Happy people don’t rob banks (“Baby Girl (This Is a Stick-up),” with a reprise in “Let’s Turn This City On”), or write phenomenal heartbreak-and-longing tunes, though, so it’s just as well. And the Bay State have a ton of fun with their cynicism. In the chorus to the album’s opener, “1944,” they profess, “I’m going down/I’m kicking and screaming/You’re the only way I’m going to make it out alive.”
But I don’t buy it. These guys are going nowhere but up.
Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam_pfeifle@yahoo.com.
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Early and often, Wild honey, Bay State update, More 
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There’s plenty to get excited about looking forward into the scant three months that make up the only great time to be in Maine.
- Wild honey
Nothing could be more appropriate for a place like Geno’s.
- Bay State update
Last we left the Bay State, they had turned out the excellent EP Let's Turn This City On , released just over a year ago. In the meantime, they've played the Warped Tour, picked up a booking agent, and worked hard on their live show. Their new three-song EP, released December 11, indicates they may have fallen in love with the live show while they were at it.
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Of the 3877 songs currently on my iPod (generation two, 20 gigs) none had “unclassifiable” in the genre description until I loaded the Toughcats’ debut full-length into my iTunes.
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Really, you’d have to be crazy to launch a record label in these troubled musical times.
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What has already been an active year on the local scene only ramps up for summer.
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Like Paranoid Social Club’s debut before it, As Fast As’ first record for Octone Records will be pretty familiar for the band’s local fans
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Portland continues to establish itself as a critical northern outpost of digital music with the release this month of Vik44's Was Never White . As the genre matures and evolves, it's some of the most interesting music to listen to because there are no rules.
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The RPM Challenge asked area artists to write and record an entire 35-minute album in just 28 days; shockingly, 220 bands and solo artists signed up, and more than 160 albums were delivered.
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Raise your hand if you know where Anatolia is.
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When John Paul comes to Slainte in a couple weeks, he'll be returning to the Portland scene where he got his start in the biz,
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Music Features
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