Holy Sh*t, We’re Back Late from The Digital Socket Awards!

Posted on 4th Feb 11 by Mike McGrath Bryan | 2

So, by now, everyone reading was either at the DSAs or checked out the winners the following morning. Drop-d has only got settled back down in Cork now, and what a night it was!

Unbelievable fun and a great idea, well-executed, well-received, and everyone was really into it all night, too. Organised by bloggers Nay McArdle (Harmless Noise/Drop-d alumnus), Aidan Cuffe (Goldenplec), Peter Nagle (2UIBestow) and Ronan Hunt-Murphy (Swear I’m Not Paul), The Digital Socket Awards were conceived as a celebration of great Irish music, and certainly it was, with our own Ham Sandwich, Groom and surprise hit Meljoann (who, by the way, is SOUND) giving raucous live performances, as well as many leading lights of Irish music in attendance, not the least of whom were Neil Hannon and Cathy Davey, Vinny and Lar of Adebisi Shank (to whom Drop-d presented Best Rock and Alternative), Conor O’Brien and more.

Comedy was supplied by the divisive Gareth Stack, who, for all the figurative cockshots he issued all night, had some genuinely uproarious moments. Love the man or hate him (and at least two of the central bloggers behind the awards were none too pleased), that man had balls of brass. A special award, not listed below, was handed to oxygen.ie writer (and former Drop-d schoolmate) John Ryan, for Most Pretentious Review, after his review of the Hipster Youth album. Drop-d refused to take the award in his absence, citing the fact is John is actually sound, just that electro probably isn’t his thing.

But mocking and joking aside, not only did it serve to finally give recognition to the great independent bands, artists, labels, and photographers that form the Irish music community, but it raised funds for a very important cause: depression charity Aware, beneficiaries of the proceeds of the night’s door takings. The DSAs raised over a grand at the door, bringing a real sense of things bigger than us all to the event. The night finished out with Sweet Oblivion and Logikparty at the decks, resulting in a mass ridiculous shape-throwing contest to beat them all.

A heartfelt thank-you to the organisers of the DigiSocs for allowing Drop-d to be part of celebrating what is an amazing asset to this country in a time of bad news and worse decisions, and on its own merits, a match for, if not superior to, anything else in the world. Irish music. Ours. In our pubs and venues, bedrooms and gammy LAN connections. On our own, for the love of it, and nothing else. For the first time in years, Drop-d couldn’t have been prouder to be Irish.

Here’s to the 2012 Digital Socket Awards!

THE WINNERS:

Best EP
And So I Watch You From Afar – The Letters

Best Indie
The Cast of Cheers

Best Design
Adebisi Shank

Best Newcomer
The Cast of Cheers

Best Rock
Adebisi Shank – The Second Album of a Band called Adebisi Shank

Best Video
The Ambience Affair – Devil In The Detail

Best Pop
Cathy Davey

Best Photographer
Loreana Rushe

Best Folk
Villagers – Becoming a Jackal

Best Radio
Donal Dineen – The Small Hours

Best Electronic / Hip Hop
Solar Bears – She Was Coloured In

RTE Special Award – 2010 Outstanding contribution to Irish music
The Cast Of Cheers

Best Label
The Richter Collective

Best Song
Villagers – The Meaning of the Ritual

Best Album
Adebisi Shank – This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank

Tags: award ceremony, awesome, Digital Socket Awards, Grand Social, Meljoann

About Mike McGrath Bryan

Drop-d's editor and news slave since November 2010, and a full-time freelance contributing journalist. Multimedia student, retro gamer and general speccy-four-eyes.

Website Twitter Facebook