2020

Arm does everything: he writes, he raps, he beatmakes, he produces … The result is an obvious cohesion between texts and music, an incredible ability to play with codes, verse/chorus structures, to twist them and then to sublimate them until they disappear. On Codé, thick and threatening layers give the album its consistency. Almost each of the nine songs which composes it begins with heavy atmospheres, during which we must try to anticipate what is coming next, anticipate what we are about to hear. Pessimism? Melancholy? Hope? Uncertainties? This is what Codé is made of.

Born in a distant electronic music big bang, Atoem is an unidentified musical object, a two-part musical piece made of alchemists and experimenters. The pair has been engaged in the methodical creation of a perfect techno, mixing cold variants, and elementary sound particles for several months. At the heart of Rennes cosmos, Gabriel Renault and Antoine Talon, two machine artists with invariable symmetry, are the modern and mystical poets of the electronic scene, delivering with methodic prudence a series of spatial symphonies, while making their audience dance to the pulse of their soul.

An 80s drum machine and cheap synthesizers in hand, Carambolage plays music in French in the text, tinged with post punk and rock’n’roll influences, ranging from Devo to Starshooter, including The Cure, Taxi Girl, Strawberry Soda or the Ramones. The band offers incredibly energetic live shows. The bond between the members is quickly transmitted to the public. For all the nostalgic people of France under Giscard, bass synth lovers, Coluche fans and 200 bpm punk aficionados.

If you were to spend your last hours in your pants in the middle of the rubble, strolling by the edge of a miraculously intact swimming pool, Dewaere’s Slot Logic would be the perfect soundtrack of your peri-mortem short film. Between vinegar guitars and MG-42 drums, the band’s sick noise rock hits can be heard as we are about to launch our first grenade : beating heart, ready to pounce.

El Maout recycles sounds, makes music with his mouth, his loop station and many others recovery instruments: rubber band, water bottle, blender… Thanks to the boat trip he took to Morocco, Gambia, Cape Verde, Haiti and all over Europe, El Maout built his identity, an indecipherable and yet understandable language, a musical mix that breaks free from established codes. El Maout takes us to dancefloors all over the world, based on a mix between epileptic hip-hop and the insane repetitiveness of his music.

Fleuves is an atypical clarinet, Fender Rhodes piano and bass trio, formed by Emilien Robic, Samson Dayou and Romain Dubois. While building their repertoire entirely, drawing their inspiration from the rhythms of traditional Brittany dances, the three musicians developed an original electro music with strong kinematic potential. The group’s compositions thus break down barriers between musical genres and develop the sounds of an original, electronic, fractal, refined and captivating freshness. Fleuve is an invitation to get moving; from haunting curves to incisive points, the music of the trio shapes a nearly levitating trance!

Those who awkwardly think that psychedelia has passed are heavily mistaken. Indeed this music of research, aerial in devil, is always current in our countries. Guadal Tejaz is undoubtedly an inspired ambassador. These 4 musicians from Rennes, following the line of the big names in the genre, nevertheless bring it a decidedly garage sound and rock or even post punk digressions which could remind us of the great hours of Joy Division.

Nineteen-year-old Joanna from Rennes draws her inspiration from the greatest divas, from Lana Del Rey to Mylène Farmer, to narrate love in all its forms. With a neat artistic sensitivity, she realizes and produces her music videos which she imagines while creating her poem-like songs. Desire, body and femininity are the uninhibited leitmotifs of her delicious jazzy compositions. From her videos to her clothing style, the successful substantive work is put to light by her very much worked attitude and her very assured image.

Rising stars of the Rennes scene, La Battue is not just a family business. The band is composed Bertrand James (Totorro), Ellie James (Mermonte) and Yuri Hu. With the ambition to get the bodies moving while keeping their pop freshness, these six titles label La Battue as one of the best guaranteed “guitar-free” sunshine pop bands. And no matter how hard you search, you would not find a similar band in France. Nor anywhere else, by the way.

Les Amirales is the musical project born from the encounter between violinist Mirabelle Gilis and singer Sara Petit. Accompanied by drummer Guillaume Rossel (past DBFC and Rachid Taha), the two musicians created Les Amirales, whose name is a rough mixture of their first names and a wink to the city of Brest where the group is based. Together, the three artists compose an electronic pop music with silky orchestrations often expressing melancholy but does not hesitate to follow disco, rock and western music paths.

