Not that we’re advocating anything here, but music can be found for little to nothing these days. All music business politics aside, it simply exacerbates the challenge of shopping for the music fan in your life. Luckily, we at Paste are here to help. Check out our suggestions on the best gifts—from reissues and box sets to books and more—suitable for music lovers.
Reissues/Box Sets
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection
$89.98 via Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways has compiled the most extensive collection of Lead Belly’s most influential works in this enormous box set. Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection includes five CDs encompassing five hours of music (including 16 previously unreleased tracks), as well as a 12” x 12” coffee table book with 140 pages of historical and musical information on the blues legend. Read Eric Luecking’s complete review of the box set here.
Otis Redding, Soul Manifesto 1964-1970
$52.93 via Amazon
It’s rare that we give anything a perfect 10 review here at Paste. Yet, this whopping 12-CD retrospective of Otis Redding’s storied career certainly earns that distinction. The enormous collection includes six studio LPs, two live albums, and four posthumous collections. As Gillian G. Gaar wrote, “A one, or even two, disc ‘essential’ set of Redding’s stuff wouldn’t be nearly enough to let you really get to the man and his work; Soul Manifesto hits all the bases, as you (re)discover that voice you never get tired of hearing.” Read her full review here.
Books
Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
$16.77 via Amazon
With the release of Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, which takes its name from The Woods’ “Modern Girl,” Sleater-Kinney guitarist, Portlandia actress, and cultural icon Carrie Brownstein guides audiences through a concise recollection of how she became a public figure, starting with a childhood (and pre-Guitar Hero) Duran Duran cover band that simply mimed along to the music. The result is a completely addicting, entertaining and thorough memoir that should strike a chord past Sleater-Kinney fans. —Tyler R. Kane
Read his complete book review here.
M Train by Patti Smith
$13.75 via Amazon
Unfolding from the hazy edges of a dream, Patti Smith’s M Train is a memoir that blends a lifetime of scattered memories with the small, comfortable routines of every day experience. While the punk rock icon’s 2010 National Book Award-winning Just Kids was a tender and intimate portrait of two artists coming into their own, this follow up eschews conventions. M Train moves in several arcs at once, fading in and out of dreams, jumping between subjects and years like a stone skipped across a lake. —Eric Swedlund
Read his complete book review here.
Random Goodies
Run the Yules Sweater
$50 via Run The Merch
If holiday season must necessitate an ugly sweater, then better to show up to the party running the yules. Pixelated hearts and reindeer can’t even distract from El-P and Killer Mike’s cheesy swag in this epic Run The Jewels sweatshirt.
Salvaged Audio
$249-990 via Salvage Audio
This boutique speaker company makes the perfect gifts for the audiophile in your life. Each system is handcrafted in California from reclaimed wood, which gives a wholesome tone to the tunes you love most. Speakers range in size, price, and complexity, spanning the simplest plug-and-play desk speaker to the bookshelf-sized passive speakers. Be forewarned, though: there’s an average two-to-three-week build time for most products.