A Herb Sundays Gift Guide
Gifts for herbs and those who love them.
“I would like to cultivate a charisma of uncertainty, a charisma of admitting that you’re making it up as you go along.” - Brian Eno
If you want to skip this and go to the mixes you can do, but without further ado, a Herb Present Finder…
HERB GIFTGUIDE VOL 1 - MMXXII “ALEA IACTA EST.”
First off… Recommending records can be a tuff ask as music taste is super divisive (which is what makes music so great), but records can be a great gift if you’re feeling confident. If you want to dig deeper, copy your favorite Herb Sundays playlist into Hype Machine’s Merch Table and see if there is vinyl to be had out there from some of the deeper cuts.
Kinda feel the same way about books as gifts, but literary Herbs have been busy this year. Dan Charnas’ (Herb 56) Dilla Time (for audiobook ppl, Charnas reads it and it’s great), Hua Hsu’s (Herb 13) Stay True, W. David Marx’s (Herb 53) Status and Culture (and accompanying newsletter) are all wildly recommended. For the Techno Degenerate in your life, go with Dan Sicko’s impeccable Techno Rebels for the deeper story.
LABEL HEADS
Of course, first amongst equals, Ghostly’s site is 25% automatically off through Monday (our Bandcamp too, with code BLUEMONDAY2022), shop the gift guide. Instead of bragging us up again, I’ll let Joshua Glazer do the honors with what wrote in his excellent The Cadence Substack this past week:
“If you need a gift for that niece or nephew that’s cooler than you were at their age, check out the selection of clothes and collectibles at the always well-curated Ghostly International store. Your kin doesn’t have to be fans of the label’s wonderful music releases to appreciate the charm of a limited edition Gustavo Eandi disposable camera (how do you get the 35mm film developed?) or the flare of the Ghostly x Liquid Sky zip tote bag.”
Unseen Worlds’ Keep Cup is a great glass coffee traveler to pair with your morning zone adjust (and for a good cause).
Our office mates Secretly Canadian and Numero Group have great pocket tees (for your retainer/earplugs, you herb).
Brooklyn’s Barbie Bertisch (Herb 42) & Paul Raffaele (Herb 43) run the excellent zine/label/brand Love Injection and have great totes and dayglo hoodies.
FOR THE ART DAMAGED
The Studio Museum in Harlem has made some of its rare catalogs and publications available in its Into The Archive section. I ordered some and they come minty fresh. Great for deep heads.
NYC’s Dashwood Books has both vol 1 and 2 (plus a sick poster) of Every Person In New York by the late flaneur and quick sketch king, Jason Polan. Also highly recommended for art/photo books and ephemera are Karma Books, Mast Books, and Printed Matter.
CLOTHESHORSES
Lauren Naimola’s (Herb 06) Dear Golden shop in Ann Arbor has great new and vintage pieces, focusing on ladies.
And Bijan Shahvali’s online vintage emporium Intramural has the right touch of whimsy and history.
HARDWARE HARDCORE
Offline/off-phone pleasures are key. Love a Polaroid or analog camera to shake creativity loose from the App. Here are some other ideas…
My First Turntable™
I wanted to get my niece a turntable and I went with this Victrola which has built-in speakers, Bluetooth, and a better cartridge (what herbs call needles) than its competitors. Turntable Lab is a go-to for all this stuff, all the way up the chain.
My First Podcast™
Creativity has become very screen-centric, but the folks behind the Blast Box are back with a new Blast Mic that allows you to record to your own radio station (which can be accessed easily by anyone) with the push of a button and saves your recordings to a private link. Field recording and impromptu podcasts can commence.
Mixes From The Field
-The New Yorker’s Michaelangelo Matos has a tremendous new Substack and shared some of his fave mixes he found this year including a vintage one by Ghostly inspiration Carlos Souffront.
-Apple Music’s DJ game has been very solid this year. Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space is going from strength to strength on the platform and Frank Oceans’s Homer Radio had a guest mix by Nick León recently.
-The passing of Mimi Parker of legendary Duluth band Low has hit hard and friend of the show Rick Webb Made a beautiful tribute mix (Spotify) featuring her lead vocals over the years.