Another month another fine FBFY mix tape from the notorious group of twittersphere hooligans

Another month another fine mix tape from the notorious group of twittersphere hooligans present for your listening pleasure Feel Bad For You June 2014 cover art by Hoosier Buddy

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Title: Next to the Trash
Artist: Punch Brothers
Album  (2010): Antifogmatic
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: It’s all part of having a man in the house

Title: Where Is My Knife
Artist: The Amazing Snakeheads
Album: Amphetamine Ballads (2014)
Submitted By: Mad Mackerel Music Blog
Comments: Undoubtedly our live discovery of the year at the Great Escape Festival. Menacing, brooding, savage, threatening, and quite, quite brilliant. Junkyard punk and voodoo blues combine to create a sleazy, hypnotic masterpiece on this, one of many standouts on their debut album.

Title: She’s Got A Heart Of Stone
Artist: The Singles
Album (4/9/2014): Daytrotter Studio Session
Submitted By: @BoogieStudio22
Comments: As I’ve mentioned a time or two or a hundred, I’m a sucker for power pop. I came across The Singles on a recent Daytrotter (Daytrotter.com) session and they blew me away. I hear the best of the 60s pop and garage bands, as well as power pop from the 80s (Romantics, Smithereens, etc…).

Title: Too Shiny
Artist: Zoe Muth
Album (2014) World of Strangers
Submitted by: Simon www.beat-surrender.com
Comments: Loving the new Zoe Muth album at the moment and this is one of the many highlights from it

Title: Two Ambulance Day
Artist: The Wind-Up Birds
Album [2014]: Poor Music
Submitted By: hoosier buddy (with thanks to April for introducing this band to me)
Comments: Poor Music by The Wind-Up Birds (released on Sturdy Records 27 May 2014) is a terrible, heartbreaking, immediate, loose-tense, connect-the-dots-and-see-where-you’ve-got-to-now album. It will push you to drink, then give you cause to despair, then inspire you to anger that extends in all directions and feeds on throbbing bass and desperate drumming. I’m not suicidal; just enlightened in a way I totally did not expect. Picking just one song was an exercise in futility, as there is no filler in the 17 tracks on this CD. In the end I had to choose, and Two Ambulance Day offered itself as a harbinger of what will be. Watch out!
From the blog Life Is One Big Review:
“‘Two Ambulance Day’ is another dose of brilliant post-punk sarcasm. Lead singer Paul Ackroyd’s vocals are impassioned, as always. Ambience gives way to a high energy finish and the track overall leaves you with the overwhelming feeling that the country is going to shit.”

Artist: Matt Woods
Song: Liberty Bell
Album: With Love From Brushy Mountain
Label: Lonely Ones Records
Year: 2014
Submitted By: Adam Dawson: www.TheBrokenJukebox.com
Comments: My submission this month comes from the new Matt Woods record that I can’t stop listening to. Every year there are a few records that really rise above even the great records of that year and With Love From Brushy Mountain is definitely one this year. I chose “Liberty Bell” really because it’s the last track on the album and the last one I listened to today, therefore the lines “My bloodshot eyes can hide about behind these shades and a couple of drinks” are stuck in my head. I could have just as easily sent in any song from the record and been happy with my submission for the month.

Artist: Bobby Charles
Song: Street People
Album: Bobby Charles (1972)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: Friend played this LP for me recently. Features the Band, dr. John, others, produced by Robbie Robertson. Laid back Louisiana swamp funk. Reissued recently from > http://lightintheattic.net/releases/1009-bobby-charles

Title: Fire Eyes
Artist: The Entrance Band
Album (2013): Face The Sun
Submitted By: Popa Tunes
Comments: A good friend Mike Newman, former DJ at the defunct East Village Radio started his own label Beyond, Beyond is Beyond last year, with an ear for groovy psych music he is gathering a plethora of tasty bands to the label. If you’re heavy into such music he has a yearly jamscription service that mails every new release on VINYL to your door. There is a free 2014 bandcamp sampler available to indulge in.

Title: My Silver Lining
Artist: First Aid Kit
Album (2014): Stay Gold
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (ninebullets.net)
Comments: Currently, my favorite song of the year.

