Cincinnati artists delivered an unforgettable year of music, and this playlist captures some of the tracks that defined 2025. There’s no ranking here — just a curated flow of songs that showcase the range, creativity and spirit of the city’s ever-evolving music community.
These are the sounds you heard in local record stores, in venues across the city and in headphones everywhere. From our musicians to you: crank it up and carry these songs with you into 2026.
Maura Weaver’s second solo record was released in September, and like her solo debut, I Was Due for a Heartbreak from 2023, Strange Devotion features her striking songwriting and voice backed by a cast of talented friends forming a refreshingly varied and dynamic collection. “Prince” is as catchy as anything else you’ll hear this year with a chorus so sugar-sweet and infectious that you’ll keep going back for more pure pop bliss. The record is great all the way through, with touches of country and western, pop experimentation and the directness of some of the great singer-songwriters, all with a fearlessness and attitude of punk ethos. The album was also the first local release picked to explore for the inaugural CityBeat Music Club in November, where we discussed the record with Weaver before she gave an intimate performance of songs from the album.
Local supergroup Motorbike released Kick It Over on Feel It Records this past March. The album continues where their 2023 debut left off, featuring driving and revved-up blasts of power that finds a perfect combination of classic guitar rock and in-your-face punk like this track that is pure, raw rock and roll, as potent as it should be.
“Over My Head” by Brianna Kelly
Local artist Brianna Kelly released a stellar collection of songs featuring beautiful and orchestrated arrangements entitled Cloud of Nothingness in November. The record features Kelly’s tender and compelling songs put together, often refreshingly, free of typical structure and featuring lush string parts and impressive instrumentation, making for a stunning piece of chamber pop.
From Knotts’ SLAP (Silly Little Art Projects) Will Save the World EP released early in the summer, “Hourglass” is a piece of effervescent synth pop that creates an atmosphere of optimism. Another Knotts release from earlier this year, “Springtime,” was featured in CityBeat’s Summer Playlist in the Summer Guide issue in June, and KNOTTS, aka Adalia Powell-Boehne, also appeared on the cover for the Music Roundup issue later in July. If “Hourglass” is about a moment, Knotts seems to be having one and seizing it.
“Hallelujah 2026” by Turich Benjy
This unhinged track off hip-hop artist Turich Benjy’s May release from earlier this year, When Life is Divine, features a laidback groove acting as a foundation for Benjy’s singular, rapid-fire vocals featuring biblical references. The fearless and frenetic touches in the song, like much of his work, sets it apart.
Released at the end of summer, “Dog” features all the hallmarks of what make local singer-songwriter Mol Sullivan stand out. Her lush arrangements, delicate but powerful voice and singular touch make this ode to finding a true friend and saving each other a thing of beauty.
“If You Say So” by Isabelle Helle and Hell’s Bells
This catchy, fuzzed-out garage pop nugget clocks in at just under 2 minutes, but does the job just fine. Isabelle Helle and Hell’s Bells released Black Cat Rodeo over the summer with a huge release show at Northside Tavern, featuring Motorbike and The Harlequins to celebrate the occasion. There are plenty more songs off the album that are as infectious and hard-hitting as “If You Say So.”
“The InFluencers” by Bootsy Collins (feat. Snoop Dogg, Fantaazma, Dave Stewart and Wiz Khalifa)
Funk legend and Cincinnati’s favorite son Bootsy Collins made a little extra noise this year, releasing his newest full-length record, Album of the Year #1 Funkateer, that encapsulates his aim of creating an atmosphere of fun and collaboration. This track is a perfect example of that exuberance. “The InFluencers” features Snoop Dogg throwing in a Cincinnati mention, a verse from Wiz Khalifa and contributions from the Eurhythmics’ Dave Stewart and dynamic vocalist Fantaazma — all helping Bootsy rev up the funk to 11 and bring it on home.
