Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Mieke on the comfort she gets from Drake’s final album

Plus songs to hear from The Scratch and God Knows

Plus songs to hear from Elkin and Rosalía

Scarlet Rivera’s violin on the album informed Mick Flannery’s approach to music

Famous Seamus of the Lords of Strut on the album that became ‘set deep in my bones’

Plus songs to hear from Nilufer Yanya and Matmos

Plus songs to hear from Elma Orkestra/Ryan Vail and Crome Yellow

Singer Wendy James on a band that was ‘beautiful, anti-social and incredibly musical’

Radie Peat of Lankum on becoming instantly obsessed with the traditional folk ‘masterpiece’

Plus songs to hear from Wastefellow and Solange

Michael O’Shea, a talented experimental musician who died in 1991, was the definition of enigmatic

Turntablist and sample artist Djackulate on the record that changed his musical outlook

Plus songs you have to hear by Soulé and Hammer

Plus songs to hear from Tierra Whack and Arthur Valentine

Women are under-represented in the Irish music industry, but a change is gonna come

Plus songs to hear from Irish acts Fehdah and Skinner

Saint Sister’s Morgan MacIntyre on how this album made her love the small things in life

Plus songs to hear from Bibio and Sim Simma Soundsystem

Islander’s Jonathan Pearson on how this musical triumph changed his perception of pop

Plus songs to hear from Micheal O’Shea and Billie Eilish

Inni-K on how the Canadian inspired the organic approach of her new album

Plus songs to hear from Foals and Denise Chaila

Baxter Robot of Cork band, Happyalone, on the grunge benchmark

Plus music from James Blake and documentary, ‘Somewhere In Ireland’

Plus songs and videos to catch from Charlotte Gainsbourg and Myles O’Reilly

Plus songs you have to hear from Chaka Khan and David Keenan

George Evelyn AKA Nightmares On Wax shares a songwriting influence

Plus songs you have to hear from Maria Somerville and Matt Berninger with Julien Baker

Irish electronic music that shares DNA with Kiasmos, Jon Hopkins and Moderat

In Tua Nua’s Paul Byrne on an album that influenced his band’s songwriting.

Plus songs you have to hear from Helena Hauff and Sharon Van Etten

Manchester musician Kiran Leonard on how the new wave classic is great music for kids

Plus: songs you have to hear from Silverbacks and Laurie Shaw

Éna Brennan aka Dowry on a reworking of Sufjan Stevens’s 2001 album ‘Enjoy Your Rabbit’

Plus songs you have to hear from The Redneck Manifesto and Anderson .Paak

Belfast artist Arvo Party on the album that led to his love of electronic music

Clare musician Daithí on the soundtrack to the first time he felt comfortable with himself

Bad boy of alt-grime with a ‘There’s nothing great about Britain’ tattoo? What’s not to love?

Plus songs you have to hear from Fontaines D.C. and Rosalia

Cork-based artist Laurie Shaw on a teenage inspiration

His absurd bedroom jams are an oddball mix of music, comedy and performance art

Matthew Crossan, singer of Derry punk rock band Touts, on a rock’n’roll classic

A playful and exuberant kaleidoscope of spoken word, soul and R&B

Harpist Mary Lattimore on becoming a Curehead and the joys of melancholia

Plus songs you have to hear from Róisín Murphy and Maria Somerville

Northern Irish musician Aislinn Logan on an album that helped her through hard times

Young Catalan merges flamenco and R&B to become one of the planet’s most vital pop stars

Frank Lopes jnr’s conversational stories of life as a youngster in LA are one of a kind

Sanae Yamada, of Vive la Void and Moon Duo, on the album that opened doors for her

Peter Broderick on ‘music that penetrates deeply into the heart’

Ingram Roche works his tracks in ways that give them a supernatural quality

The Lost Brothers’ Oisín Leech on his transition to folk music

Tumor’s output is augmented by social media clips that echo work of Kenneth Anger

Silverbacks’ Daniel O’Kelly on a seminal album in his band’s formation

Plus songs you have to hear from Anna Mieke and Natalie Prass

Ryan McGroarty of Belfast band Beauty Sleep on the album that blew him away

Plus: songs you have to hear from Anna Mullarkey and Rosie Carney

Dublin singer-songwriter A. Smyth on an iconic American rock band

Plus, songs you have to hear from Thom Yorke and Join Me In The Pines

Plus: Songs you have to hear from Mountain Man and Young Marco

Nandi Rose Plunkett, aka the Massachusetts musician Half Waif, on a folk classic

Plus songs you have to hear from Empress Of and Jade Bird

Æ MAK’s Aoife McCann on an album that brings back emotions from her childhood

Conor Cusack of Spies on the album that made him fall in love with music

Plus songs you have to hear from Tirzah and Aretha Franklin

Conor Clancy of Funk-pop band TOUCAN on a Brazilian inspiration

Plus: songs you have to hear from Gabe Gurnsey and Spies

Plus songs you have to hear from Anna Calvi and Robyn

Dublin pop singer-songwriter Orla Gartland on her first real album

Keith Kenniff’s serene, minimal sounds chime with a growing market for tranquil tunes

Pete Lalish of Lucius on the intoxicating majesty of Howie Gelb

Tracks from John Grant, Teyana Taylor, Phoebe Bridgers, Daithí and more

The National’s guitarists are part of People, a community of musicians creating new spaces and platforms

Max Zanga of Kildare’s Tebi Rex: ‘This is what it feels like to go through puberty’

Plus songs you have to hear from Phoebe Bridgers and Big Red Machine

The producer – formerly Mmoths – on why he deleted an entire album on the road to ‘Gardenia’

Planned crackdown is welcome and will hit companies where it hurts – their bottom line

Derry grumpy electro-pop singer-songwriter Roe on a key influence

Plus songs you have to hear from John Grant and Marquis Hawkes featuring Jamie Lidell

Scottish songwriter Aidan Moffat on an influential American guitar record that helped start post-rock

Plus songs you have to hear from Teyana Taylor and Lizzo

Niamh Farrell of Ham Sandwich on Billy Corgan’s masterwork

Plus songs you have to hear from Chaka Khan and Jealous Of The Birds

Plus songs you have to hear from O Emperor and Brame & Hamo

Kitt Philippa on why this album makes for such powerful and intimate listening

Plus songs you have to hear from White Denim and Spiritualized

Plus songs you have to hear from Prince and Evvol

Northern Irish album of the year 2017 winner Joshua Burnside shares his life-changing listen

Plus: songs you have to hear from Krystal Klear and Shookrah

Cathy McGuinness of Dublin four-piece Pillow Queens on a revelatory record

Plus, songs you have to hear from James Blake and Mutual Benefit

Plus, songs you have to hear from Christine And The Queens, and Hookworms

Musician and composer Seán Mac Erlaine on his jazz awakening

Plus songs you have to hear from Arctic Monkeys and Saint Sister

Plus songs you have to hear from The Murder Capital and Róisín Murphy

Teen singer and classical guitar prodigy Lindsey Jordan is fast-tracking to indie-pop success with her debut album ‘Lush’. Plus: m(...)

Plus, songs you have to hear from DJ Koze and Arvo Party

Singer-songwriter Rhob Cunningham on an album of musical poems

Plus songs you have to hear from Ross From Friends and Mick Pyro

Plus songs you have to hear from Anderson .Paak and Friendly Fires