Live Review: Music To Isolate To: Channel Tres

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.

The next in our Music To Isolate To series is CHANNEL TRES. The inimitable artist infuses hip hop and dance music to craft dancefloor fillers that not only get you moving and grooving in no time, but get you feeling as well. All about helping his audiences let go even just for a moment, Channel Tres is the smoothest guy around. From his early releases like 'Controller', he's showcased a versatility and a knack for knowing how the human nature works, meaning not only does he never sit in one place for too long sonically, he knows just the right trick to get his fans going. While he was due to return to Australia later this month for Groovin The Moo and a string of headline shows that were sadly cancelled due to COVID-19, Channel Tres still came through with the goods in the form of a brand new single titled 'Weedman'. It's the closest he's come to exploring the slow-rolling, blown-out g-funk of his hometown of Los Angeles, and channels the likes of George Clinton and DJ Quik.

We are so honoured to have Channel Tres as part of our Music To Isolate To series. Check out his sensational picks below, from Barry White to Nipsey Hussle, Tinashe to Marvin Gaye and so much more.

This song is such a classic and great vibes for being home and trying to get a few things done. Keepin spirits high! 

Man I miss Mac Miller. I love going into his older stuff. Swimming was incredible and this song is a vibe. 

Marvin Gaye is being played a lot in my house right now. He’s an absolute legend.  

I love Toro y Moi. Period. This song get’s me in the zone. 

Barry White’s vibe is something I try and channel a bit in my music. His voice is incredible. 

The Gap Band is a great funk inspiration for me. This track is really good to boogy to in the house.