Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes 2017

Today sees the 2017 Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes kick off in full,  the Breton city hosting
acts in both the Parc Expo on the outskirts of the city and at the Ubu and at Le Liberté and other venues in the city centre.

While some acts performed last night, the main event at the Parc Expo opens up, with acts playing into the early hours.

If there's a headliner tonight it's probably Yuksek with a set at the Parc Expo just after midnight.

There are acts from France as well as a well-curated selection of international acts on the bill. Timer permitting I'll take a look at as many of the French acts as I can over the next couple of weeks.

One act getting a significant platform over the weekend is Fishbach, getting a similar showcase enjoyed by  Benjamin Clemintine and  Jeanne Added in recent years.  Fishbach is of course no stranger to this blog, a label mate of Moodoid and Grand Blanc, two other acts whose performances at the Trans Musicales helped establish their reputations.

With free shows and acts touring towns in the area in the run up to the festival, it's a particularly accessible event for what is in essence a festival with a focus on emerging acts.

There is much to see and enjoy. Some of it will emerge on video over the weekend and in coming days, so I'll hopefully post some of it here.

Transmusicales Preview: Louise Roam

Louise Roam is another developing artist getting some much deserved exposure at this year's 
Transmusicales festival in Rennes.

She's got three shows at the Aire Libre, during the course of the event, so there's no excuse to miss a set if you're at the festival.

Roam, known to friends and family as Aurélie Mestre, released her first EP last spring. The four track Rapture release shows an artist as familiar with the organic as she is with the electronic, as capable as working with texture as she is with rhythm.

Louise Roam plays the Aire Libre venue on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Transmusicales preview: Inüit

The Transmusicales festival is all about new and emerging acts, and while acts from across France andbeyond get the chance to impress on the big stage, the inclusive nature of the event sees it extend into the city centre, where the L'étage venue hosts a series of shows, almost like a mini-festival within the larger event.

There is a programme of free shows on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday, meaning that the festival is not just for those able to attend the late night sets at the parc expo on the edge of the city.

The late afternoon/early evening times mean that the truly dedicated can of course fit in both in the course of a full-immersion in music over the course of several days.

Getting proceedings under way this year are Inüit, who perform on Thursday afternoon. They are a six-piece from Nantes, associated with that city's Conservatoire. But what they perform is not any rarified classical material, but a very organic and unique electroacoustic thing.

Their debut EP is released in January 2016.

Transmusicales Preview: Paradis

The Transmusicales festival in Rennes at the beginning of next month is a crucial showcase for some of France's finest emerging acts, so in the run-up to the event I though it only right to feature some of them on this blog.

The last two years saw Benjamin Clementine and Jeanne Added achieve considerable recognition as a result of their performances, both being give the opportunity to play multiple shows during the course of the festival.

This year sees a similar opportunity being given to Paradis, who play five shows at the Aire Libre venue.

The act, a Paris-based duo of Simon Mény and Pierre Rousseau have been releasing material since 2011,  their French language vocals and sophisticated groove making them one of the country's most promising new acts.

They've featured on this blog earlier this year, with the track Sur une Chanson en francais. You can probably expect to hear a great deal more of them in 2016 following their performances at this years Transmusicales.

Les Trans Musicales 2014 playback: Grand Blanc

One of the good things about the modern festival is that so much is now filmed professionally and
shared online.

You can re-watch highlights, or catch things you missed without having to rely on badly filmed and expensive VHS from a dubious source. It's a nice touch that much of the video content is available to watch internationally too.

I know licensing isn't easy, and filming events is not cheap, but the money spent here not only reflects well on the festival but also allows it to reach a far wider audience that those who actually were able to attend the shows in Rennes.

In the review of the event I posted at the weekend , I said that Grand Blanc were the highlight of the festival. Here's the evidence.

You'll probably be nodding in agreement after watching.


 

Trans Musicales preview: The Avener

One of the acts taking to the stage at the Parc Expo at the  Trans Musicales de Rennes festival tonight
is The Avener, a DJ and producer and one of the many dance-related acts performing over the event.

His first release was Fade Out Lines, a re-working of the track The Fade Out Line by Phoebe Killdeer and The Short Straws.

The Avener's work on the track reminds me of the remix of Prayer in C by Lilly Wood and the Prick that was an international hit after it was remixed by Robin Schulz.

Not that it actually sounds like that track, just that it takes a source song that you'd normally not associate with dance music, and re-interprets it in such a way that it works for a dancefloor but also retains the spirit of the original.

