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
Knew/loved most of that stuff, but thanks for the intro to that Celia cover.
Travis Dillinger — May 12, 2010 @ 10:01 am
er Cecilia rather.
Travis Dillinger — May 12, 2010 @ 10:02 am
Missed opportunity alert! “Shuffle Your Feet” by BRMC!
Shaun — May 12, 2010 @ 10:05 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by robert bruns. robert bruns said: another tasty mix tape from Fuel / Friends http://bit.ly/c0CG8k [...]
Tweets that mention Stomp. Clap. Stomp. Clap. (the MIX!) | Fuel/Friends Music Blog -- Topsy.com — May 12, 2010 @ 10:26 am
Just what I needed on a cold, snowy morning (when I have to be at work rather than in my cozy bed). Thanks!
leslie — May 12, 2010 @ 10:45 am
Oh my god! This looks amazing!
Claire — May 12, 2010 @ 11:03 am
Nice! See also “Grandmother Song” by Vienna Teng (not her usual style but definitely fits the profile).
http://www.last.fm/music/Vienna+Teng/_/Grandmother+Song
Ethan — May 12, 2010 @ 11:30 am
Elizabeth & the catapult = nice! that cover is decent but her album is great. She is an old acquaintance of mine, glad to see her doing well. Nice mix. thank you
Amanda — May 12, 2010 @ 11:49 am
Great mix but beware the volume level on the Basia Bulat track.
My ear drums, they be ringing.
Katie — May 12, 2010 @ 12:22 pm
Ana Marie Cox mentioned this site on Twitter and wow! Best link of the day! Thanks!
lostakasha — May 12, 2010 @ 12:22 pm
Black and milds by Cataldo would’ve fit in nicely.
Thomas — May 12, 2010 @ 12:22 pm
Sweet mix – big thanks to you and Adrian!
jimbo — May 12, 2010 @ 12:31 pm
I’m so glad you remembered “Canceling Stamps at the University of Ghana Post Office”. One of my favorite field recordings ever but I’d forgotten the stomp element to it. Great job overall!
Adrian — May 12, 2010 @ 12:38 pm
Thank you so much for this awesome mix. I have it on repeat while I work.
Jote — May 12, 2010 @ 12:41 pm
Amaaaazing playlist, but it’s missing some bootstomping Avett Brothers or handclapping Edward Sharpe!
Hdot — May 12, 2010 @ 1:21 pm
Great idea and cool compilation…BUT leaving off GIVE PEACE A CHANCE is a huge omission!
Jeff — May 12, 2010 @ 1:41 pm
great, upbeat mix. Love your blog.
Josh — May 12, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
STFU. I mean really.
EliMcQ — May 12, 2010 @ 3:59 pm
Wendy Renee – Bar-B-Q. ‘Tis the season after all.
Pat — May 12, 2010 @ 4:35 pm
Fuel friends delivers again.
MP — May 12, 2010 @ 5:07 pm
Run, Chicken, Run by the Felice Brothers could have made this mix. “Breathe, chicken, breathe / Don’t you loose your breath / Chickens don’t get no life after death.”
EliMcQ — May 13, 2010 @ 9:22 am
I thought of another one–Ok Go: Get Over It.
wolfeje — May 13, 2010 @ 9:43 am
wolfeje – what a superb suggestion. i love that whole album – i am now listening to it. yay! (lotta knots, lotta snags,
lotta holes, lotta cracks lotta crags…)
browneheather — May 13, 2010 @ 9:48 am
Lovely mix – I would clap, but it seems as though I’ve been beaten to it…
Andrew — May 13, 2010 @ 10:06 am
Thanks for this! Only glaring omission is Band Of Horses’ “The General Specific”. Great stomp clap song!
Taylor — May 13, 2010 @ 12:42 pm
Heather, Fantastci as always but can’t believe you forgot the ultimate stomp/clapper
THE FIRST SINGLE! by the format!
Quinn — May 13, 2010 @ 4:41 pm
I absolutely and completely love your first paragraph!
Kid In The Front Row — May 13, 2010 @ 5:02 pm
Awesome!
Now about that percussion mix? That sounds pretty delicious too.
Jon Ford — May 13, 2010 @ 6:01 pm
Thank you so much!Since you first mentioned this, I have been crossing my fingers that you would post this mix!
Nico — May 13, 2010 @ 7:45 pm
Right on! Cant wait to burn this and blast it in my car =)
Cate — May 13, 2010 @ 10:08 pm
Awesomethunderfabulous.
Quinn — May 13, 2010 @ 10:40 pm
This mix is fantastic. Certainly has helped get through the last few days of constant storms in the midwest.