Title: Turn The Lights Down Low
Artist: Sarah McLachlan
Album:Shine On (2014)
Submitted By: @tincanman2010
Comments: Don’t worry girls, I haven’t gone soft on you. ooo, er. I don’t usually listen to Sarah, but her latest – about emerging from a period of loss – is tremendous despite the typically tepid Canadian studio work. (One song, Broken Heart, would be an all-time country classic if redone right)

Title: Chicken Hearted
Artist: Roy Orbison
Album: The Early Years comp (but released as a single on Sun Records in 1957)
Submitted By: annieTUFF
Comments: Who doesn’t like Roy Orbison? This is one of my favorite summertime tunes. (It is also very possible that I was inspired to choose this song by my current hunt for new sunglasses)

Title: Memphis In The Meantime
Artist: John Hiatt
Album  (1994): Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan?
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: I was thrilled along with a few thousand others to see John Hiatt live on a recent Saturday night in the big field of an historic horse farm owned by the city of Franklin, TN. A day later it dawned on me it was the second time for me to see Hiatt – with both times in city parks. The first time was in Chattanooga’s Miller Plaza about 25 years ago when only about 300 folks or so attended. I had the opportunity way back then to meet him after the show, and he autographed my copy of Slow Turning. The dude still gets it done.

Title: The Promise
Artist: When in Rome
Album (1988): When in Rome
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: This one is for those of you too young to remember the original and are now enjoying Sturgill Simpson’s cover. This was one of my favorite songs in high school. Sometimes I miss the 80s. Sigh.

Title: No Roads Here
Artist: Corb Lund
Album  (2014): Counterfeit Blues
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: My third favorite music act (the first being The Sadies and the second being Neil Young) is releasing a live album on July 1. Most of the songs from this album are from his first two albums (2002′s Five Dollar Bill and 2006′s Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer) which are both, sadly, largely unknown to the American audience. There are two or three new tracks on the album too, and this is one of them.

Title: Happy
Artist: John Fullbright
Album (2014): Songs
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: You want sad country songs? I’ll give you sad country songs. This album is brilliant.

Title: The Company Song
Artist: Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires
Album (2014): Dereconstructed
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: This may be my album of the year. It’s hands down the rock album of the year. If you can imagine a Southern rock arrow starting from Skynyrd and pointing to the Drive-By Truckers, this arrow now points from the DBT to Lee Bains III, but with a dash of punk on the side. Listen closely to the lyrics. Brilliant.

Title: Anchor Iron
Artist: Fire Mountain
Album: All Dies Down (2014)
Submitted By: Trailer (Farce the Music)

September rolls out, Revisit Feel Bad For You Mixtape 'Unsung Heroes'

As September rolls out and a new Feel Bad For You Mixtape approaches the first weekend of October,
Let's revisit the Unsung Heroes Mix. Those artists that never seemed to get the attention or acclaim they deserved. Download Read or leave Comments

1. Title: Who Could Ask For More
Artist: Gerald Collier
Album (2003): Breakin’ Down
Submitted By: @BoogieStudio22
Comments: Gerald Collier is a singer/songwriter I’ve submitted before, but in my mind, he epitomizes this month’s ‘unsung heroes’. He was a member of 90s alternative band Best Kissers In The World before going solo. He’s put out a bunch of albums from the mid-90s to about 2007, but ‘disappeared’ after his 2007 release. His albums plumbed the depths of addiction, lost love/friendships, etc… He’s back with a new album that is not nearly as dark sounding. While still exploring topics of addiction and loss, there’s a more hopeful side to his lyrics. He’s back in Seattle and starting to play around again.

2. Title: Hummingbird
Artist: Leon Russell
Album (1970): Leon Russell (1st Solo Album)
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: oft overlooked

3. Title: Where the Fuckheads Roam
Artist: Big Fish Ensemble
Album (1994): I Hate Parties
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: Gawd, I loved this band. Their live show was incredible, chasing each other around stage with a trombone. Atlanta had an incredible music scene in the early 90s.

4. Title: New Boy
Artist: The Connells
Album (1994): New Boy EP
Submitted By: @mikeorren
Comments: The Connells were the hottest “power pop” band to come out of North Carolina in the 1990s. I first saw them play a party at somebody’s house in High Point in 1988. They were always supposed to become the “next big thing,” but never got there. Closest was this track which was huge in Europe, but not here. I remember how pissed I got when they finally played in Dallas, circa 1995, and their headliner slot got preempted by opener Cowboy Mouth who were cruising on their first (only?) hit. The Connells still gig occasionally in the Carolinas. http://www.theconnells.com/

5. Title: Wanna Be On Your Mind
Artist: Valerie June
Album (2013):
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (ninebullets.net)
Comments: I’ve been completely addicted to this song.

6. Title: Soundtrack To My Summer
Artist: Two Cow Garage
Album: Sweet Saint Me (2010)
Submitted by: hoosier buddy
Comments: I love this band, and wish they would come around more often, ’cause whenever I see them play it makes the voices stop for a while.