The Avener presents a house music infused with soul and informed by electro, and come up with something quite classy.

His debut album, to be titled The Wanderings Of The Avener, is expected to be released next year.

Trans Musicales 2014 preview: Darjeeling Speech

Another act to feature at the Trans Musicales de Rennes festival are Darjeeling Speech, who are on at the étage venue on Friday afternoon.

They describe themselves as somewhere between hip hop, blues, rock and electro. All in all, not a bad place to be.

Oliver Saf, the force behind Darjeeling Speech is also a member of Rennes-based hip hop act Micronologie, who have been active since 2005.

They released their debut album that year, following it with Art Rythme Éthique in 2009.
They have just released their new album, entitled  Equations Verbales.

As for Darjeeling Speech, Zombies sur le boulevard was released in October.

Their EP Prose Fantomes was due out last month, but will be available soon.

Trans Musicales 2014 preview: Bison Bisou

Another look ahead to a band who are featuring at the Trans Musicales de Rennes festival, and who
are set to perform at the étage venue in Rennes city centre later today.

Bison Bisou are a rock act who have been around for three years and the five piece say they have been influenced by 90s indie rock and post punk.

The five piece act released their first single Swim Against Death in 2011, and their debut album Naive is expected before too long.

Tt seems they've grown on fertile soil, there are echoes of some very fine bands in their music, whether At the Drive In or Fugazi, but rather than just absorbing and repeating earlier left-field guitar rock, they sound like a band who have come up with something  very much their own.

Trans Musicales 2014 preview: Fawl

Another look ahead to a band who are featuring at the Trans Musicales de Rennes festival, and who
are taking to the stage at the étage venue this afternoon.

It looks like I'll miss out on catching them, as I don't get into town until late in the afternoon, which is a pity as they look well worth my attention.

They're a Breton based band, describing themselves as a Power Trio, who were formed in Dinan in 2010.

They released a four track Ep in 2013, featuring the tracks Hurt, Fallout, Eerily and Watchmen.
There's something Muse-like about them, but that's not a bad thing in my books by any means.

There's an ambition vision and the musical means to back it up, and I suspect they'll be a powerful live proposition.




Fawl - Iniquity (Live à Des Lendemains Qui Chantent) from VideoTrack on Vimeo.

Trans Musicales 2014 preview: Gandi Lake

Another look ahead to the fast-approaching Trans Musicales de Rennes festival, with Gandi Lake
delivering a classy slice of indie pop.

The band hails from Caen and list their influences as 60s/70s masters like Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, The Kinks and Fleetwood Mac as well as more modern acts like Sébastien Tellier and The Black Keys via the likes of The Pastels, The Field Mice and The Coral.

The five piece were given the thumbs up by influential French magazine Les Inrocks earlier this year and  Weather Vanes was issued as a single, with the video emerging in September.

It's recently been released on vinyl, with the track Nothing about you featuring in the B side.

Trans Musicales 2014 preview: Forever Pavot

Another look ahead to the Les   festival, today looking at Forever Pavot.

The Paris-based act presents a technicolour vision informed by the further reaches of cinema, part Ennio Morricone, part psychedelic soundtrack from long-forgotten B-movies.

The group, led by  Emile Sornin have been around since 2011, with a number of singles issued since then.

Their debut full-length album Rhapsode was issued earlier this month on Born Bad records.

Following their show in Rennes, they play in the UK in December, with shows in Reading on December 10, Northampton December 11, Manchester the 12th and London on December 13.

Sable mouvant was issued as a limited edition seven inch single in 2013.

Trans Musicales 2014 preview: Dad Rocks!

Continuing my look ahead to the acts playing at this year's Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes
next Month, today it's the turn of Dad Rocks!

While not strictly French (OK, they are from Denmark...) I've always been relaxed about my definition of French music in this blog, and they are signed to a  French record Label, Les Disques Normal, who are based in Rennes.

The label is also home to acts like Fat Supper and Lady Jane, two acts I had the chance to get acquainted with last year. And I've  been delighted to have had the chance to get to know their work.

The same applies to Dad Rocks!

They make a pretty gorgeous sound, epic and approachable, as welcome as a favourite jumper on a  cold autumn day.

The act has been active since 2010, with Denmark-based Icelander Snævar Njáll Albertsson at the helm.

They released an EP that year, following it with their Mount Modern debut LP in 2011.

 The album Year of the Flesh by Dad Rocks was released in September this year.

Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes: Another 10 acts confirmed

Ten new names have been added to the bill for this year's Transmusicales festival in Rennes.

