Les Trans Musicales de Rennes Festival 2013

Sift through previous years line-ups and you will struggle to find any thread linking the wonderfully disparate array of acts calibrated into an unholy union each year on the streets and aircraft hangers of Rennes. Trans Musicales has been run by Jean-Luis Brossard since its inception and the man famously books what he fancies. This can range from alternative indie superstars to buskers plucked from the depths of Brick Lane and plonked into this dizzying carousel of music genre miscellany which is arguably Trans Musicales' calling card, one which distinguishes the event from its comparatively youthful rivals.

The festival has famously played host to the likes of Nirvana, Einstürzende Neubauten, Cabaret Voltaire and Portishead, all at varying stages of their careers, often – especially in the case of Cobain and co. – on the cusp of international stardom. Accordingly, the most obscure of acts are endowed with a sense of ‘this could be the next big thing’ which is ideal as there is a significant amount of comparatively unknown performers rubbing shoulders with the more mainstream acts. 

2013 sees the likes of London Grammar and Public Service Broadcasting offering the primary UK representation among the headliners. But dig a little deeper and some incredibly tasty morsels await the diligent festival attendee. Colombian Meridian Brothers – the alter ego of Albis Alvarez – proffers a demented take on pop, a collage of tropicalia and pop, chopped up and disseminated amid smatterings of electronic salsa. Sixty-two year old one-time sculptor Lonnie Holley takes a break from collaborating with the Black Lips to bring his often heavily-improvised naïve soul to the festival while on the other end of the spectrum, Kid Karate proffer muscular rock straight from the heartland of Dublin’s inner city.

Of course, there are plenty of reasons to party long into the Breton night; the Horse Meat Disco collective and the presence of Glasgow’s own Optimo club DJ’s ensures wingmen for hedonism are on hand. Har Mar Superstar may or may not provide a feral, R&B powered sex bomb and the more conventionally handsome Daughn Gibson – a man who combines the tortured sleaze of Greg Dulli with the electronic weirdness of Nicolas Jaar – demonstrates why Sub Pop signed him up for his most recent album Me Moan.

The beauty of Trans Musicales lies within the unknowing. The wayward programming leads to a wonderfully unpredictable few days of gig hopping albeit one which still seems fired up from the punk heyday and offering a two fingers to the musical capital punishment of Paris. Trans Musicales is to be treasured, a festival sprawling in ambition and inexhaustible in allure.