7. Title: Just Poppin’ Out To Fight A War
Artist: The Cropdusters
Album: If The Sober Go To Heaven…(1989)
Submitted By: Mad Mackerel Music Blog
Comments: If ever a band deserved more attention than they got, then it surely was The Cropdusters. A ferocious folk rock/cow punk band that put on the best live show we’ve ever seen and who, in the late 1980s were rising fast on the back of the success of the Pogues, the Men They Couldn’t Hang, New Model Army et al, they seemed destined for cult stardom at the very least. Somehow though it never quite happened: record deals fell through, major support slots were cancelled (too threatening to the headliners), drink and drugs and in-fighting took its toll, and instead second-rate copyists like the Levellers somehow became the next big thing. In the end the band left behind a hasty mini album of early singles and live recordings and a hard to find, but undeniably brilliant follow-up album (Home Grown Agent Orange) released on a Dutch label. This is the adrenalin fueled, mosh-pit meltdown of Just Poppin’ Out To Fight A War.

8. Title: Georgia Rain
Artist: The Questionnaires
Album: Anything Can Happen (1991)
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: With Jason And The Scorchers leading the way in the 80s, Music Row’s traditional sound was expanding in infinite directions. Many up-and-comers rotated through the clubs of Elliston Place and later expanded regionally, nationally and in some cases even into Europe. The Questionnaires was one such band. EMI signed the band, and two albums were released. Then Shawn Colvin recorded “Window To The World”, the opening song and title track of their first album, for her Cover Girl release. Full steam ahead to The Big Time. And then… *pffft*. Guitarist and lyricist Tom Littlefield has remained a Nashville songwriting presence in the 20+ years since The Questionnaires no longer had an answer. He co-wrote “I Couldn’t Care Less” with Tommy Womack for Womack’s fantastic “There I Said It!” album. And in 2012, he and another performer released “Treatment Bound”, a ukelele tribute to The Replacements (http://nashvillepublicradio.org/blog/2012/11/26/ukulele-bound-bright-little-field-strum-a-different-beat).

9. Title: Run Away West
Artist: Holidaysburg
Album:  A Better November
Submitted By: Romeo Sid Vicious
Comments: Holidaysburg is a band I discovered years back due to the Lucero message board via their drummer Larry Fulford. (Larry has also beat on things for Matt Woods and Truckstop Coffee and is a now a comedian.) I wish these guys had stuck around and done more than the one album because the song writing was damn good as was the music. It’s always sad to see bands disappear when they’re really good and Holidaysburg was no exception to that for me. Every time I pull out this record I am a little sad that it’ll be the only one by them I ever get to play.

10. Title: Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe
Artist: Swamp Dogg
Album (1970): Total Destruction to Your Mind
Submitted By: Trailer
Comments: One of my favorite soul artists ever. Probably didn’t get his due because he let his freak flag fly before flying your freak flag was cool.

11. Title: “Arousing Thunder”
Artist: Grant Lee Buffalo
Album (1996): Copperopolis
Submitted By: @TheSecondSingle
Comments: These guys had a good run in the ’90s mixing alt. rock with Americana, anchored by Grant Lee Phillips’ incredible voice. They even caught the admiration of Michael Stipe who had GLB open for R.E.M., talked them up in interviews and contributed to some of their recordings. Unfortunately, they never built a big enough audience to make it big and broke up before Y2K. They got back together for some London shows last year and released an astoundingly good live album from the Royal Festival Hall earlier this year (really; few bands from the ’90s could get back together after 15 years and sound this good). This track is one of my all time favorite songs and is just plain gorgeous.

12. Title: Hymn #101
Artist: Joe Pug
Album (2008): Hear Ya Live session
Submitted By: @tincanman2010
Comments: No one has had a sharper pen since Dylan than Joe Pug. When he writes, he bleeds. When he performs, he sweats. What he sings, he lives.

13. Title: Douchebags on Parade
Artist: Mudhoney
Album (2013): Vanishing Point
Submitted By: scratchedsoul
Comments: Mudhoney’s always been there and I get the sense they will continue to always be there. Through all the ups and downs of their scene, the industry, even their own band, they stay true to their garage rock roots while continuing to grow. As always, they do it all with a great sense of humor. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of a Mark Arm barb.

14. Title: Sugar Blue Too
Artist: Jeff Finlin
Album (2004): Somewhere South of Wonder
Submitted By: Simon (www.beat-surrender.com)
Comments: Struggled with picking out an artist and song to submit this month before settling on a favourite from Jeff Finlin, I’ve all of Jeff’s albums and truth be told I’d recommended all of them to anyone who cares to listen.

