Les Trans Musicales de Rennes 2014

The 36th edition of the French festival looks to be as serendipitous as the first, which is of course half the fun.

Feature by Finbarr Bermingham | 22 Oct 2014

Thirty-six. It’s just a number. And in our evergreen age of gerontology, scarcely even kicking the arse of middle-age. But (and disclaimer, this scribe is beyond the pale of two score and 10) with so many years of music consumption in your sails, the challenge of keeping up with The Kids grows as you pass further into the abyss (disclaimer #2: if you’re reading this rag, you’ll probably be okay).

Every year as the leaves turn to brown, the days grow slimmer and we cross the Rubicon into List Season, the struggle becomes more apparent. The Travelator gains in gradient every time. A frenzy of pre-Chocolate Santy-fuelled aural memory jogging ensues. Could there really be more new music every single year? Or are we just listening to that (now more accessible than ever) back catalogue we’ve amassed over the years with a heightened brew of obstinacy and nostalgia?

If only there was some sort of Yuletide-baiting musical bell-weather. A calendar-closing jaunt that challenged us to seek out and enjoy new sounds, drawing on the very wealth of experience that can so often be a hindrance. This, readers, is where Les Trans Musicales comes in, the hibernal French showcase of all that is soon-to-be hot in the world of music – now gloriously marching into its thirty-sixth year with the same sense of breezy nonchalance with which it entered the world in 1979.

The Rennes event is famed for its eclecticism. You’ll rarely see any superstars, but hindsight suggests that organiser and founder Jean-Louis Brossard has his finger pretty firmly on the pulse. Previous pre-curve performers include Cabaret Voltaire (1983), Nirvana (1991), Bjork (1993), DJ Shadow (1995) Yann Tiersen (1997), Fever Ray (2009) and Factory Floor (2011).

“The Trans is about discovering artists, who nobody knows. The strength of the festival is to bring together all those people with the unknown artists who play. It’s not a showcase festival. It is a festival of concerts. That’s important,” Brossard said in an interview a couple of years ago, and thus, eyeing up the roster in advance, it looks like a mainly serendipitous affair.

There are, of course, a couple of takeaway names. This month’s Skinny cover star Kate Tempest spoke, in her featured interview, about the need to turn every show into a unique experience. “This all started, and will continue to be, about performance,” she said. Described variously as “Britain’s best young poet” and “one of the brightest talents around”, her Rennes slot is surely one not to be missed.

Another performer who has been celebrated as much for the style of her delivery as the substance is the Australian Courtney Barnett. Her double EP of slacker anthems from late in 2013, A Sea of Split Peas, has been gathering steam in recent months, thanks in no small part to the substantial airplay being given the brilliant tracks History Eraser and Avant Gardener.

But Les Trans Musicales is about finding something new. With upward of 60,000 people, spread across the streets and venues of Rennes in the west of France, it’s as exciting a winter adventure you’ll find. So pack the snow boots and the glow sticks and get yourself booked on the Eurostar.

From the archive

Let it Rennes: Trans Musicales 2013 in review

Awake on Foreign Shores: Trans Musicales 2011 in review

Les Trans Musicales 2014 takes place from 3-7 December in Rennes, France. For information on tickets, transport, line-up and schedule visit: http://lestrans.com/en/