New Acts: I'm From Rennes festival

A fine display of emerging French talent are being showcased at a music festival that gets under way
in the fine city of Rennes tomorrow, with the I'm From Rennes event kicking off in the Breton city.

It's the fourth time it's been held, this year seeing 50 acts at 18 locations, and 25 separate events.

Manceau and Darjeeling Speech, who have both been mentioned on this blog before are on the bill.

Also taking part are acts including Volgograd, Digital Lullaby and Fevrier. Kowalski, Louisette and Palm are some of the others on what is a wide ranging and eclectic bill, showcasing some of the quality talent emerging from the city.

I'll feature some of these on this blog over the next few days.

Shows are being held in venues including the 1988 Live club and in pubs in the city, but others are being held in more unusual surroundings like apartments, while others take place in locations like the city's protestant church or in the Parc du Thabor.

The festival runs until September 26.

French Miracle Tour

Several French acts are currently undertaking an ambitious tour of Asia, with the French Miracle
Tour taking them to China, Hong Kong Korea and elsewhere.

The tour features Yuksek, as well as Clarens, Manceau and Juveniles, and while perhaps not the most commercially known French artists, there is a potentially massive audience in Asia, and an equally massive appetite for music.

While they are all acts familiar to this blog, establishing a reputation in Asia will be a major step for any of these acts.

The tour has been running from April 26 and continues until May 24, with stop offs in Beijing, Jinan, Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shenzen, Jakarta, Chengdu and Singapore.

There have of course been problems and difficulties, the logistics and organising an event like this must be tremendous, but there has also some great music and memorable shows.

The tour has been documented on the tour's Facebook page, with video regularly being posted.



French Miracle Tour - Beijing (EN/FR) from French Miracle on Vimeo.

New Acts: Manceau - Full Time job

I was lucky enough to catch a set by Manceau during the Bars en Trans festival in Rennes in
December, and thouroughly enjoyed what I heard.

Manceau released their debut album Life Traffic Jam in 2012, their debut EP On a Mellow Day having emerged in 2010.

The album was met with positive reviews, including a nod from the NME as "An adorable, charming little creature ressembling Polyphonic Spree, Allo Darlin, Mercury Rev, Moldy Peaches and all manner of cutesy indie pop classic."

They finished the recording of their new album at the end of last year, and hopefully it won't be long until we can hear more of this kind of thing.