Behind this identity hides a young hyperactive producer from Rennes. Multi-instrumentalist of classical training, Les Gordon mixes acoustic and synthetic sounds to disseminate clear and bright electro pop atmosphere. Using samples of guitar, cello, ukulele, mandolin, autoharp, keyboards and voices, Les Gordon brilliantly composes soft and overpowering melodies, which charm you and captivate you with their sweet melancholy. His retro-futuristic commitment gives meaning to his compositions here.

Escaped from the Slow Sliders, Victor Gobbé presents Lesneu. Lesneu stands for Lesneven, his native city where he found refuge to compose for his new project. Warmly set in his intact teenage bedroom, with the minimum required to be able to shape hits with a shovel in a decor made of Lego Star Wars and Lanfeust comic books. Though he might be breathing fun and joie de vivre, Victor expresses emotion and sincerity while singing behind his organ. A sadness that makes you dance, carried by this voice and beautiful melodies somewhere between The Walkmen and Beach House.

Hidden under a sunhat, sunglasses and mustache, Lorenzo appeared on YouTube in 2015 like a pop-up window. His White-trash attitude, his verve both literary and filthy, and his quirky videos are his trademarks. Coming from the Rennes collective Columbine, he goes solo releasing a first album (platinum disc) in 2018. As the haters would not believe he would last long in the music business, he clashes them with with second album just a year later, which would be a massive success as well. Rapper, braggart, boaster, and asshole as well as contemporary artist and underground rapper, Lorenzo went after French rap with massive self-confidence and sold out-tours across France.

Mnemotechnic is a French noise rock band founded in 2009 in Brest. Giving free rein to their obsessions, Mnemotechnic records Blinkers. The band digs deeper towards sharp textures and sounds they sound as visceral as mechanical. Moved by emergency and surrounded by a white and raw light, the band reaffirms its singularity. Hauting and hypnotizing, it stays loyal to its former partners : Blinkers is recorded, produced and mixed by Thomas Poli, mastered at Black Box Studio.

Camille and Colin Goellaën Duvivier are brothers. One plays the drums, the other plays the keyboard, and they both sing. Together they demonstrate that you don’t need a guitar to play rock’n’roll. Previously members of the band Smooth Motion (programmed at Trans Musicales in 2017), the two-piece plays heavy psych, this hybrid music born in the late 1960s, when embryonic hard rock and progressive rock had not yet established their codes. Somewhere between The Nice and Black Diamond Heavies, Moundrag offers powerful and energetic shows, in which improvisation plays an important role.

“Three sisters, musicians and fundamentally free formed Periods in the end of 2017. Armed with two synthesizers, a drum machine and a bass guitar, they have one main objective: to put their ovaries on the table. Let’s forget about their rock influences, their love for Devo or Suicide let them ignite the public with synth punk riffs straight out of the 80s. They still allow themselves some pop melodies. […] Feminine and feminists, Periods carry all the signs of an emancipatory liberation but especially the promise of a fiery evening! » Narjisse El Gourari

Born with an ermine (one of Rennes symbols) in the corner of his eye, delivered by a rock star, baptised in a puddle on St Michel Street, Reta is the fruit from the bowels of 3 5, the young python from the depths of old Rennes. From his first steps at the age of six at the RedBull Beat It in Paris, the breaker has beaten up and down. Step by step, the boards of the dance scene gave way to open-mics, and the studio took the place of the track and the acrobatics became lyrical when caught up by rap.

Robin Poligné writes, plays and sings Rouge Gorge, conceived as an extension of himself feeding on everything that passes through it. Seeking evidence in melodies, he blows hot and cold according to the notes he plays according to his moods and those of his co-humans. He accompanies himself with loops of synthetic orchestras from old synthesisers and performs his singing like a good student who would forget himself from time to time to the pleasure of risk taking.

Songø is composed of South African singer Sisanda Myataza, (now based in Bristol, UK) Yoann Minkoff and Mael Loeiz Danion (guitar / vocals and keyboards / producer of the band City Kay), and Petit Piment, drummer and multi instrument player from Burkina Faso who recently settled in France after touring Europe with his band Baba Commandant. This international reunion brings also a great diversity of languages. Led by the mesmerizing voice of Sisanda (supported by the vocals of the 3 musicians), the songs are written in English, Xhosa, French and Mooré.

Victor Solf presents his first solo EP Aftermath. No anger nor resentment can be heard on the record but a desire to go ahead. Inherited and inspired by gospel and soul, his music is resolutely modern and futuristic.