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.

Trans Musicales de Rennes 2014: Video highlights

Tthe good folk at the Trans Musicales de Rennes 2014 did a pretty good job capturing in video what was going on over the course of several crazy days in the city.

Nice that the festival was filmed so extensively, and hats off to the team for turning around so much video so quickly.

I've still got quite a few acts that I missed to watch on video, and it's great to have that opportunity.

It gives a flavour of the extent of the events going on, from gigs to sessions, discussions to meetings.

It was a memorable weekend, and one with much to enjoy.


Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Report: Les Trans Musicales de Rennes 2014

Make no mistake, the Trans Musicales de Rennes is a lot to take in, with acts playing in both the city centre in the  early evening and in the halls of the Parc Expo by the airport on the outskirts of the city at night.

It's also an eclectic mix, with acts ranging from the experimental to the mainstream, from France and beyond.

From local acts at the Liberté and the Ubu, it's a platform for emerging talent as much as for more established acts performing to packed halls in the early hours, but principally its an experience to immerse yourself in a well-selected programme of acts.

If last year the event was dominated by Stromae playing a packed out hall on the Friday night, this year saw the same enthusiasm and crowd sizes for the likes of Rone and The Avener in the massive Hall 9.

But the festival gives a massive platform to acts on the rise, with Jungle and Moodoid among those benefiting from some Trans Musicales attention.

The personal highlight this year had to be Grand Blanc. They were and act I'd been looking forward to seeing them, and their take on electro-informed rock  hit the spot.  You could  detect the DNA of bands like the Cure and New Order in their bloodstream, but traces of post-punk French electro pop pioneers like Ellie and Jaco were also evident.

There was much to love in what they were doing, and the fact that they have yet to release their debut album suggests that even greater things are ahead.

Elsewhere, she may be outwith the French focus of this blog, but Australia's Courtney Barnett was a joyful performance, with something of the ragged glory of Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Quite what a predominately French audience made of Kate Tempest's spoken word and rap performance was uncertain, but she had the energy of a mildly unhinged by endearing primary school teacher delivering a lesson the assembly was unlikely to forget.

No shortage of acts that deserve a mention in a round-up of the event. Dad Rocks delivered their thoroughly-crafted pocket symphonies, Cosmo Sheldrake's unique electro folk bringing much human warmth to a genre that too-often revels in being austere.

The aftermath of the Trans Musicales gives you much to think about. After the festival itself, you're left with much to follow up.

There are acts you caught briefly and want to investigate further. Others you might have missed completely, but good reports from friends lead you to check them out.

Other festivals play it safe, with bankable big names on the stage year after year. Not so the Trans Musicales, where a spirit of musical adventure is the key.

If you keep your ears and your mind open, you'll be rewarded at the Trans Musicales.

Dead: Live at the Ubu in Rennes

Great to see some more quality video surface of the band Dead, a Rennes-based act who I was fortunate
enough to catch during the Transmusicales even in the city in December.

They're filmed live at the Ubu, a venue in the city, where they played this weekend by city TV station Rennes TV.

I was impressed with Dead when I saw them, their live show taking the menace of 80s dark acts like Sisters of Mercy into the 21st century.

 My review of their December gig is on the site here.

As an aside, it's worth remarking that Rennes TV are doing exactly what a local/city TV station should be doing in terms of presenting emerging talent from their city in the best possible light.  The production is of the highest standards, and absolutely appropriately done for the act involved.

 Dead are the kind of interesting act that deserve attention, but who  might find themselves elbowed out in favour of more commercially recognised acts when it comes to making appearances on national TV.

Local TV is boing launched shortly in Scotland, and while the environment is very different to the one that has seen Rennes TV flourish since its creation in 1987 hopefully some lessons will be learned from their apparent success.

Hopefully we'll see more of Dead before too long, and hopefully Rennes TV will continue to provide a valuable showcase for more of the acts from the city's vibrant local scene.