To Be Young, Gifted & Wrapped

Basically because my mind is constantly turning in an endless swirl of music, film, art, and sneakers—and the ways that they all can mix together—this is what my holiday gift suggestions look like:

New Order: Movement, Power Corruption and Lies, Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Technique

New Order

Movement, Power Corruption and Lies, Low-Life, Brotherhood, and Technique (2-CD Collector’s Editions)

(Rhino)

There’s been much ado in the last year over the legacy Joy Division with reissues of the dark, magisterial quartet’s two sole studio records along with Anton Corbijn’s soap opera-ish biopic Control and its far superior companion, Grant Gee documentary Joy Division. That band is where the obviously tragic and mysterious story of groundbreaking music, love, illness, and tragic suicide unfolds. Still, the members of New Order who carried on with the vision and innovation to became superstars in the wake.

Finally, the Manchester band, always in Joy Division’s shadow, sees its first five albums—each one a bonus disc of B-sides, rare and unreleased material—revived and remastered, and we are introduced to group who fleshed out a pathway that ultimately merged a jagged post-punk execution and ethos with savvy dancefloor chic, creating a whole new wave of new wave in the 1980s. And it’s as if all of the 1980s have been collapsed into these five two-disc sets. It’s as if there was no “feed the world” Live Aid rock pomp, no awful hair metal bands—as if it were a time when a band could be experimental but craft brilliantly tasty pop. Guitars and synthesizers lived a peaceful and sonically streamlined co-existence over a sea of sequenced beats. New Order’s pulsing beat always set music’s cultural pulse on their own terms: from the funereally post-Joy Division “Ceremony,” to the 12-inch stomp of “Blue Monday” or the exuberance of “Bizarre Love Triangle” to the dirgey disco of “True Faith” and the baggy, Ecstasy-craving raving across Technique. There is rarely a dull moment among these records. If you haven’t listened in a long time—or maybe ever—maybe it’s time you did.

The Who

At Kilburn 1977 DVD and Bluray

(Image Entertainment)

The Stones? Nope. Led Zeppelin? Not quite. See the greatest live rock-and-roll band ever right here. The ’Oo at their bloody peaking prime when they simply couldn’t be challenged for windmilling riffs, swirling microphone cables, and sheer power. While drummer Keith Moon was tired, bloated, and near his end (his second to last show ever), his performance never suffered. And with Sirs Daltrey, Entwistle, and Townshend in front of him pouring every ounce in, they peel through a wonderfully rough and ragged set of nearly every Who classic, songs that prove to be stronger than ever some 30 years on. Culled from a pre-Who Are You performance in London, this footage has been unseen, barring a few short clips in last year’s Amazing Journey doc.

Now I know some Whophiles might argue Live at Leeds was the band at their best, and there’s good news for you: Also included here is a complete London Coliseum show from December 1969. It is said to be the band’s first complete performance of their famed rock opera Tommy in its entirety!

The Flaming Lips: Christmas on Mars

The Flaming Lips

Christmas on Mars CD/DVD Mega Deluxe Edition, available at www.flaminglips.com

Rocker Wayne Coyne and his Flaming Lips brethren worked a decade to create the freaky, surrealist, and destined for cult status, shoestring budget flick Christmas on Mars. Now it’s finally available, just in time for to create your own blue Christmas for a red planet. This special package—only available on the Lips’ Web site—includes the Mars DVD and soundtrack CD along with limited edition t-shirt, sticker, trading cards, and a shrink-wrapped bag of popcorn!

Silk Screen poster from Hero

Starting at $20, 93 Allen Street / www.heroandsound.com

Designing and printing their wares right here in Buffalo, Hero Studios is the go-to design team for bands including Spoon and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club among many others. Hero specializes in unique hand-printed tour posters and art prints. Their Allen Street studio also serves as a gallery and boutique highlighting their work. Seen here is an print of the late motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, which is one of many pieces on display and for sale. Not only does Hero’s work exude cool but it offers a chance to own art that will not kill your bank account.

Hero’s boutique also offers a selection of very cool and highly collectable vinyl toys—from makers like KidRobot and Shawnimals—which make perfect stocking stuffers. One such with holiday flair is Santa Peecol, who is a half lovable, half menacing interpretation of Old St. Nick courtesy of KidRobot.

Nike SB Dunks from Sunday

Starting at $70, 587 Potomac Ave / www.sundaybuffalo.com

If you want to wear the same athletic shoes—or sneakers to use the parlance of our times—as the rest of the mouth-breathing herd, just head over to the mall and hit any of the number of chain stores. Each of which will have the same exact styles and colors of hi-tops. Go ahead, buy what everyone else and their mothers buy.

Or you can boldly step out of the same old shoebox and look into something from the Nike SB line at Buffalo’s Sunday, the Queen City’s premier skate shop. This is the only place in Western New York where you will find Nike SBs. This skate-shop-only line of shoes are designed and made tough for maximum performance and the sort of abuse only skateboarders can dish out and appreciate. The comfort and entirely unique styles of SBs—always limited editions—are perfect for anyone with discriminating tastes who wants to break away from Air Force Ones and Jordans. The beauty is that the SBs retail for the same price or less than what you can expect to from other similar sports shoes, and their level of street hip and cool is completely unmatched.