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

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

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

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

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

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

Plus songs you have to hear from Tirzah and Aretha Franklin

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

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

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

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

Plus songs you have to hear from Teyana Taylor and Lizzo

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

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

Niamh Farrell of Ham Sandwich on Billy Corgan’s masterwork

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)

New Artist of the Week: The Korean-American house-pop producer is one of the BBC Sound of 2018 list

This album changed my life: Lar Kaye of All Tvvins on The Redneck Manifesto's 'Thirtysixstrings' (2001)

In the How Music Works series, Niall Byrne talks to people about their life’s work in music. This week, Cork DJ Stevie G

And you have to hear . . . Sjowgren – Stubborn Forces and All Tvvins – Crash

This Album Changed My Life: Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark (1974)

Molly King is head of development for the Other Voices festival in Dingle and has been involved with it since her childhood

Ticket reseller Stubhub was recently raided by the competition authority as part of ticket-touting investigation

Piano-led electronic balladry from Los Angeles

The Cyclist on the album that ‘takes him right back to a feeling of timeless creation’

Rap boy band crew with members from the US, Grenada and Ireland

Daragh Lynch of Lankum on the album that changed his life and songs you have to hear

Willie Meighan of Rollercoaster Records on dealing with a terminal illness and the `'happiest little record shop in the world'

London duo Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville twin lilting chords with vocal harmonies

This Album Changed My Life: Elephant’s Shane Clarke on Bowie’s 1977 album

How Music Works: Mark Murphy of Choice Cuts on how he reinvented the Leeson Street venue as a musical mecca for a new generation o(...)

Lo-fi house has irked the dance establishment, and DJ Seinfeld is at the vanguard of the genre

This Album Changed My Life: James Heather on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

In the How Music Works series, Niall Byrne talks to people about their work in music – this week, Donal Scannell

This band have an origin story that’s hard to believe

Musician Seamus Fogarty on the album he first ignored and later owed a debt to

Julie Cooper persevered in the tough industry and now runs her own promotions firm

And the best tracks tracks of the moment come from Alex Cameron, Angel Olsen and Sylk

Ailbhe Reddy: The 1999 release was groundbreaking to me – it’s so honest and self-aware