Trans Musicales festival 2016: First names

The first 15 names have been released for the 2016 Trans Musicales festival, taking place in  Rennes this December.

French acts include Fishbach, Moon Gogo, Chouette, Octave Noire and Pyrit.

So far international acts on the bill include Anna meridith, BCUC, Nova Twins, Rozzma,  Cabo San Roque, Däs Mortal, PWR BTTM, Reykjavíkurdætur, Talmud Beach and Tiggs Da Author.

There might not be many household names so far, but that's never been the agenda of the Trans Musicales. It's always been a forward-looking event,  showcasing the developing acts that you'll hopefully be hearing more about before too long.

Think of the likes of Benjamin Clementine, Jeanne Added, as well as Moodoid, France and Grand Blanc who have all played in the last few years.

Its experimental spirit has guided it over the decades since it began in 1979, with Noir Désir, Mano Negra, Zebda, Daft Punk and Stromae having graced the stage.

The Trans Musicales runs from November 30 to December 4 in Rennes.

Transmusicales festival: 2016 Visual unveiled

The visual for this year's Transmusicales festival in Rennes has been unveiled by the event
organisers, with an eyecatching work by grafitti artist WAR!


His work is familiar on the streets of Rennes, he describes his work as ' a little poetry amid the concrete.'


Tickets are already available for the event in December, and again reasonable by UK festival standards, with a VIP three-day pass for the Parc Expo where the main acts play coming in at 66 euros, the regular weekend pass coming in at 49 euros.

Preceding the event many of the acts involved play local shows across the west of France, with shows in Caen, rennes, Morlaix, Nantes, St Avé, Quimper and St Malo between November 9 and November 25.

There will also be a series of free concerts and workshops in the  Ille-et-Vilaine department in the run up to the festival from November 12 to 25th.

More details will be released by the event on September the first.

Bars En Trans videos: Day 2 and Day 3

A couple more videos rounding up the live events in the bars and clubs of Rennes over the weekend during the Bars en trans festival, where dozen of acts played at en event that runs in parallel to the larger Transmusicales festival in the city.

The video for Day 2 featured Kazy Lambist live at the 1988 Live Club, Philemon Cimon at La Trinquette, Hello Bye Bye at La Trinquette, LOAS at La Notte, Midnight Ravers at Le Kenland,  Clément Bazin at Le Chantier, Joycut at Le Bar'Hic, Frankie goes to Pointe a Pitre at L'Artiste Assoiffé, and Don Cavalli at Le Dejazey.



Meanwhile, Day three rounds up Garesud at the pool party held at the Piscine St Georges, Rick Le Cube at Théatre de la Parcheminerie, Lomepal at La Notte, Papooz at Le Dejazey, Pain-Noir at La Trinquette, Bon Voyage Organisation at the 1988 Live Club, Plaisirs at Le Chantier, and Carpenter Brut at the 1988 Live Club.



In short, a pretty good snapshot of a wide range of very different acts concentrated over one weekend.

Transmusicales 2015: Video available

Video report from local TV in Rennes covering this year's Transmusicales festival, with footage of
shows taking place in the city, brief interview clips and clips form acts playing this weekend.

I'm not making it over to the event this year, but it's good to see so much coverage of the event so it's possible to get a taste of what's going on.

Arte Concert have been screening some of the live sets, others are available on Culturebox 

I'll feature some of these in coming days, there's plenty of material available to watch.

Transmusicales Preview: La Mverte

Electronic music takes a central role in this year's Transmusicales festival in Rennes, and another act worth
investigating is La Mverte, playing at the l'étage venue in the city centre.

La Mverte is a project featuring Alexandre Berly, a musician, DJ and producer who played keyboards with Yan Wagner.

He released his first EP under the La Mverte name - Through the circles - in 2014. A second EP A Game Called Tarot in April.

A joint EP The Line, with Alejandro Paz, emerged earlier this month.

He played at the Red Bull Music Academy in Paris in October, he's no stranger to the event having been involved in the Red Bull Music Academy event in Tokyo.

Jeanne Added: Deezer Session

A  new Deezer session by Jeanne Added, coinciding with the release of a new EP.

The session was recorded at the Transmusicales de Rennes festival in December last year, where Jeanne Added played five nights at L'Aire Libre venue.

There are three tracks, A war is coming, It and Miss it all.

Jeanne Added released an EP featuring these three tracks earlier this week, and she's got live dates in March including a show at Le Divan du Monde in Paris on March 26.

Her debut album is expected to be released later in 2015.

New Acts: My Summer Bee - Lover Lover

One of the bands that attracted some attention at December's Transmusicales festival was My
Summer Bee, who took to the stage of the L'étage venue during the showcase event.

The act who originate from Caen,  have so far released one EP, and are expected to release their next project some time in Spring 2015.

Influenced by UK electropop, the video for the track Lover Lover was released in December 2014.

They played at the Transmusicales festival in Rennes and earlier in 2014 supported Jungle.

So far they've released on EP, with five tracks including three versions of the song Time's Running Out, in November 2013.

They have the track Rosemary available as a  free download from their Facebook page, yours for a simple 'like' of their page.