Trackhunter's Essential Christmas 2021 Gifts for DJs and Music Lovers

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

by Tat

Every year we search across the web to curate our virtual wish list of must have gifts for any self respecting DJ or dance music lover this Christmas. DJs and music fanatics are notoriously hard to buy gifts for, especially when you don’t know what music they already own. Of course, most music fans and DJs just pick out their own presents rather than save the embarrassment of having to look excited when someone hands you a copy of Scooter’s Great Hits CD.

Acid House Mug

Let’s be honest, most DJ themed merchandise, whether it be mugs, t-shirts or artwork, is usually quite tacky. They are often emboldened with text like: ‘Eat, Sleep, DJ’ or ‘This is what an awesome DJ looks like’, whilst it’s OK to promote yourself, this is just a touch lame. We think most hardcore dance music fans will appreciate an Acid House mug in their lives. The design by Lapaldimension is simple and delivers a message that so many in our dance music community can equate to. Also, at less than £10 delivered, it is quite cheap compared to many mugs that have a niche cultural slant to them. Viva Acieed House! 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1091493702/acid-house-inspired-ceramic-mug-novelty

Soul of 76 T-Shirts

Going onto Etsy and searching for t-shirts can be a bit overwhelming, even if you are just looking for music and DJ related apparel. The problem with buying limited run t-shirts online is that they usually just have a mock up of what the shirt looks like, so it’s hard to gauge what it will look like on an actual person, nevermind yourself. Soul of 76 based in Cardiff have curated an attractive and small collection of t-shirts for fans of Hip Hop and vinyl culture, as they say on their online store: “T-Shirts Inspired by Beats, Vinyl & Life”. With subtle, but thoughtful homages to The Bronx, Queens, Wu Tang Clan among other cultural references, and quite frankly, the shirts look great. There clearly has been some thought into the design and you aren’t overwhelmed by a choice of colours as the majority of the collection looks perfect on white or black. I’ve even treated myself to one of their awesome t-shirts this Christmas.   

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Soulof76

Heavenly Remix compilations 

Heavenly Recordings dig into the vaults and have conjured up four compilations of remixes from their own stable and further afield. The first two volumes will be out before Christmas with volume 3 and 4 focusing on the work of that much missed wizard of the mixing desk and turntables, Andrew Weatherall. Each volume is spread across two records or paired up onto CDs that encompass the whole series. You can expect tracks from the past with St Etienne’s reworks from the late 90s, and Espiritu’s Bonita Manana remixed by Two Lone Swordsman, coming right up to recent times with The Chairman’s reworking of Confidence Man and LCMDF among many others. There is no shortage of magnificent tracks across these releases that will be familiar to some and new to many. Not all of the tracks are available online due to licensing issues, but regardless of your format choice, you can reconnect or discover some of the best music from the past three decades this Christmas.

https://heavenlyrecordings.bandcamp.com/

Beyond Heaven: Chicago House Party Flyers From 1983-1989

Dance music has a very rich history it can draw upon on and club and party flyers are every just as important to the scene as fanzines were to Punk and other independent music movements. Brandon Johnson’s 2018 book pulls together 96 full colour pages of flyers from the fledgling dance movement that was to have a major impact on millions of lives in the following decades. Flyers and posters and other related ephemera are curated from the collection of Chicago DJ Mario ‘Liv it up’ Luna and brings together archived material from the Warehouse, record stores and other more ad hoc party places. 

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/almighty-insane-beyond-heaven-chicago-house-party/708282-01/

Numark PT01 Scratch Portable USB Turntable

Most serious crate diggers can lament going into a record shop basement and finding out there is no way to listen to the stacks of disorganised records that might contain the next great sample. Even if you aren’t a grandmaster of the cut and scratch you can enjoy taking one of these out when you next go hunting for records in leftfield locations. The Numark PT01 runs from off batteries and has its own built-in speaker. You can also connect it to your PC to turn your analogue collection into something digital. It also comes with a protective case and carrying handles, as well as RCA and headphone outputs. 

https://www.djstore.com/numark-pt01-scratch

Periodic Table of the DJ

If ever anything needed a periodic table then it is the evolution of the DJ. The concept of making people dance might not have changed, but the methods and styles as to how this is achieved has rarely stood still. The Periodic Table Of The DJ was originally produced as a limited edition Giclee fine art print to commemorate the 30 year anniversary of the Second Summer Of Love in 2018. Created by the artist Misfit, they have successfully created a visual representation chronicling the evolution of the disc jockey that goes way back further than we could imagine to Thomas Edison inventing the Phonograph in 1887, right up to the key protagonists in the Second Summer of Love in 1988. The original print run has sold out, so for 2021 Misfit has made an updated edition which widens the history to1989 including many more key figures and a new design. It’s a fantastic piece of artwork and something that will doubt keep friends enthralled the next time they come to visit and no doubt question why their choice of influential DJ is missing.

https://artmisfit.com/store/

Mukatsuku Stainless Steel 45 Adapter

Ditch those nasty cheap plastic inner middles for your 7 inch singles and treat yourself to this beauty made by the Mukatsuku imprint. Nik Weston’s label has put out some pretty fantastic music over the last 15 years and has now stretched into creating merchandise that will appeal to DJs and fans of the imprint. Made exclusively for Juno, this is a high-quality stainless steel 45 adapter to improve the stability and durability of dinked 7 inch vinyl records. 

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/mukatsuku-classic-stainless-steel-version-3-precision/773737-01/