The Rabbit Hole USA

If you’re a metal fan, you might know there’s been a rich tapestry of metallic majesty for decades now, with a never-ending depth and many sub-genres to explore, most of which never made the “big time” due to limited commercial opportunities, but are known and sought after by metal fans.

The Rabbit Hole has your Sabbath, Rainbow, UFO, Saxon and Queensryche, but we also have a wide selection of lesser-known hard-rocking artists for you to discover, like Masi, Barren Cross, Roughhouse, Tank, Black ‘n Blue, Savatage, Pandemonium, Bonfire, Disturbed, Harlow, Hullaballoo, Jumpa, Killer Dwarfs, Lillian Axe, Coven, Loss for Words, Pretty Maids, Love/Hate, Obsession, Precious Metal, Fierce Heart, Prong, The Stand, Blessed Death, Talas, Victory, Loudness, and Voivod.

Check out some song samples just in, from the fertile late 1980s:

• The Dio-esque Zed Yago playing The Spell from Over Yonder.

• The punk-metal of Maelstrom’s Step One.

• The barreling sound of Rage doing Round Trip.

• The speed-metal wizardry of Crumbsuckers doing Jimmie’s Dream.

• Or if something with a slightly more commercial production is your style, tune in Fifth Angel doing Midnight Love.
  

This week the music department has come into a delightful pile of 7″ indie pop vinyl and CDs from the genre’s 1990s heyday. The style is a truly unique aesthetic, a merger of DIY punk ideals, indie spirit, and enthusiasm for the rush of pure pop music. There’s nothing like it. The pioneering indie-pop-dedicated site, TweeNet defines the style:

They call it “wimpy” and “twee”, but Pop Kids everywhere know that the true spirit of Punk Rock lives on not in the mass-marketed “alternative” scene, or the sub-metal caterwauling of testosterone-poisoned grunge-rockers, but in the simple and pure efforts of kids banging out sweet delicious songs on cheap guitars.

The insular indie pop scene has its own web sites, record labels, zines, discussion groups, blogs, net radio stations, and events around the world. To explore it, sites like IndiePages and Ad’s Indie Pop Links will get you started.

So, if you’re keen to discover bands like The Apples in Stereo, The Push Kings, All About Chad, Clock Strikes Thirteen, Pest 5000, Moving Pictures, Now We Are 6, Papas Fritas, Tizzy, and more, drop by The Rabbit Hole and check it out. If you can’t wait to sample some sounds, take a listen to these groovy MP3 samples, all of which happen to feature female vocals:

• Bunnygrunt, from Missouri, does Macho Beagle

• Red Sleeping Beauty, from Sweden, does Seasons Change

• Poopiehead, from Texas, charms you with P-Day

• Prickly, from Boston, goes dreamy with Fancy Party Hairdo

• Jumprope, also local, captivates with Swimming With Nancy

   

We regularly post here just a few selections from our new arrivals in music. We will also include Mp3′s which stay up for one week only. All of our records are expertly cleaned and play graded before we put them in the racks. A time consuming task, so we are usually a couple thousand records behind. This week we had to clean up some of those records that sell rather well, so several of the list below are more mainstream than much of what we usually post here.

Billy Joel – Cold Spring Harbor

Billy Joel was coolest and most introspective in his earliest years, as evidenced by this acoustic-guitar-based gem from his debut album: Why Judy Why

Cheap Trick – Dream Police

From Rockford Illinois, the original Cheap Trick is still recording, touring, and playing with no less vigor than they did 30 years ago. You can listen to Way of the World.

Axe – Offering

Despite their first break-up in 1984, and a tragic automobile accident, Florida hard rockers Axe are still around, remembering the days they toured with the likes of Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Scorpions, and Ozzy Osbourne. From their third LP offering in 1982, Holdin’ On.

Blessed Death – Destined for Extinction

This is a some what rare Thrash Metal LP. Not to be missed if that is your kind of thing. We are lucky to have turned this one up. Fans of the genre consider these guys to be one of the more interesting of the 80′s thrash scene with their technical and composing expertise, and lyrically – primarily about the horrors of war. Check out Death in Sky.

I just found out about this event happening across the street from us:

The Boulder Coffeehouse features Peter Fischman & Deb O’Hanlon, Saturday 7:30, April 11th!

PETER FISCHMAN is a hidden gem of a songwriter who ought to be widely known and lauded. His songs of home, friends, and family capture a moment or depict a place or event with the visual acuity of an Ansel Adams photograph. His wife DEB O’HANLON adds her beautiful clear voice. Together, they released “In His Own Words”, a CD of Peter’s songs, in 2008. Here’s what people say about it:

“Peter, this album is so moving. Song after song, I’m getting chills, tears, laughs, all of it. I think of my dear daughter [in] California whom I miss. I think of how very lucky I am to be living here in nature’s bounty with loved ones all around. On and on. You are a word wizard. Very tastefully produced and mixed also, not over done and heavy. Deb, your voice is amazing, so clear and true. It is a pleasure to listen to.”

“Kudos to Peter and Deb for a great job, well done. Been listening to the CD all week in my car. Very clever, thoughtful lyrics and beautiful harmonies. Quite the storyteller, Peter. Can’t pick a favorite just yet. I love “The Nearsighted Poet”. Makes me grin every time it plays. And “The Vegetable with Feet” is hilarious. Deb’s beautiful voice is so perfect on “Here in This Place” and “York, Maine”, it almost makes me want to move back to New England.”

And there will also be a new Secret Special Guest performance!

Proceeds will be shared between the host church and a local non-profit organization selected by the featured performers.

The Boulder Coffeehouse is a smoke-free, alcohol-free, fair-trade coffee, candlelit venue for folk and other musical genres, located at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Fitchburg, MA, 923 Main Street on the Upper Common. The show begins at 7:30

Don’t forget to stop by this Thursday, April 2nd at The Rabbit Hole and check out our events with Emily, Mabel, and Bert and to enter the raffle for a beautiful new kayak. You can read more about the event here.

Since everyone had such a great time during the last open mic, we are doing it again: Thursday night, April 9th beginning at 7:00 pm. Last time we had poetry, stand-up, singer songwriters and a very receptive and encouraging crowd.

Update: Note the time has changed from 6:00 to 7:00.