Earl Nest is a candidate for Les Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges at the Antipode de Rennes on January 29, 2022. Multi-instrumentalist and producer of electronic music, the young man from Dinan has made his mark on the local scene for ten years. years through regular releases and ever-evolving live performances. For his appearance at the Inouïs auditions, he will even present a live audiovisual show, at the crossroads of music and video games.

Earl Nest is the musical project of Charles Genestoux, a 30-year-old young man from Dinan who arrived in Rennes ten years ago for his studies. Prolific in self-production, the musician has also signed on several small local labels, under this alias or with his side project Lightbulbs (Gnosticuts, Physalie, MES Music, Interval). He is also a member of the Rennes collective Mikrokosm. His live, an eternal work in progress in which he summons more and more instruments, it is in the rave parties that he has honed it. His appearance at Les Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges on Saturday January 29, 2022, on the Antipode stage in Rennes, will be an opportunity for him to present his work in concert conditions. He will be joined for the occasion by YMCA, a VJing and mapping collective with which he has designed an audiovisual live.

Before becoming an electronic music producer, Charles was above all a multi-instrumentalist musician. Cradled with rock and punk, it was by sanding down a Nirvana live recorded on cassette, and with the encouragement of a guitarist friend, that the desire to make music was born in him. First it will be the bass, then the guitar. Jams with friends, then a first indie folk project with a singer friend. Initially rather refractory to electronic music, it was through an album by Gui Boratto, Take My Breath Away (Kompakt, 2009) that Charles took a liking to it. Then, by joining the group Dub Sailors, on bass and keyboard. “I had an old battery-powered synth that I put a bass pedal on. By tweaking it got closer to drum & bass and dubstep. It was my debut in electronic music,” he says.

Arriving in Rennes, Charles discovers the entire spectrum of electronic music, rave culture, party music. He religiously attended evenings at the Élaboratoire, a very active artistic squat at the time, and fell in love with his first drum machine: a Korg Electribe. In December 2013, by dint of hearing him tinker with already promising pieces, his roommate at the time found him a first date at the Combi Bar, a Rennes establishment known for bringing young artists and new collectives to play. Earl Nest was born. It has continued to grow ever since.

“Initially, it was close to The Hacker movement, Gesaffelstein, techno that beats, post-punk limit. After discovering Rone, a revelation, I tried to do more melodic”, describes Charles. In his latest productions, Earl Nest also revives styles based on the break, more or less associated with the English scene - drum & bass, dubstep, footwork, trip hop - very inspired by artists like Clark, Djrum, or podcasts of Vision Radio of the Noisia group. He also recently signed an EP on the Rennes label Interval, Six Generations, thought of as a mini-panorama of his influences.

Beyond production, Earl Nest is primarily an instrumentalist and live musician. From the start, he didn't close any doors and wanted to “build bridges with different styles, whether rock, dub, funk or other. Everything has been invented or almost, it is in hybridization that you can do new things”. Occasionally accompanied by musicians in his career, also by a singer friend, he ended up integrating his bass into the formula, then a melodica, and now his voice. Man orchestra, there is in his approach, in part, the desire to undo certain prejudices towards electronic music. This one is not premade in a box, but the result of a live performance, on machines which are an extension of the classic instruments with which they can perfectly merge, an alloy of the old and the new which is ultimately quite common, even salutary. Encouraged by his recent collaborations with the group of Alencon musician Tomi Marx, Charles plans to invite instrumentalists for his next live performances.

For the time being, he will appear alone on the Antipode stage on Saturday January 29, 2022. However, having more than one trick in his flight case, Earl Nest will be accompanied by Erwan Tehel and Quentin Brard, of the mapping and VJing collective YMCA to offer an audiovisual live specially designed for the occasion. This is actually a variation of their previous collaboration for Charles' Lightbulbs project. By using the Smode software, musical elements are linked to visual elements generated in real time and which form a decor projected onto the stage, in which the two visual artists move a camera at will, a subjective view evoking the video game. The set is inspired by the experimental documentary film Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982) and its cult soundtrack by Phillip Glass.

And musically then? With Earl Nest, it's always a bit of a surprise. He announces a set composed of unreleased songs, "edgy but bright". "I looked for footwork and drum and bass, but also for my post-punk roots," he says. In the continuity of his last pieces, there will be a lot of singing, in French. It is therefore a very complete show that Earl Nest will present on the Antipode stage.

Come and support Earl Nest during the regional Inouïs auditions at the Printemps de Bourges, in Rennes. If you want to be part of the public and support your favorite artist, meet on Saturday January 29, 2022 at the Antipode! Reservations here.

Since 1985, the Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges have been a springboard festival for contemporary music artists. This year, 3,000 applications were reviewed by 350 music professionals. 136 artists or groups were selected, spread over 28 territorial branches. In addition to the visibility given to young projects, the winners of the various prizes will be scheduled for several festivals, including the famous Printemps de Bourges, which is being held this year from April 19 to 24. The audition concerts take place between January 6 and February 5, 2022. In Rennes, meet on January 29 at 8 p.m. at the Antipode. On the program: Earl Nest, FauxX, Jeanne Bonjour, Lowdy Williams, Niteroy and Tallou.

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