world. This album is not only a brutal slab of tuneage, it’s also an important artifact representing Ruby’s life and his love of music. The tracks on this LP have been remixed and remastered to better capture the band’s intensity, and the album comes with a foldout insert and a photo of Ruby in action along with stark cover art by Joe Della. If Mercenary flew under your radar the first time, you missed out. Snag this once and future bonzer now. Proceeds from the sales of this record will go to a mural in memory of Ruby as well as the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition. Limited to a one time pressing of 500 copies.
100 copies on SEA GLASS VINYL for mailorder while they last!
PEACE DECAY - DEATH IS ONLY... 12"
Here we have it, the debut release from the Austin, TX hardcore punk powerhouse known as PEACE DECAY. "Death is Only..." features six tracks of the blazing and pummeling hardcore ferocity you'd expect from a group consisting of current and former members of VAASKA, SEVERED HEAD OF STATE, GUERRA FINAL and many more acts the great nation of Texas has bequeathed to us, the hardcore faithful, over the past few decades or so. Mastered by Jack Control at Enormous Door, each record comes in a full color matte jacket adorned with cover art by vocalist Enok Vazquez and also features a stunning 11" x 17" collage by Barcelona visual artist and analog collagist JFKollages. Much like death, this initial offering from PEACE DECAY is only the beginning.
100 copies on OPAQUE BLUE VINYL for mailorder while they last!
It's also worth mentioning that the 3rd press of the BEEX - THE EARLY YEARS: 1979-1982 12" has finally arrived as well! 250 copies on a SMOKY VINYL, snag em while ya can! And while we still eagerly await the arrival of the 2nd press of the SOCIO LA DIFEKTA - KRESKI EP (hopefully only a couple more months at most), I came across a few straggler copies with slightly damaged covers that I've put up at a reduced rate for those who don't care about things like imperfect print material, corners dinged in transit, etc etc.
As always, you can obtain copies of these records via the Beach Impediment Records Big Cartel aka OL' FAITHFUL.
You can stream / download these records AND purchase them via the Beach Impediment Records Bandcamp.
Be on the lookout for new slabs from LONG KNIFE, GRAVEN IMAGE, PHANTASIA, RED CROSS, WHITE CROSS and many more through out the year that have yet to be announced but will be soon enough, like an absolute shit kicker of a split that I just sent off to be cut the other day. Stay tuned!!!
Record bullshit aside, please continue to stay safe and navigate this strange new world the best you can. It's pretty much two years to the week since this shit all went down and what a stretch of time it's been. It's nice seeing shreds of normalcy return and we can only hope for some permanence to that. Time will tell.
Be well, stay safe, keep rocking,
-B.I.R.
