With Seattle’s Arthur and Yu providing the soundtrack to Meteor’s latest television advert and The Decemberists cropping up in a campaign for Toyota maybe there are signs that dark folk is creeping into the mainstream. Granted, it’s a tiny presence still swamped by dinosaur dung quantities of Jurassic pop but it’s an indication nonetheless that we’re sick and jaded with the world of pop.

In that spirit then, I treated myself by not watching the Drearivision Song Contest and mulled over how we managed to get our knickers in such a knot last year about Dervish taking part when we apparently couldn’t even get arrested in Belgrade with the best entertainer in Ireland. Next year let’s dress Podge and Rodge up as leprechauns and let Lordi write our entry.
Still, all is not as well as it could be in the magic kingdom. When it takes the Dark Lord, Leonard Cohen such an unhealthily long time to sell out three nights at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham even with Damien Rice taking the role of the Dark Prince something is surely awry. Maybe we’re all so accustomed to the tribute band culture that permeates our land now that we’ve sated ourselves on the recent glut of Leonard Cohen tribute nights and reworkings and no longer have the appetite for the real thing. Perhaps we’re scared he’ll fail to live up to himself, or leave out a few old classics. By the way, if you want to catch Damien Rice’s sets on any of the three nights you’ll have to plan with military precision as all he has to play with is the traditional half-hour support slot, hitting the stage at 7.30 on each of the three evenings.
Other old stagers seem to be able to bring people out. Following on from the addition of a second night for Joan Baez, it has now been announced that a second show is being added for Art Garfunkel on Saturday October 4. Maybe it’s Cohen’s curmudgeonly persona that is putting people off, it certainly shouldn’t be any doubts about his abilities as a performer. Having seen him years ago in the National Stadium as part of the I’m Your Man tour I can testify to his credentials as a show man.
Closer to home the One Eyed Rattlers are hauling their asses out of retirement for a reunion gig at the Cherrytree in Walkinstown on Tuesday July 1. In an age before rock looked at itself with any degree of irony and big hair and big guitar bands roamed the tundra of prehistoric Ireland, the One Eyed Rattlers brought us a raucous alt-country riot of sound while not taking themselves too seriously at all. Musically sharper than a sabretooth tiger and hotter than a tin roof they were always a joy to hear live. Can’t imagine things will be any different this time round.
Contemporary alt-country revelation Jim White makes a stop off in Ireland to play a night in Dublin’s Sugar Club on Tuesday July 22 before heading up to Belfast for an appearance on Thursday July 24. It’s over a decade now since he released his debut album Wrong Eyed Jesus but he really rose to the public consciousness with the screening of the documentary road movie Searching For The Wrong Eyed Jesus which looked at the deep South though a drifter’s eyes, filtering its songs and stories like a modern day Flannery O’Connor. Through No Such Place, released in 2001 and Drill A Hole In That Substrate which saw the light of day in 2004 he confirmed his place as a maverick talent.
Now apparently somewhat more settled and living in a farmhouse in the backwoods of Georgia his latest release Transnormal Skiperoo is a more affirmative look at life. Produced by Joe Pernice and Michael Demming he made the record with the band Ollabelle and is accompanied on tour by Ollabelle guitarist and vocalist Fiona McBain.
Of the album’s title White himself says: “Transnormal Skiperoo is a name I invented to describe a strange new feeling I’ve been experiencing after years of feeling lost and alone and cursed. Now, when everything around me begins to shine, when I find myself dancing around in my back yard for no particular reason other than it feels good to be alive, when I get this deep sense of gratitude that I don’t need drugs or God or doomed romance to fuel myself through the gauntlet of a normal day, I call that feeling ‘Transnormal Skiperoo.’”
June sees the Riches Of Clare concerts continue in venues round the County. It focuses on the wealth of traditional music talent to be found in the Banner. Now in its fourth year, musicians involved in the 2008 series include Aidan and Fintan McMahon, Moher, Helen Hayes, Bobby Gardiner and Conor Keane all of whom will perform in Wednesday afternoon gigs.