Stomp. Clap. Stomp. Clap. (the MIX!)
My favorite songs are the ones you feel in your bones, the ones that bubble up effervescently with that passion which has to explode out your extremities in the form of claps, stomps, and other forms of bodily percussion.
A few months ago, fellow blogger Adrian and I started knocking around the idea of a Stomp/Clap mix with all the best samples of these songs. This has been an absolute joy to assemble (with suggestions from you guys) and is the perfect late-Spring soundtrack. While everything outside is coming back to life, these songs are the essence of vibrancy and propulsive joy.
They range all over the map, from the old Delta blues of Son House, to Frightened Rabbit from Scotland (my favorite song on their new album), to the fantastic version from Brooklyn’s Elizabeth & The Catapult covering Leonard Cohen. There’s the song from Good Old War that kept me going all winter with its hopeful lyrics about birds up in the sky (and I thought of those words when a flock of seagulls soared silently over my head on the beach Saturday evening), and the Joshua James tune still frequently finds itself on repeat in my car for a dozen times or more.
The handclap + stomp combination was the earliest way that we humans punctuated our songs and kept our beats, and the preponderance of newer artists on this mix heartens me. Music is joyful again.
THE FUEL/FRIENDS STOMP-CLAP MIX
(This one’s so massive, I’m calling it a Double-CD/Gatefold LP supermix)
Before This Time – Ollabelle
Coal War – Joshua James
Catch My Disease – Ben Lee
Airline To Heaven – Billy Bragg & Wilco
Scar That Never Heals – Jeremy Fisher
Before I Knew – Basia Bulat
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb (alternate version) – Spoon
Dog Days Are Over – Florence + The Machine
But For You Who Fear My Name – The Welcome Wagon
Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare – Matt & Kim
Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel) – Local Natives (more)
Heart It Races (Architecture in Helsinki cover) – Dr. Dog
Twenty Five Miles – Edwin Starr
Five Years Time – Noah and the Whale
Coney Island – Good Old War
I’m A Pilot – Fanfarlo (more)
The Loneliness and the Scream – Frightened Rabbit
My Love – The Bird and The Bee
If You Need A Friend – James Murphy
Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen) – Elizabeth + The Catapult
When U Love Somebody – Fruit Bats
Grinnin In Your Face – Son House
I Woke Up Today – Port O’Brien (more)
Boy With A Coin – Iron & Wine (more)
Running Wild – Matt Pond PA (more)
Dokkoise House (With Face Covered) – Anathallo
Welcome Home, Son – Radical Face (more)
First Person – Jenny Owen Youngs
My Body’s A Zombie For You – Dead Man’s Bones (more)
Sea Lion Woman – Feist
Jackie Wants A Black Eye – Dr. Dog
Canceling Stamps At The University of Ghana Post Office
ZIP: FUEL/FRIENDS STOMP CLAP MIX
I recently made a different mix for a drummer friend of mine, all based around songs with percussion I love — and I think this mix just eclipsed it. This might be my favorite new mix ever.
Name: Heather Browne
U Stomp My World!!!
Capski Buttinski — May 28, 2010 @ 8:01 pm
Oh wow, what a mix. Thanks so much for introducing to so much great music.
A.J. — May 29, 2010 @ 7:14 am
thanks! made my day!
Kathi — May 29, 2010 @ 3:40 pm
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I think I love you.
Your blog is the win. There. It’s true.
Ali Plumb — May 31, 2010 @ 8:40 am
Although it doesn’t have a true stomp in it (it’s a drumbeat), “Dancing On Our Graves” by the Cave Singers sure makes me want to stomp and clap!
Reuben — June 1, 2010 @ 5:41 pm
Insanely good. I’ve listened to a lot of blog-sponsored mixes and this one pretty much tops the cake! <3
TheBeat — June 3, 2010 @ 2:57 pm
[…] came across a way-above average mix on the I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog that would slot in nicely into your weekend road trip. […]
Happy Week’s End › Beat the Indie Drum — June 4, 2010 @ 5:40 am
[…] and is entitled Cancelling Stamps at the University of Ghana Post Office. I got it as part of this Stomp Clap Mix at the I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog. Rachid Taha was born in Algeria and grew up in France. His […]
Africa Unite | Town Full of Losers — June 6, 2010 @ 7:02 am
I’m going to listen to this while cleaning my house tomorrow. Will make it a lot more fun and faster as well I think!
Thanks!
Simone — June 15, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
‘m still listening, thanks again
Capski Buttinski — June 20, 2010 @ 7:02 pm
[…] showcases her incredible pipes. For more hand clappy, foot stompy songs, go to the fantastic blog I Am Fuel, You Are Friends for a mixtape of epic […]
Absurd Intellectual » Music Mondays: Florence + the Machine — June 28, 2010 @ 8:59 pm
Girl, I am smitten with you, your words and insights, and most of all your mixes. I’m sure that if you lived anywhere near Ann Arbor, we’d likely become fast friends. Thank you so much for doing what you do so openly, honestly and from the heart.
At the risk of sounding stalkerish, I’m addicted to Fuel-Friends and have told everyone I know that they simply have to read your words.
indebted… at least for a drink when, if ever, you are in my fair city.
dani
ann arbor, mi
Dani Loosbrock — August 31, 2010 @ 10:34 pm
Heather – This mix is still rocking my world almost 6 months later! Although I must say I’m surprised that no Tilly and the Wall songs made the cut. They are one of my all-time favorite “hand clapping” bands. Perhaps they are on this elusive percussion mix that’s yet to surface?
Miss_Zabone — October 25, 2010 @ 12:30 am
Next mix you should put some April Smith and the Great Picture Show. “Colors” or “Movie Loves A Screen” are as happy and clap-worthy as they get. I’m surprised you haven’t written about them ever – they have been all over NPR for the last 6 months. Check ’em out…if you haven’t heard them yet.
Miss_Zabone — October 25, 2010 @ 9:50 pm
[…] idea about this band when I started playing around the idea of a Stomp-Clap mix (which eventually Heather took off with and did really well), but a friend suggested this song and I’m glad she did. A magnificent voice backed with […]
ipickmynose: an indie, soul and oldies music blog » top song obsessions of the year (2010) — December 31, 2010 @ 2:41 pm
[…] indie rock and hard riffs are replaced with smoother melodies and folksy edges. For fans of the stomp-clap-stomp-clap pattern, this song is a worthy […]
New EP from The Heavenly States – ‘Oui Camera Oui’ : The Bay Bridged – San Francisco Bay Area Indie Music — March 9, 2011 @ 8:05 am
Listen to “The Hustle” by A Night in the Box. You can thank me later.
Claire — March 21, 2012 @ 6:58 pm
[…] are the bacon of music before, have we not? Not that there’s much to discuss- the fact one of the best mixes ever created uses only tunes that involve clapping and stomping makes the bulletproof case for me. Anyways, […]
‘Son of a Gun’- Brendan Losch | songsfortheday — April 12, 2012 @ 6:35 pm
Derby’s “If Ever There’s A Reason” would have been another great addition…
Bruce — May 27, 2012 @ 11:15 pm
I’ve been trying to find a stomp-clap mix that focuses a little more on the bluesier and darker gospel side of the genre. For instance, The stomp claps that are a little more agressive like “The Jungle” by Jamie N. Commons and the Ambassadors or major-blues groove based like “Fixin to Die, ” a cover by G.Love and the Avetts.
Any advice on where to look? Or perhaps if there is a more technical term for this style of beat/music.
Patrick — October 1, 2014 @ 10:43 am