With Christmas just a week away—can you believe it?—we got a few gifts to share with you from recent weeks in today’s Colton Vibe. Everything from some Kanye and Drake, all the way to some post-punk nirvana from indie rockers Turnstile. Check out the craziness and take delight in the fact that this year brought us some great music from all across the musical spectrum.

No Choice – Tame Impala 

The Australian wunderkind, Kevin Parker, saved a few gems from the recent “Slow Rush” sessions. For Christmas, he and his bandmates in Tame Impala drop “No Choice,” the lead single from their “Remixes and B-Sides” collection. “No Choice” finds Parker in a cleaner pop mood, similar to his work on 2011’s “InnerSpeaker.” The electronic flourishes of recent memory fade away to a moodier guitar/drums/piano set-up, even as Parker’s synthesized voice floats above the groove like some sort of ethereal spirit calling from the other side of the astral plane. It’s clear why this track didn’t make the cut for “The Slow Rush”—it’s doesn’t quite fit alongside tracks like “Borderline” and “Lost in Yesterday”—but on its own, this is more evidence that Tame Impala is one of the great indie forces working on today’s music scene.

Find Your Love – Drake (feat. Kanye West) 

On December 9, Ye and Drake put on a concert that streamed on Amazon as a benefit to raise awareness for prison reform. The “Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert” was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, marking the first show Ye has headlined in five years. As part of his set, Ye performed one of Drake’s earliest hits, “Find Your Love” as part of his set. A surprise to all, Ye’s rendition was well received. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, as it was Ye who wrote and produced “Find your Love” back in 2010. At the “Larry Hoover” benefit, Ye made the song his own, leaving fans wondering why Kanye never kept that song for himself. 

24 – Kanye West (feat. Drake) 

https://youtu.be/hQmrM1tpmu0

At the “Larry Hoover” benefit, Ye did Drake, so Drizzy returned the favor. On what is already a beautiful track, Drake adds a softer tone to Ye’s gospel song. Instead of being soulful and heartfelt, Drake brings a more of a light hearted tone. Adding his own pacing and lines, Drizzy started off his set in a great way as a capper for an already amazing Kanye set. Drake’s voice has been known to be at the top when it comes to R&B, but for this gospel track he showed us something we didn’t expect from him. “We gonna be OK,” Drake and the choir chants. Indeed.

Notifications  – A Boogie Wit da Hoodie

Boogie is back! On this new EP “B4 AVA,” the stand out track is “Notifications.” Boogie is trying to sound nonchalant, knowing that the girl he’s singing about can see his phone notifications, even as he pleads his case to her. “I wouldn’t play with your emotions” he repeats, and having been riding only for her for the longest is a feeling we all know too well. Boogie has mastered the art of R&B and is “King of New York” of our generation, even if he doesn’t exactly feel comfortable with that crown yet. With a rumored new album slated for a 2022 release, fans of Boogie are in for a treat.

DON’T PLAY – Turnstile

In a recent feature about this Baltimore band in GQ, writer Noah Johnson writes about seeing Turnstile live: “You go to see what it’s like when an atomic bomb goes off.” On “Don’t Play,” the third track off their fifth studio album—this year’s masterful “GLOW ON,” the band detonates right from the hardcore opening, which thrashes its way into an infectious punk pounding. Drummer Daniel Fang and bassist “Freaky” Franz Lyons are not waiting for permission to destroy eardrums, they don’t let up for a moment, even as Fang adds a few tribal flourishes to the pre-choruses. This is a band that makes you want to start a mosh pit in your own bedroom, four walls, beds, and pets be damned.

Leading – Best Coast (feat. The Linda Lindas)

Best Coast were indie darlings back in 2010 with the release of their debut “Crazy for You,” but all but disappeared after 2015’s “California Nights.” They tried for a comeback in 2020 with the pandemic ignored “Always Tomorrow,” but perhaps they found something that will resurrect them on this lead single for their upcoming 2022 re-release of “Always Tomorrow.” “Leading” has lead singer/songwriter Bethany Cosentino feeling snarky with lyrics like “Nostalgia’s overrated, or maybe it’s just complicated/ Who even has the time to think about it anymore?” As we move into 2022, with our world lying in the wreckage of COVID and its variant strains, she has a point.