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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth are childhood friends making eerie nursery-rhyme freak-folk. Plus: new songs from Unknown Morta(...)

Irish singer-songwriter Paddy Hanna on the 1980 Italian schlock-horror movie soundtrack that bled into his current album ‘Frankly,(...)

This albun changed my life: The singer on the frightening and otherworldly Tom Waits

Plus, songs you have to hear from Seinabo Sey and ZHU featuring Tame Impala

Rakel Mjöll of Dream Wife on the album that made her want to express herself loudly

Plus songs you have to hear from Leon Bridges and David Byrne

Plus songs you have to hear from Serpentwithfeet and David Kitt

Van Halen – ‘Van Halen I’ (1978)

Plus tracks you have to hear from Chvrches and DJ Koze

Plus songs you have to hear from Janelle Monáe and Kojaque

Aoife Power of Whenyoung on honest lyrics and ragged guitars with the power to hurt

Plus songs you have to hear from Beach House and Paddy Hanna

Plus songs you have to hear from Fever Ray and AE Mak

Sit back and let this indie wunderkind from Leesburg, Virginia do the driving. Plus: Tracks you have to hear from The Gloaming and(...)

Daithí O’Connor of Come on Live Long discovered Burial’s second album during the downturn

Plus songs you have to hear from Geowulf and Pillow Queens

Mark Speer of Khruangbin says the album has been influential to the way he writes music

Plus songs you have to hear from 1000 Beasts and Young Fathers

Ruairi Lynch of Bantum on an album that ‘sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before’

Plus songs you have to hear from Marcus Marr and Soccer Mommy

Hvmmingbyrd’s Deborah Byrne on ‘a truly fearless female voice’

Plus songs you have to hear from David Byrne and Bruno Mars

BARQ’s Jess Kav on music that a thousand weddings wouldn’t make her sick of

Rock’n’roll garage music with a Dublin twist. Plus: Francis & the Lights; The Streets

Bad Bones, aka Sal Stapleton, on an album with ‘some of the best pieces of music ever created’

Synth pop group with Daft Punk’s seal of approval become ‘Overnight’ success

The album accompanied Homebeat’s Emmet Condon on many train journeys as a student

Fans are flocking to the sound of this 21-year-old Norwegian. Plus: Sheer Mag; Davy Kehoe

How Music Works: Joe Kelly is organising a festival in Trabolgan holiday village in Co Cork in April, aimed at veteran festivalgoe(...)

How Cork’s Generic People went from being DJs to a multimedia company

And you have to hear Mango and Mathman, and Sufjan Stevens

This Album Changed My Life: Musician Brian Deady on The Prodigy’s Experience (1992)