Speaking of mixes, one of my old friends contacted me the other day for help with one of hers, which ended up being one of the cooler ideas I’ve heard of as of late. She’s making her sister, who has a baby on the way, a mix of ‘indie’ lullaby songs. You can take ‘indie’ however you want, but I thought it was a fun idea. Think I might need to do that for my sister when she has a kid.
Adam — May 14, 2010 @ 8:23 am
Heather, what a brilliant mix! I confess I had to add a song to the playlist, however: EAOD’s “Aquariums.”
Fits in magically.
JT — May 14, 2010 @ 11:04 am
One other must add that my Itunes magically new to put on after this mix played – Frankie’s Gun by The Felice Brothers – best stomping music there is.
Brian — May 14, 2010 @ 3:57 pm
Heather, this is great!!! I made one of these last summer and we have a few of the same tunes. I’m going to enjoy this one though. I know we can all find more to add to the list – I hardly ever listen to oldies, but The Cure – Close to You is another good fit. Thanks again for this and for all your music blog…
Suzanne — May 14, 2010 @ 10:39 pm
Just want to say what a great blog you got here!
I’ve been around for quite a lot of time, but finally decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Thumbs up, and keep it going!
Cheers
Christian
incuckdus — May 15, 2010 @ 11:18 am
thanks for the great mix! it was fun meeting you in person the other night.
heather b — May 15, 2010 @ 8:19 pm
[...] http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/2010/05/11/stomp-clap-stomp-clap-the-mix/ on [...]
Easter Vacation Part 1: Sintra, Portugal « Sarah, for a year, at Oxford — May 16, 2010 @ 6:20 am
Great mix, been listening to it all weekend.
Slow and Easy by John Lee Hooker could’ve found a home on this mix too.
szg — May 16, 2010 @ 8:45 pm
[...] my new favorite music blog, I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, a free 32-song mix that you should download immediately so that it can be the soundtrack to your summer. (Stomp, [...]
a monday roundup of random stuff. « six words to change the world. — May 17, 2010 @ 9:52 am
I have that Ghana post office MP3 –good /unusual stuff! Also glad you included the Fruit Bats and Wilco … but you should know, ‘Airline to Heaven’ was ‘ripped off’ (or so Jay Bennett said) from Led Zeppelin’s Bron-Y-Aur Stomp. Check the handclaps… show a little love for Led Zep. We wouldn’t have Jack White or Pearl Jam without them….
Dan — May 17, 2010 @ 3:09 pm
Great mix, Heather! Thanks! I would add Vadoinmessico’s song “In Spain.”
larry — May 18, 2010 @ 9:27 am
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
If you can sit through this song and not start moving, then you’re probably dead.
Ross — May 18, 2010 @ 9:41 am
I was gonna suggest Airline to Heaven but it’s already in the list. I’ll be sure to burn this baby and use it to wake me up in the car ride to the salt mines every morning. At the moment your x-mas mixes are still in my glove-compartment, time for a new mix.
Christopher — May 22, 2010 @ 1:36 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6YAYzyzlM4&feature=related
Clapping happy through this number, “Dream Beans” by Roy Rieck & the Medley Band.
Einat — May 22, 2010 @ 3:40 am
FANTASTIC MIX!!
thank you so much, you brightened up my day
Eliana — May 22, 2010 @ 5:13 am
Or.. the glorious Tamar – ‘Sun’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AInycYJuc5c
Einat — May 22, 2010 @ 5:20 am
This is fantastic. I thought about adding “Birds Fly Away” by Theresa Andersson, “Indeed Sir” by The Black Oil brothers, “The Clapping Song” by Laura Love, and “Handclapping Song” by The Meters, but some of those are more clap than stomp. Thanks so much for putting it together.
Hugh Candyside — May 22, 2010 @ 5:24 pm
This looks awesome! Can’t wait to hear it! I have a play list that features a few of these songs, but also quite a few not on here. Taylor up above mentioned Band of Horses but I think ze got the song wrong; it’s “Lamb of the Lam”. There’s also “The Opposite of Hallelujah” by Jens Lekman, and I love Teitur’s “Boy She Can Sing” (on Stay Under the Stars) where the handclapping doesn’t start until halfway through but it’s a live studio recording and the energy of the people in the room is awesome. But I think my favorite use of handclapping is Radiohead’s “We Suck Young Blood” (Hail to the Thief), it’s just such a creepy effect.
Calvina Hobbes — May 23, 2010 @ 2:17 am
“spark a musical discovery”. Indeed. I’ve fallen in love with Radical Face’s album “Ghost” after bumping into “Welcome Home” in your playlist. “Winter Is Coming” is another most excellent tune. I owe you another one it seems. Keep doing what you do.
Christopher — May 26, 2010 @ 5:54 am
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