Acts added include Oso Leone, Islam Chipsy, Dad Rocks!, Courtney Barnett, Eagles Gift, Jeanne Added, Le Zooo, Jambinai, Smoove and Turrell and Boris Brejcha.

It follows the announcement earlier this month of the first ten acts on the bill, with DBFC, Den Sorte Skole, I Me Mine, Lizzo, Meta Meta, Molotov Jukebox, Naked (on drugs), Kate Tempest, Thylacine and Vadou Game.

Another tranche of acts will be confirmed on September 12.

The annual event is a major showcase for acts and the festival's spirit has always had a forward looking  and wide ranging outlook.  

Last year the likes of  Stromae, London Grammar and Moodoïd played,  as did Le Vasco, Public Service Broadcasting and dozens of others.

Events include workshops and conferences, free gigs in the city as well as large-scale festival shows in the Parc Expo on the outskirts of Rennes.

The festival takes  place in Rennes from December 3 -7

Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes: First 10 acts confirmed

Getting to last year's Trans Musicales festival in Rennes in December was one of my musical highlights of last
year, and the first artists have been announced for this year's event.

Last year saw  Stromae, London Grammar and Moodoïd on the bill, as well as the likes of Le Vasco and Public Service Broadcasting.

So far for 2014 they have confirmed DBFC, Den Sorte Skole, I Me Mine, Lizzo, Meta Meta, Molotov Jukebox, Naked (on drugs), Kate Tempest, Thylacine and Vadou Game.

Dozens more will be added to the listing before the event itself, with more to be unveiled on September 9.

The Trans Musicales is a unique opportunity to catch some of the most exciting contemporary acts alongside some more established performers. Since it was first staged in 1979 it has been a showcase for a huge number of innovative acts, from both France and elsewhere.

Preceding the festival itself, some of the acts on the bill tour the west France area from November  13 to November 29

The event itself sees three days of free gigs at the city centre Liberté venue, large scale shows at the Parc Expo outside the city  as well as meetings, workshops, debates and events for schools and community groups.

The festival takes  place in Rennes from December 3 -7

Live: Rhume at the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes

A more-or less final lookback to the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes festival just over a week ago,
and it would be remiss of me not to mention the act Rhume, who played a set at the l'étage.

Quite an extraordinary act, displaying a passion and anger that few display these days. A genuine punk spirit, even though their means of expression are more electronic and closer to rap in their delivery.

True, there's a possible nod to the likes of Suicide, very much the percussors of the angry electronic rock 'n'roll, and a possible comparison to Fauve in their use of rap in a way that sits outwith the usual hip hop conventions, but Rhume are very much their own selves, quite unique.

They reminded me more of the spoken word work of Mark E Smith,  but with the Fall's use of electronics taken forward into the foreground.  Unpolished, rough and urgent, a volley of green-ink rants with passages underlined with the luminous highlighter pen of minimal percussion.

They are the kind of act we need in  these turbulent times, reflecting the anger and vitriol without serving it as nostalgia or as irony.

Rhume released their debut album earlier this year, and it is available from their bandcamp site. 

Live: Dead at the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes

If there was ever a for a genre called nudryicewave, Dead would beat the forefront of it.

I caught Rennes act Dead at the Transmusicales when they played at the L'étage at the Liberté venue in the city centre.

There were echoes of late 80s post-industrial electronic dance acts like Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb in their performance, but to this listerner at least I couldn't help but compare them to the Sisters of Mercy, the one-time dark lords of the dry ice, menace and moodiness.

Not that they actually sounded like the Sisters, more that they sounded the way that the Sisters should sound like today.

Much as I was a fan of Eldritch and co. in the past, re-listening to their material today is a fairly disappointing experience. Despite live shows and new songs, the band have released no new material since 1992.

 The intervening decades reducing much of their recorded output, which was once an all-consuming techno rock into something now sounding rather thin and dated.

Not so Dead. They're very much across the changes that have mutated electronic music in the years since the Sisters went into hibernation. Their music might well be no stranger to the sounds of the dancefloor of a punk night at a student union in the late 80s, but Dead are very much a product of the 2010s musical environment.

When Andrew Eldritch awakes from a troubled sleep and tries to recall what the band he dreamed about sounded like, they probably sounded a bit like Dead.

Live: Oum Shatt at Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes

Another great act that was unknown to me before the Rencontres Trans Musicales last weekend was Oum
Shatt.

