A&R Department: Kojaque, Gaptoof, Tolü Makay, GavinDaVinci and more

Kojaque does the hip hop business on ‘No Hands’, a song about growing up which he wrote two years ago.

Accompanied by a video that graphically references the death of his father by suicide, it’s taken from the Dubliner’s upcoming debut album and benefits Pieta House.

Meanwhile, his Soft Boy Records bestie Gaptoof has released a nineteen-track mixtape of the Battle of the Beats he’s been running during Lockdown on his Instagram.

Available on Bandcamp with all proceeds going to MASI, it’s a high energy affair that also features the likes of Alex Gough, boyfrens, Cuculn, Cheesmore and ScareDaCat.

We’re also loving the Soft Boy x PX Music collab, which finds Kean Kavanagh and GavinDaVinci teaming up on ‘Superman’, a slow groove with a sting in its tail!

Kevin Neary impresses with ‘Hopelessly True’, a “sad but cosy acoustic tale of a cathartic 2am venture to the winter waters of the Liffey.”

A warm duvet of a song, it’s produced by Michael Heffernan who’s previously done the honours for Dermot Kennedy, The Script, Gavin James, The Coronas and Swedish House Mafia.

Fresh from going viral with her RTÉ Concert Orchestra-assisted cover of The Saw Doctors’ ‘N17’, Tolü Makay indulges in a spot of epic piano balladry with ‘Used To Me’, which makes sense of all those Erykah Badu comparisons.

Pieced together with longtime collaborator Enda Gallery in their makeshift Kilfenora studio, it’s the first taster from a debut album that’s being released by Berlin’s Welcome To The New World label.

D. Cullen’s musical 2021 kicks off with ‘All The People, a psych-pop stomper that will likely find favour with Oasis fans.

Co-written with Sinéad McConville and featuring the excellent Binzer Brennan on drums, it’s the Dubliner’s second hook up with Undertones, Squeeze and Elvis Costello producer Roger Bechirian.

Mullingar tunesmith Peter Doran puts his Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media grant to good use with the release of ‘Nothing New Under The Sun’ and a video shot in the town’s disused Ritz cinema.

It’s taken from his upcoming fifth album, Voices, which features guest vocals from American songstress Haley Heynderickx and Emmett Tinley of The Prayer Boat renown.

With one of his best-known tunes, ‘Every Little Thing’, receiving over 1.3 million Spotify plays, Doran may very well have reached the point of critical mass.