11 Gifts for Your Favorite Music Lover
It’s been an astoundingly good year for listening to music: Concert attendance is up, there’s a ton of artists putting out great new work, and it’s never been easier—or more awe-inducing—to actually hear this work, whether in your home or on the go.
Bluetooth speakers and headphones, once a work-in-progress notion embraced only by the early adopter or the non-audiophile, have become both commonplace and uncommonly, astoundingly brilliant in their clarity, their ease, and their sheer oomph (oomph being our shorthand for powerful, visceral bass tones, long the bête noire of both compact systems and wireless operations). Speakers—from minimal, modular systems that are impeccably designed to grab-and-go options ready for sand, snow, and sleet—couldn’t be easier to set up or more mind-blowing in their performance, while headphones—whether for working out, blissing out, or for traveling—finally manage to both a) fit and b) deliver more, rather than less, of what you’re looking for.
Of course, if your gift’s intended recipient—and yeah, we understand, maybe this is you—is already covered on these fronts, there are plenty of other options, from an impeccably curated vinyl-subscription service to the latest version of rock ’n’ roll’s most iconic guitar to the music-centric dream vacation of a lifetime. (And, of course, stocking stuffers sure to be beloved by anyone on your list.)
Forget noise-canceling headphones for long flights: These are noise-canceling, bass-booming, exquisite-sounding headphones for life. They’re less a piece of personal tech than a gateway drug to personal empowerment: Turn on, tune out, and cue up the sound of heavenly choirs.
Sony WH-1000XM3 wireless noise-canceling headphones, $350, sony.com
They’re super modular—and unlike most tech, they’re beautiful in a way that can actually integrate with the rest of your room rather than simply standing out from it or hiding from it. Pair them up—or buy a handful and scatter them around the house. They’re also basically plug-and-play, and the sound they push out is likely more pristine and more powerful than what you’re expecting.
Hay Sonos One limited-edition speaker, $229, sonos.com
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if engineers on the cutting edge of audio design were cut loose from traditional speaker frameworks and expectations and given free rein to design exactly the kind of speaker they wanted, wonder no more: This is it. Do they look weird? Yes. Do they sound amazing? A thousand times: Yes! I could go on with endless geekery about just how they achieve their amazing natural sound with no distortion—but I’d rather just say that if you gift these to anyone who loves music, they’ll thank you for the rest of their lives. (Jay-Z heard them and invested in the company; Travis Scott heard them, bought them, and then was almost evicted from his hotel. Both were appropriate responses.)
Devialet Phantom Reactor speaker, $999 or $1,299, devialet.com
Is someone you love burdened—I mean, gifted—with a vinyl habit? Stoke the obsession with a yearlong subscription that sends a nicely curated vinyl selection their way each month. Answer a few questions at the get-go to make sure the picks are in the right realm, but rest easy: Every album is easily and freely swapped at will, and members are free to make their own picks from monthly updated emails announcing new offerings.
Vinyl Me, Please album subscription club, $229 per year, vinylmeplease.com
Not only has Jabra solved what’s been, by far, the biggest problem with on-the-go wireless headphones meant for running or working out—these ones actually stay in your ear—but the company added the sort of features that can change a workout: These have a built-in heart-rate monitor and a VO2 max monitor, as well as a variety of customizable training programs, all of which is easily accessed with a touch of the headphone or via an app. Game changing, literally.
Jabra Elite Sport Bluetooth headphones, $220, jabra.com
Forty years after they immolated onstage in San Francisco, the Sex Pistols finally get the comprehensive visual history they deserve: photographs of the band, flyers, iconic artwork by Jamie Reid and others, handwritten letters by manager/impresario Malcolm McLaren. It’s a mesmerizing was-there-then punk bible.
God Save Sex Pistols, $65, rizzoliusa.com
If you’ve got someone who wants to actually make music instead of just listen to it or read about it, there’s nothing so iconic in all of rock ’n’ roll as the Gibson Les Paul. (Just ask Jimmy Page—or Taylor Swift.) And sure, you could spend tens of thousands on certain vintage models—or $8,000 on a gorgeous new Slash signature model—but you’d be doing just fine with this off-the-rack mahogany-bodied masterpiece.
Les Paul Traditional guitar, $2,799, gibson.com
Because some people don’t need noise-canceling, wireless, Bluetooth, heart-rate-sensing, customizable-coaching-included headphones. They just want every millimeter (and every penny) of the product to be centered on pure, unadulterated sound, tuned by a master audio engineer. (And maybe they want them to be foldable, to fit in their bag—these do that too.)
Phonon 4400 headphones, $275, phononstore.com
It’s that rare thing: an album that (virtually) everyone can agree on. While the raw ingredients might sound odd—take one part dream pop, mix with one part country ballads, and serve in the evening hours—the combination is mesmerizing. Dean Wareham is the legendary Luna frontman, Cheval Sombre—aka Christopher Porpora—the more-recently lauded solo artist; they cover not only Hollywood Western songs but Blaze Foley, Bob Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt, among others.
Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre, $10, deanwareham.com
If you want an experience instead of a mere item, send whomever you’re gifting (and maybe yourself?) to Port Antonio, on the less-traveled side of Jamaica—specifically to Geejam Hotel. Founded by Jon Baker, a record-industry maestro and former stylist for the likes of Duran Duran, the place—accommodations range from simple cabins to lavish private residences—attracts a regular flow of musicians (Björk, Gwen Stefani, Drake, Diplo, and Rihanna, for starters), in part for its state-of-the-art recording studio.
Geejam vacation, Port Antonio, Jamaica, geejamhotel.com
Because jeans are rock ’n’ roll? No—because these jeans are rock ’n’ roll: You know the cover of the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers record, designed by Andy Warhol, with the real zipper that you can unzip? Yeah—these jeans. The cover of the Ramones first record? These jeans. Debbie Harry’s favorite jeans? You get the picture. Levi’s Vintage Clothing 1967 505 jeans, $240, levi.com
