No Force-Feeding In Rennes

Music fans aren’t likely to be deterred by the fact they’ve hardly heard of any of the Les Transmusicales de Rennes Festival’s lineup, which was probably the case when such acts as Kaiser Chiefs, The Thrills, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Razorlight and Kasabian played the French event years ago.

“What we are about, what we want to do is defend and promote a new vision of music that differs from what the public is being force-fed,” was the mission statement when Transmusicales was founded a little more than three decades ago. Its organizers have stuck to it.

It’s meant that Transmusicales’ artistic director Jean-Louis Brossard has got into the habit of spinning a few of the acts’ latest records at the annual press conference when he reveals the full lineup.

At this year’s conference Sept. 22 at UBU, the Rennes venue that will run free shows throughout this year’s festival, he announced a bill of 86 acts from 23 countries.

Among the not-so-household names were Transformer, The Agitator, Hook & The Twins, and An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump – all from the U.K.

The U.S. contingent includes Major Lazer, Jessie Evans, Rodriguez, and Solillaquists Of Sound. This year’s Les Transmusicales de Rennes Festival is Dec. 2-6.