Live Review: Music To Isolate To: Willaris. K

6 April 2020 | 4:43 pm | Emma Jones

The latest artist in our Music To Isolate To artist-curated playlist series is rapid star on the rise himself, Willaris. K.

With the ongoing and ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a crazy world out there right now, so it’s never been more important to band together. Self-isolation and social distancing are two of the most effective tools we have as a society to help fight COVID-19, but they’re also very difficult to undertake and they have very real, long-lasting consequences on the music and arts industries — some of which we aren’t even aware of yet. Our artists and our industry are already feeling the ripple effect, and things are only going to get worse before they get better.

Because of this, it’s up to us to use what we’ve got at our disposal to best represent and amplify our community and continue to tell artists’ stories. Purple Sneakers has always fiercely represented Australian music and our team are some of the best writers in the country, so we’re going to use our platform to continue doing what we do best: connect our community with the artists we love, and support artists by promoting their incredible music.

Music To Isolate To is an ongoing artist-curated playlist series by Purple Sneakers. We’ve asked some of our favourite artists ever to provide us with the ten songs they’re listening to while in isolation, and provide some commentary for their selections. We’ll be running these for the foreseeable future every Monday and Thursday, and you can follow the Spotify playlist which will be updated on these days right HERE. The idea is to not only promote artists who are curating the playlists, but to also promote those songs that mean a lot to them whether they be longtime classics or fresh new releases.

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The next artist in our Music To Isolate To series is WILLARIS. K. A rapid star on the rise, WILLARIS. K has been a longtime favourite here at Purple Sneakers, and rightly so. From his very first single back in 2017, 'Alchemy', he's had us hooked with his unique ability to infuse so much emotion into his expansive, deliberate and captivating music. Sometimes full-throttle, sometimes unsuspectingly gentle, WILLARIS. K has made a name for himself here and abroad thanks to his meticulous approach, his unwavering drive to constantly push genre boundaries and his unrivalled live shows which are now the stuff of legend. With his latest release in the form of his LUSTRE EP (the first of two companion EPs with the second half, Full Noise, out May 29), WILLARIS. K levelled up yet again, this time working with the likes of Gordi and Tom Snowdon to bring his songwriting to new heights, while delivering instrumental numbers that will leave you floored like 'DETACH' and '5 O'CLOCK'. It's the latest home run in an undefeated run from the producer and one that shows him primed to take over the rest of the world now. His isolation selections are classic as well, from SEEKAE to DOJA CAT, and a shameless self plug as well (who can blame him?), this playlist will take you for a ride. Check out his picks below.

SOS x W.K - Be Calm

Self plug, wrote this song with SOS late last year but is weirdly relevant now

Seekae - John Duncan

This is usually my plane song but can sub in to isolation, calm amongst the chaos feels like a reflection of now

King Krule - Cellular

Usually pump this in the morning, gets you in the mood

Vegan - It's Nice To Be Alive

Self explanatory

Rival Consoles - Dreamer's Wake

Feels like a deep breath and optimism

Against All Logic - You (forever)

This one fucks me up

Four Tet - Insect Near Piha Beach

New album is crazy, this is a fav. Good one to put your clothes away to

Stenny - Cursed

This one gets me inspired to make some weird shit, also beautiful

Doja Cat - Bottom Bitch

Turn up

Skee Mask - Vli

Simplicity and beauty. Gets me excited to make music

LUSTRE is out now via Soothsayer.

Introduction by Emma Jones

Image: Supplied

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