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The Irish musician on her favourite traditional pub, converting to the cult of baseball, and gigs in a western movie set

It was a year of avant-rap, sex-positive R&B, polyrhythmic jazz and hyper-punk pop – plus Lana Del Rey’s glossy meditations on death and loss

Lankum’s roaring reworking of Irish folk heads our pick of the year’s LPs, with unprecedented invention from Young Fathers and Caroline Polachek’s oblique angle on pop close behind

Winner looking to follow on from FLO

Touring her masterly new album, one of the best of this year, Irish country-pop auteur Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson brings unruly energy, wit and guitar heroics to her searing tales of heartbreak

Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson’s debut album shot straight to No 1 in Ireland and won the RTÉ Choice Music Prize last year. Annabel Nugent speaks to the musician in the makeup chair about her Meat Loaf-inspired follow-up , mining heartbreak for material, and her die-hard love of Toby jugs

(AWAL)Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson sets her characteristic lyrical blend of wit and defiance to a more expansive country-pop sound

In this week’s newsletter: We asked Guardian writers and those performing to pick the acts they can’t wait to watch this weekend

It was hard to narrow it down to just 25, but here are some of the biggest concerts to catch over the next few months.