15. Title: Lil Caney
Artist: Glossary
Album (2008): Better Angels of Our Nature
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: I’ve seen these guys and gal in more cities and states than any other band. They’ve been going at it since the late 90s and are one of those bands who have paid their dues that you’d love to see hit it big. I’ve never seen them play a show where they didn’t give 100%.

16. Title: Mumblin’ Guitar
Artist: Bo Diddley
Album (Year): 1950s?
Submitted by: Gorrck
Comments: Always an underrated guitarist and performer, but without him, we wouldn’t have rock and roll as we know it.

17. Title: Golden
Artist: Radio Nationals
Album (2003): Place You Call Home
Submitted By: @BoogieStudio22
Comments: Radio Nationals were a Seattle-based band that put out an EP in 2002 and LP in 2003. This is kick ass alt-country at its best. They seemed to disappear shortly after their first national tour, when they were touring behind their LP release of Place You Call Home. Jared Clifton, who I think was the leader, still does solo shows around Seattle.

Feel Bad For You Mix Tape - May 2013

A whole lot of recent releases mixed with some oldies but goodies from our favorite Connoisseurs of harmonious sound indulgenceurs. You know what to do.
As always, comments are welcome. If the comments aren’t wild enough, you aren’t drinking enough. Thanks  (@popa2unes) for this month’s artwork. Download

1. Title: The Waist and The Knees
Artist: Game Theory
Album (1987): Lolita Nation 
Submitted By: Scott Emmons (@BoogieStudio22)
Comments: Scott Miller, of Game Theory and Loud Family, died on April 15. That kind of bummed me out because we are about the same age and I enjoyed his music. In 1987 I was several years out of college and immersed in the alternative music scene of the San Francisco Bay Area. I first remember hearing Game Theory’s song, “The Real Sheila”, on the San Jose, CA college station KSJS. Lolita Nation was an album of 27 tracks that demanded you listen from start to finish. It still does. In my mind, Lolita Nation is their finest album. Though “The Real Sheila” was probably better known from that album, I selected “The Waist and The Knees”. If you are interested, you can download all the (out of print) Game Theory albums here: http://www.loudfamily.com/index.html 

2. Title: Somebody Else
Artist: JJ Grey & Mofro
Album (2013): This River
Submitted By: Bryan Childs (ninebullets.net)
Comments: A murder ballad you can fuck to. How is that ever wrong?

3. Title: Kiss
Artist: Scout Niblett (w/Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy)
Album (2007): This Fool Can Die Now
Submitted By: @tincanman2010
Comments: Scout says she falls in love too easily and then over-romanticizes it. Out now on a Murder By Death Kickstarter promise, and I like the band but she wrote this for her and Will to sing and thus it shall remain.

4. Title: Lower Places
Artist: Nikki Sue & The Bad News
Album (2012): Lower Places
Submitted By: @popa2unes
Comments: Lately all I want in my ears are female musicians, and fortunately there is now an abundance of them, Nikki Sue & The Bad News are two time Couch By Couchwest alumni this year they premiered a brand new unreleased song ‘Nothing Gold’ for us. She’s going be the new sweetheart of New Jersey and I hope she makes it big.

5. Title: Stormy Monday
Artist: Stoned Jesus
Album (2012): Seven Thunders Roar
Submitted By: hoosier buddy
Comments: The music of this Ukranian stoner rock/metal band appeals to me because it is presented simply and without pretense. It just fucking rocks. For a real sonic treat, head over to last.fm and check out “I’m The Mountain”, which is also a free download
http://www.last.fm/music/Stoned+Jesus/_/I%27m+the+Mountain

6. Title: Fox in the Hen House
Artist: Quaker City Night Hawks
Album (2013): Honcho
Submitted By: @mikeorren
Comments: Quaker City Night Hawks may be the best thing going in Dallas / Fort Worth right now and finally popped out a studio album that matches the energy of the live show.

