Paste Music’s 2024 Holiday Gift Guide

If you can believe it, the holiday season is finally here. Black Friday is this week, which means it’s time to start thinking about what to get the music lover in your life. Have no fear, the Paste music team is here to help with its holiday gift guide for 2024. We’ve come up with some gifts that won’t break the bank like a new turntable or stereo/speaker.

TRA​И​Ƨ​A Box Set

Last week, Red Hot released the 46-song TRA​И​Ƨ​A compilation featuring artists like Fleet Foxes, Jeff Tweedy, Adrianne Lenker, Sade, Julien Baker, Sam Smith and Beverly Glenn-Copeland among nearly 100 others. The project, done to raise transgender awareness, is especially necessary now in the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election, and pre-ordering the limited edition box set (and a T-shirt, hoodie, hat or tote bag) can help get funds to the right organizers who have been on the frontlines protecting trans people in this country. Great music and an even greater cause—you can’t really go wrong. —Matt Mitchell | Buy Here |

Alice Cooper Hot Sauce Pack

This is the perfect gift for someone who’s just as into spicy food as they are searing hot rock. Alice Cooper released his trio of hot sauces back in 2020, and unlike a lot of celebrity food ventures, this one is actually good. The mildest flavor, named “Welcome To My Nightmare” after Cooper’s 1975 track, is a Southwestern sauce with Serrano chiles and hints of garlic, lime and cumin. Those who are feeling a bit bolder can opt for “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” a medium hot sauce featuring aged red habanero peppers, while the truly adventurous can brave the Reaper chili peppers in “Poison.” Maybe an at-home version of Hot Ones can be your new holiday tradition. —Clare Martin | Buy Here |

Over the Moon with Pharrell Williams Lego Set

This October, music industry visionary Pharrell Williams set out on his latest endeavor to release an autobiographical film, Piece By Piece, entirely through the medium of Lego bricks. Now, the Pharrell fanatic in your life that wants to recreate their favorite scenes from the movie can do so with his new Over the Moon Lego set. The set includes a sleek, black rocket ship blasting off, leaving behind a pastel trail of rainbow exhaust. It also features two figures—Pharrell himself and an accompanying female Lego (meant to be his wife, I’m assuming)—along with a shadow box of miscellaneous Lego heads labeled “My Phriends.” This colorful and innovative Lego set is perfect for the hybrid Lego/music lover, and, with how intricate it is, will definitely occupy them for a good amount of time. —AD | Buy Here |

NOISE FOR NOW Vol. 2

The compilation album NOISE FOR NOW: Vol 2 features some of music’s most beloved names, from legacy acts like David Byrne and Devo to newcomers like Claud. Buying your loved one this LP won’t just get them a whole host of gorgeous tunes—including Julia Jacklin’s cover of Catatonia’s “Dead from the Waist Down” and a live version of The War on Drugs’ “Victim”—but will also aid abortion access, with proceeds go towards the campaign Keep Our Clinics. During a time that feels so full of despair, the best gift you can give is hope through community action. —CM | Buy Here |

How Women Made Music

Turning The Tables—the NPR series highlighting the history of women in music—has put out a new book that’s a must-have for the music-historian-slash-feminist in your life. How Women Made Music delivers a fascinating archival look into some of the most influential female artists—“from Beyoncé to Odetta, Taylor Swift to Joan Baez, Joan Jett to Dolly Parton”—through interviews, essays, exclusive photographs and documents. Since 2017, Turning the Tables has been working to recenter women into the musical narrative, and How Women Made Music was inspired by the range of female artists that the series has managed to explore and unearth over its 6-year run. The book features a “shape-shifter” artist chapter—a written-out, all-female playlist, if you will—perfect for your friend who is always asking you for music recommendations. Hand them this book, and let the enlightenment begin. —AD | Buy Here |

Flotholt Perfume

“Floating in the pitch black salt. Sea. Briny hair and leather. Burnt driftwood, still air, embers. Look, endless horizon. A ray of light.” Written by Jónsi of Sigur Rós fame, that scent poem describes the perfume Flotholt, which means lifeguard ring in Icelandic. Flotholt comes from the perfumery Fischersund, run by Jónsi’s family out of his former studio in the middle of Reykjavík, and was released in conjunction with Sigur Rós’ 2022 world tour. With top notes of Sitka spruce and citrus complemented by middle notes of cypress, salt and seaweed, this is a gift for someone who understands that music, like all art, is a multi-sensory experience. Just imagine spritzing Flotholt on yourself before listening to Ágætis byrjun—heaven. —CM | Buy Here |

GUTS Megaphone

In the past year since 2023’s GUTS, pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo’s cathartic, high-pitched yell on the track “all-american bitch” has become an anthem in itself. Now, the Livies in your friend group can scream out their own battle call with the GUTS megaphone. Fully functioning and volume controlled, the cherry-red megaphone is equipped with bluetooth connection, music, an alarm, a USB port and both recording and playback capabilities. Rodrigo has been seen using this type of megaphone during her on-stage shows, so whether your friend wants to recreate the performance themselves or elevate their holiday party karaoke game, the GUTS megaphone is a fun, interactive way for Livies to express their fandom. Just make sure they warn everyone around them before turning it on. —AD | Buy Here |

Donate to KEXP

What’s better than giving the gift of a KEXP donation and supporting one of the best radio stations in the country? Having a really cool t-shirt to show just how much you love obsessively curated public radio. By donating $120 to KEXP in honor of your favorite music lover, you can also give them a “Full Stack” tee designed by Eric Lee, featuring a tower of tasty records dripping with syrup. —CM | Donate Here |

Slint Holiday Sweater

I’m sure I’m speaking for multitudes of musically-inclined friend groups when I say we all know someone that does not play about Slint. Over thirty years since the release of the cult-classic masterpiece Spiderland, the Louisville post-hardcore group is still iconic enough to be releasing holiday-themed merch, which is all a band could ask for these days, I suppose. The comfy cotton sweaters—available in either red or green—feature the artwork from their 1994 self-titled EP surrounded by rows of white snowflakes and spiders. It’s niche yet subtle enough to pass as a typical holiday party piece; those who know will know, and those who don’t will still think it’s a neat sweater. If you know someone who celebrates Slintmas, this sweater is a perfect way for them to let the legacy of their favorite album live on—no matter the season. —AD | Buy Here |

Brothers by Alex Van Halen

For the first time since his brother Eddie’s passing, Alex Van Halen speaks on his life, career and family in his new memoir Brothers. Tracing his childhood all the way through Van Halen’s origins, the drummer offers anecdotes about Ozzy Osbourne being in talks to replace David Lee Roth as the band’s vocalist before deciding to work on his The Osbournes reality show with MTV instead, and that Eddie and Alex jammed with Chris Cornell shortly before the Soundgarden frontman’s death. —MM | Buy Here |