Billy Fortune is one of the newest (and youngest) artists on this list. Fortune also plays traditional bluegrass with his group the Billy Fortune Unit and continues some other fine traditions in his solo work as exemplified in this song, the title track from his album Swans released in October. “Swans” pulls from the traditions of folk music, classic singer-songwriters and lo-fi pop resulting in a melodic, sweeping ballad with a timeless touch.
The anticipated second edition of Cincinnati punk history compiled by writer and musician Peter Aaron, We Were Living In Cincinnati Vol. 2 (1982-1988), came out earlier this year and again featured a packed collection of Cincinnati artists who created innovative and freewheeling explorations of the fringes of rock and roll. Released as a joint effort between Chicago’s Hozac Records and local label/record store Shake It Records, the collection features standout tracks like SS-20’s “More Government Now” and “I.C.U. by The Reduced, alongside this wild art-punk mastery from 1983. We Were Living In Cincinnati Vol. 2 (1982-1988) also featuresother tracks from significant Cincinnati bands of the era, like The Auburnaires, Sluggo and The Wolverton Brothers, among over a dozen more that represent an important era of the city’s music history.
“Appendicitis” by Fruit LoOops
Experimental noise-punk band Fruit LoOops is as explosive and unhinged as ever on this track off their June release Everything is Clear to Me Now. The song is a frantic sound collage barely held together by compressed percussion, electronic squalls and effect-soaked vocals that all combine to help build the tension.
Off the duo’s fifth full-length album Swankeeper, released in May on local label Feel It Records, “Clown Car” kicks right into a frenetic pushing and pulling of rhythm and tension. Drummer Daisy Caplan and vocalist/cellist Kate Wakefield create a fun mix of dynamics with time changes, odd rhythms and altering sections that result in a layered, moody and atmospheric wall of sound.
“Static Vision” by Electric Citizen
Cincinnati’s hard-hitting psych rock favorite Electric Citizen released their latest album EC4 back in June on Italian label Heavy Psych Sounds. The band has performed all over the world, sharing stages with legends like Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and performing at major festivals. This track features soaring vocals from frontwoman Laura Dolan, alongside husband and co-band leader Ross Dolan’s fuzzed-out guitar driving the rhythm between leads that cut straight to the top of the layers of sound that includes what sounds like some nice electric organ work.
“Peace With Our Love (Queen City Sounds)” by Annie D
This huge-sounding and super catchy track is a special one from talented local multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ann Driscoll, better known as Annie D, working in collaboration with a cast of artists and recording engineers across the city. Driscoll is backed by an all-star lineup of vocalists adding a wall of sound, including local luminaries Jess Lamb, Maya Banatwala, Sappha, Rae Fisher, Victoria Lekson, Freedom Nicole Moore, Tiffany Sullivan, Jessie Hicks, Sharon Leever, Kaitrin McCoy, Ash Roper and Hannah Simon Goldman. The track was recorded across multiple sessions with several engineers in different studios, underscoring its collaborative spirit. It includes work done at Cincinnati Public Radio’s new studio with Brian Niesz, additional recording with Aaron Madrigal at local studio The Tone Shoppe, and mixing by Mike Montgomery at Candyland — with celebrated saxophonist Zaire Trinidad Sherman engineering his own contribution.
“Patience, My Love” by Maria, etc.
Singer-songwriter Maria Keck, aka Maria, etc., released a collection of introspective and poignant songs titled Maybe Time’s Not in a Bottle Anymore in May, featuring laidback, jazzy arrangements with some of the delightfully unconventional subtleties that have made her work standout. This track features a lustre of slowly-syncopated ethereal instrumentation that feels like a cool breeze blowing over a pool of water reflecting the moon, with saxophonist Ziaire Trinidad Sherman guesting and a fadeout of a choir of children driving the song’s point home. The song’s mantra of being in the moment seems like a good way to end the playlist, not letting time go too fast, and as Keck sings, “slip into the past.”
Listen to the full playlist of songs here.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Dec. 24 print edition.
This article appears in Dec. 24-Jan. 6.