7. Title: Ring of Fire
Artist: 37 Targetz
Album: (1986) And It Burns                                                                                               Submitted By: toomuchcountry                                                                                              Comments: Some may be ready to burn me at the stake for this rendition of the iconic number written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore. But hear me out. I moved to Chattanooga TN in the mid 80s to start my legit adult contribution to the American Way. Upon landing, my friends and I were directed to a local bar called Yesterday’s. And the one band we HAD to see when they came home was 37 Targetz. The Targetz – with the deliberate “z”- submitted a clip to MTV’s Basement Tapes (back when videos were aired on MTV). In a case of the local kids made good, their video won based on viewers’ phone votes (hard to imagine no texting, websites, likes, or RTs). They struck a deal to record an album, and it was produced by Don Dixon. Called Another Day in Europe, it was released as “…And It Burns” in the US – at least in the limited markets in which it was available. Yesterday’s had live bands every weekend. Management required just about all of them to be cover bands, but 37 Targetz was one of the rare exceptions. When they rotated back home every so often and hit the cramped stage, all of us in the shoulder-to-shoulder bar went to our feet in our chairs and busted a move for the rest of the night with the hopes no one would topple to the floor (though there was always at least one). A synthesized Ring of Fire doesn’t move the needle today. But in the mid 80s when 37 Targetz’ amps were cranked to 11 at midnight in the Nooga, the beer was flowing and ears were ringing.

8. Title: Swing Wide the Gates
Artist: Raina Rose — http://rainarose.com/
Album (2013): Caldera
Submitted By: @philnorman
Comments: I submitted one of Raina’s tunes a few months ago off of the excellent Elliott, Rose, Da Costa EP called CA TX NY. But this tune comes from her upcoming album Caldera, out June 11. I got a copy early for backing on Kickstarter, and I’ve listened to it dozens of times already — it’s a great record, and right up there as an early candidate for album of the year for me. If you dig singer-songwriter music, you want this album.

9. Title: Spring Fever
Artist: Teen Getaway
Album: (2013): Hits and Missives 

Submitted by: Corey Flegel (This Is American Music)
Comments: Teen Getaway is a Birmingham band that’s been around and off and on for a long long time. They go super waaaay back with the Glossary gang. Pre-Beene even…house party days. We’re damn proud to get this out into the world. It’ll be released on TIAM in a month or so.

10. Title: Think Of You
Artist: Bleached
Album (2011): Carter 7″ (single)
Submitted By: annieTUFF
Comments: I think this is a nice “almost summer” song, it’s been out for a year or two, but I just came across the video for this song around a month ago and I really liked it. You can check that out here: http://youtu.be/–PGy31IeI4

11. Title: Trap Door
Artist: Strand of Oaks
Album  (2012): Dark Shores
Submitted By: Beldo/@TheSecondSingle
Comments: One of the great unsung albums of last year. This guy is getting better every time out.

12. Title: Hello It’s Me
Artist: Todd Rundgren
Album (1972): Something/Anything?
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments:

13. Title: Until the Led
Artist: Vic Chesnutt
Album: (1998): Sounds of the New West / The Salesman & Bernadette                      Submitted By: Simon2307                                                                                          Comments: First heard this on a compilation album CD that came with Uncut magazine, it was one of a number of tracks on the CD that sent me in search of some great music, I hadn’t listened to the track or album for some time then I had cause recently to mention Weightless Again by The Handsome Family in a blog post about their new album and had to dig out the CD for a spin, great tune.

14. Title: You Can Have The Crown
Artist: Sturgill Simpson
Album  (2013): High Top Mountain ( to be released June 11)
Submitted by: Mando Lines
Comments: Sturgill Simpson’s voice is pure country. He’s having some fun with this song, but his stuff ranges the spectrum of old-school country and is certainly worth a listen.

15. Title: River Rose
Artist: Meat Puppets
Album  (2013): Rat Farm
Submitted By: Ryan
Comments: If you were a fan of the original Pups but haven’t been keeping track of them since Kurt and Kris reunited back in 2007 – you’re missing out. They’ve put out four strong albums since then and the most recent, Rat Farm, is excellent. I could have chosen any song off of this one, but “River Rose” is pretty sweet. The Meat Puppets are one of those bands that always sound like themselves without having to recycle the same ideas over and over again.

16. Title: Cruel Movements
Artist: JoDee Purkeypile
Album  (2013): Messenger
Submitted by: erschen
Comments: The guy sure has an odd name but man does he have some power pop chops

17. Title: Signal 30
Artist: Public Service Broadcasting
Album  (2013): Inform-Educate-Entertain
Submitted By: Mad Mackerel Music Blog
Comment: We’ve been playing this non-stop since we first got it. Brilliant use of cut-up samples and sound clips over the most incredible riff makes it an insane driving song – real foot to the floor stuff. Dive in!

18. Title: Give Me Back My Wig
Album: Hound Dog Taylor & the House Rockers
Artist: Hound Dog Taylor
Submitted by: Gorrck
Comment: Old school Chicago blues. No blues here. 90F and sunny!