Holiday Gift Guide 2026: Vinyl Gifts by Price
Every December someone comes in holding a phone with a screenshot of an album cover on it, and someone else comes in with no idea at all. Both of them leave with something good. This is the list we hand them.
We built it by price, because that is how gift shopping actually works. Three bands, from the record that will not miss up to the one you give once and get remembered for. Everything here is on the shelves at 4 Thacher Street as we write this, and everything here is something we would put on at home.
If the person you are shopping for already owns everything, skip to the last section. If you have no idea what they own, start at the top.
$25 to $50
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours Vinyl LP
This is the one people mean when they say they want to get into records. Rumours is in print, it sounds good, and we have never had a copy sit in the bin wondering what it did wrong.
Good for: a first record, or a replacement for the warped copy from college.
Fontaines D.C. - Dopamine Chamber (Indie Exclusive Blue Marble Color) Vinyl LP
We played this one front to back in the shop this autumn, so we have opinions. The blue marble pressing is the version independent shops were given, which makes it a better gift than the one from a warehouse. The standard blue is here too if marble is not their thing.
Good for: the person who still reads the music press.
Daft Punk - Discovery (2022 Reissue) Vinyl LP
Twenty five years on, Discovery is still the record that goes on at the end of the night and gets the last four people dancing in a kitchen. The 2022 reissue is the pressing to buy.
Good for: the friend whose parties you want to keep getting invited to.
Air - Moon Safari Vinyl LP
Moon Safari turned a very particular French melancholy into something you can put on at brunch without anyone asking what it is. It is the right gift for someone who is fairly sure they do not like electronic music.
Good for: the brunch host, the polite skeptic.
$50 to $100
Tatsuro Yamashita - For You (Limited Edition Remaster) Vinyl LP
The city pop record, and the Japanese pressing we get asked for by name more than any other. For You is summer music that somehow works in a Boston January. Spacy is the one to buy next, and our city pop guide goes deeper.
Good for: the collector who has been circling city pop for a year.
Joe Hisaishi - Howl's Moving Castle: Soundtrack (Remastered, Limited Edition) Vinyl LP
Hisaishi's score does most of the emotional work in that film, and it holds up completely away from the picture. Howl's Moving Castle is the one we reach for first, and Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea is here as well if their favorite is the one with the fish.
Good for: the whole Ghibli household, children included.
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (Deluxe Edition) Vinyl LP
A deluxe edition of a record that was already hard to improve on. Loveless is the gift for the person who turns the volume up at the exact moment everyone else is hoping they will not.
Good for: the shoegazer, the headphone listener, the one who talks about guitar tone.
The splurge
Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs (Deluxe Edition) Vinyl LP
The deluxe treatment on the record the Beasties made about coming home. To The 5 Boroughs earns this tier on the packaging alone, which is the whole point once you are past a hundred dollars. The rest of what we carry is in the Beastie Boys collection.
Good for: the completist who already has the obvious three.
Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Trigger (Official Soundtrack) Vinyl LP
Mitsuda's score is the reason a whole generation can hum a 1995 role playing game from memory. The official vinyl pressing is a real object, and it gets framed about as often as it gets played. The Japanese import CD is the same music for a tenth of the money, and our game soundtrack guide has more.
Good for: the person who still has the cartridge in a drawer.
Various - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Vinyl LP Box Set
The biggest thing on this list and the one we would open first. The Breath of the Wild box set gives that score the room it has always deserved, packaged the way Laced does these properly. If this is the gift, there is no second gift. The soundtrack on CD is the sensible version of the same idea.
Good for: one very lucky person.
If none of this is quite right
Come in and tell us about them instead. Half of what we sell in December starts with somebody describing a roommate, and the shelves hold a great deal more than ten records. LP and album stock is the full run, The Daily TASTE is where we put what we are actually listening to, and a gift card has never warped in the mail.
We are at 4 Thacher Street in the North End, and we are very good at this particular conversation.