While a German band might normally fall outwith the usual French music framework of this blog, I'm never the strictest at drawing borders and a band playing in France, especially one that made a big impression at a French festival certainly merits a mention.

Oum Shatt are a rock and roll band, a four piece that takes the traditional guitar rock into a 21st century context.

There's a strong flavour of the Turkish and middle eastern sound that anyone who has ever visited Germany will be familiar with.

You can imagine them somewhere around Franz Ferdinand or even Talking heads, smart indie rock that's unafraid to be heard on the dancefloor.

Oum Shatt have been around since 2012, and their Power to the Women of the Morning Shift EP was
released in August this year and it is available at their bandcamp site. 

Another thing that I've enjoyed about the Rencontres Trans Musicales is that so many of the acts were filmed in such high quality, and the videos made available internationally. Not only does it give the event a  reach that goes beyond those who attended the event, but also gives those who were there the chance to catch acts again or to see things that they weren't able to see on account of there being so much going on at the same time.

Live: Doist at the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes

One of the strengths of the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes festival was the opportunity to catch acts
that would be outwith my usual listening comfort zone.

The festival's bill was an eclectic one,  in the most part steering away from obvious commercial acts and instead giving acts that are more interesting the opportunity to showcase their work in front of an open-minded audience.

So it was with Doist! performing at the Heineken Green Room on the final night of the festival.

The duo from Rennes were tipped as a marriage of electro and metal, but they were much more than this. It wasn't metal as such, probably not electro either, but something that fans of each genre would certainly recognise and respond to at an instinctive level.

Fans of extreme music of any stripe would be into what Doist! are doing.

They're not the first French act to put guitar and electro together and take things to a new level - older listeners will remember the likes of Heldon and the solo work of Richard Pinhas - and while in some ways what Doist! is doing is an extension of that electronic rock, they've come up with something exciting in its own right.

Their digital release Black Church EP was released in April this year, with four tracks and three remixes. It is available from their bandcamp site at a price of your choosing. http://doist.bandcamp.com/

Live: Moodoid at the Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes

Much to digest from the rich musical pickings of this weekend's Les Rencontres Trans Musicales de Rennes
event, so I thought that a series of short articles would do it better justice than a lengthy report that would inevitably not cover everything that it should.

Of course, one other consequence of the visit was getting the chance to not only experience a huge number of acts live, but also getting introduced to other acts that I didn't get the chance to see.

There were so many acts on it simply wasn't possible to be everywhere at once, and with the Bars en Trans festival running at the same time - with dozens of acts across the city in smaller venues - I couldn't see everything, but I certainly got to hear about some acts that I'll hopefully get to feature.

To kick things off, however, I was particularly looking forward to seeing Moodoid perform at the Parc Expo, and I was not disappointed.

Live Moodoid are the kind of band that can pull of some ridiculously complicated progressive psych rock, but with a melodic and pop sensibility that means they're never less than approachable and engaging.

It was also great to see Moodoid feature on the front cover of Le Monde during the festival. Looks like its not just fans of  Melody's Echo Chamber that are paying attention to the band. If 2014 sees them getting  share of mainstream popularity, it's certainly deserved.

During theTrans Musicales, Moodoid also performed a special concert to an audience of kids in Rennes, a perfect example of the inclusive attitude of the Trans Musicales event that included free shows and talks in the city, bringing some of the best music on offer at the moment to as many people as possible.



Incidentally, I caught some of the members of Moodoid, including Pablo Padovani, at a gig at Le Sympatic bar during the Bars en Trans festival. They were all wearing the silver face  make-up they wore during their set at the Parc Expo. Good to know that even when off duty, Moodoid remain loyal to the cause.

The four track of September's Moodoid EP have just been released as two seperate seven inch singles on Enterprise records. http://entreprise.bandcamp.com/

Les Rencontres Trans Musicales: Le Vasco

Le Vasco are another act that I'l looking forward to seeing over the weekend at the Les Rencontres Trans
Musicale in Rennes.

Le Vasco takes an uncompromising approach to electronica, with an edgy sound that  reminds us that many of the artists working in electronic music have ideas and ambitions  beyond lowest common denominator dance music.

Their new release Passion Thing, an 11 track collection, was made available this week.

The song In Your Dreams features on the most recent compilation CD by Les InRocks Lab, which features  18 of the best new acts from 2013.

In Your Dreams features on the six track Le Vasco EP, released last year.

Le Vasco plays at Les Rencontres Trans Musicale on Friday night.

Passion thing is available as a fee download from the http://levasco.com/ website.