Ireland Today

Here we stand, one decade into the 21st Century . . . the perfect time for a wide-ranging overview of contemporary Irish artists, across the board of musical styles. Lisa Hannigan heads up our selection alongside fellow Temple Bar Music Centre cohort Damien Rice, with her gorgeous debut solo single "Lille" and the equally enchanting "9 Crimes" from Rice's second studio album, 2006's 9. Roisin Murphy turns on the club style with "Orally Fixated", Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova offer up the song that would ultimately earn them an Oscar, "Falling Slowly", and Damien Dempsey covers the Pogues' "A Rainy Night in Soho" with a sure, sensitive touch.

Celebrate the Flaws and get stuck into Ham Sandwich, in Next Steps.

Does Ireland rock? Does it ever, thanks in no small part to Dirty Epics, the County Wicklow four-piece who've infused their sound with new wave urgency — frontwoman Sarah Jane Wai leads us to the heart of their storm with irresistible momentum on "We're Coming Up" from debut album Straight In No Kissing — while the Flaws, another shimmering band-of-four, pack a bag of similar post-punk influences on "I Don't Wanna Dance". Ham Sandwich, who've kept their operation local to hometown Kells but have crafted a sound with universal appeal, press all the right pop-rockin' buttons on 2009's "Out of the Darkness".

Preachers Son and Autumn Owls are among the bright sparks we've included in Deep Cuts.

In the seeds of the present we find fruit for the future . . . and here among our Ireland Today Deep Cuts we encourage you to drink your fill of new bands who just might make a big impression over the months and years to come. Preachers Son was, in fact, named for the son of a preacher, namely Brian Hogan (guitar & vocals), who has joined forces with stickswoman Miss Metronome (aka Emmaline Duffy-Fallon) to create the outstanding "X for Sandra", a standout on debut album Love Life and Limb, while "A Thousand Blind Windows", with its well-crafted six-string atmospherics and twisting lyrical poetry, bodes very well for Autumn Owls.

Ten years into the new century, the pop and rock scene in Ireland is looking as robust and tempting as a freshly poured pint of stout, so we've lined up these brilliant Essentials both to catalogue the vibrant state of play and, hopefully, to introduce you to some of the artists who'll be soundtracking your life as the next decade gets underway. During the '00s, the busker circuit really came of age and even made it to the global stage, thanks to Glen Hansard and Once, and we've included plenty of singer-songwriters here who cut their teeth on the streets. We've also celebrated the fresh batch of alternative bands who've really taken a foothold in recent years (Fight Like Apes, the Script) alongside singular talents (like rockabilly vixen Imelda May, who performed with Jeff Beck at the 2010 GRAMMY®s) and bubbling-under bands (Von Shakes, the Lowly Knights).