Soil Compilation

Music
Best Albums of 2025: KRUI Staff Picks

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The rumors are true, KRUI likes music! 2025 was a crazy year all around, and even crazier, we here at KRUI actually listened to lots of albums this year. We’ve picked out eleven of our favorite albums from this year to share, and explore together.

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Best Songs of 2025: KRUI Staff Picks

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It’s December 29, 2025, and if you can believe it, we here at KRUI actually listened to music throughout the whole year! From pop superstars, to indie legends, to the fresh Bandcamp up-and-comers, we’ve picked out nine of our favorite songs released this past year to share and explore together.

Music
Festival Preview: Chicago’s New Year Transitions, Dec. 26–Jan. 1st

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Spanning 7 venues across 7 days, Transitions, the New Years Eve celebration by AURIS PRESENTS, in downtown Chicago has cultivated a lineup of the biggest names spinning records and electronica today. From December 26 – January 1st, Chicagoland will be ablaze as it welcomes the likes of 70 artists and a 21-hour marathon to ring in the new year at Outset. Here are the highlights coming this week to Chicago. 

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Jaden Amjadi

Music Staff Picks: The Best Releases of April

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billy woods – Aethiopes On Aethiopes, billy woods reestablishes his strengths as a storyteller, with help from producer Preservation’s experimentally jazzy beats. By now, woods has cemented himself as one of hip hop’s greatest writers, and his brooding yet clever introspection sounds especially powerful over Preservation’s musical backdropping. Samples of pianos will twinkle across some tracks, and pound discordantly on others, while electric guitars ring and horns blow. By the time the harmonica enters the equation, the beats here are unparalleled. It is an enveloping atmosphere completed by excellent percussion, which moves between hand drums, full kits, and shuffling jangles … Continued

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Mission Creek Preview: Corridor

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Like much of the band’s music its vocals are sung in French, but the guitar melodies and laidback vocals are so infectious that an English-speaking listenership won’t find the language barrier much of an issue. (image via Bonsound)

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The Best Releases of January: Music Staff Picks

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Earl Sweatshirt – SICK! On the newest album from Earl Sweatshirt, the rapper continues his streak of thoughtful and melancholic bars–this time with a slightly more approachable selection of beats, supplied by the likes of The Alchemist and Black Noi$e. Avant jazz is still a key piece of the production, though some of the pianos here have a midi sheen to them, and some of the trap-influenced drum tracks will be familiar to fans of contemporary hip hop. One such track featuring this style of production is “2010”, with a bright, yet off-kilter synth loop. Here, as with many spots … Continued

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