Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 17- December '21

Planted and Enchanted
Written By Evan Hammonds
 

You can enjoy the Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 17 playlist in its entirety on Spotify. Just click on the included Spotify plugin.

Playlist Highlight: Snowman, WYS

I don’t like Christmas music. Well, I say that, but what I think I really mean is that I don’t like Mariah Carey’s music? It’s just so…boring? Am I crazy? I mean I suppose I’ve made my peace with the fact that it’s generic corporate pop designed in a lab to be played at shopping malls to have the psychological effect of forcing people to spend more - continuing the long and drawn out trend of that uniquely American value of commercialization that will inevitably lead to our downfall. Joy to the World.

Again, I’m cool with that part, I think the real problem is that it’s just boring. I must be in the minority because on Spotify, her song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has over a billion listens. Yes, a billion. That probably means more people have heard that song than the Sermon on the Mount. ‘Tis the season.

If I were forced to pick a popular Christmas song as a favorite, I think I’m going with “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano. It’s and absolute bop I’ve enjoyed it since I was a little kid; plus it taught me the most Spanish I’d learn until I got into 11th grade. Statistically, it only has 1/3 of the Carey listens. What a shame.

I was recently in a Chick-Fil-A and heard instrumentals of Christmas music playing in the background. In many locations, worship music is played year round at these restaurants, which has caused a great deal of controversy over the years. Some people don’t think religious music should be played at all, while other’s want CFA to put the lyrics back in. It’s frustrating when people bring politics and religion into things which at their hearts are really only about fast food and cow mascots.

But something about hearing instrumentals at this time of year took me back to my college days, when I would spend hours studying for December final exams with music (much like this month’s playlist highlight) playing in the background to help me focus.

On the walk to campus from the Freshman dorms, I remember listening to the Hoosiers soundtrack to inspire me to slam dunk (layup?) my Calculus Final. I genuinely think Jerry Goldsmith helped me earn that B. I’m proud to admit I have used my Calc knowledge precisely zero times since that final. I’m also pretty sure a limit is just invited by the scholastic industrial complex to make students take classes they don’t need to keep them in debt. Then those very same colleges have endowments which invest in SLABs, which lets them double dip. Somewhere in an evil layer, Betsy Devos is doing a Tiger Woods fist pump.

As I reread what I wrote so far, I realize it’s a bit snarky, and that’s not the head space I want to be in this time of year. I think I’ll give my playlist a listen to see if it will help elicit some cozy winter vibes. Maybe it will do the same for you.

What is Planted and Enchanted?

If you’re anything like me, you surely have a “junk drawer” somewhere in your home. It probably consists of an old flashlight with dead batteries in it, a handful of rubber bands alongside some pens running low on ink, enough loose keys for you to qualify as a middle school janitor, some birthday cards given to you years ago (how quickly can I throw these away without it being rude? Better wait another decade just to be safe.), the box to your old iPhone simply because it’s a pretty darn cool box, and a small library of service manuals for among other things: your refrigerator, hot water heater, and that Instant Pot you used just the one time.

I don’t consider my junk drawer “worthless” mind you, but rather see it a collection of delightful discoveries (Hey! I didn’t know I had a yo-yo!), and delightful rediscoveries (So that’s where my playing cards were!).

That’s my aim for this playlist series: Planted and Enchanted. A monthly track list consisting of songs that likely won’t fit perfectly together in a classic album sense, but are useful in planting the seeds of discovery of new genres, artists, and songs as well as the unearthing of music you loved but had long since forgotten about. Who knows, there may even be a hidden theme or two that the savvy listener can piece together. The best part about this playlist? If you don’t like it, that’s okay. We’re talking about junk after all.

If you have a specific song that you’ve recently discovered or come to love, we’d love to hear from you. Just email us at freshcutfinds@gmail.com. We’re planning to roll out more content and a new playlist series in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Each month, we put together a playlist of our favorite discoveries new & old. Each playlist will be about the length of a mix CD (80 mins) and will be sent around the 15th of each month. Subscribe with your email address to receive the monthly Planted and Enchanted playlist, plus other occasional speciaty playlists.

Evan Hammonds
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Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 18- February '22
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Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 16- October '21