KQED's Forum

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Best Bay Area Music of 2025 With Special Live in Studio Performances

We’ll look back at KQED’s Best Bay Area Albums of 2025 with our music writers. This year’s list of favorites includes local musicians putting out original hip-hop, punk, salsa, spiritual jazz and rock. We’ll hear live in studio performances from musicians that made the list – Oakland hip-hop artist Jamel Griot and instrumental band Arts and Crafts – and we’ll  talk about the local musicians topping your playlists. Guests: Nastia Voynovskaya, editor and reporter, KQED Arts Pendarvis "Pen" Harshaw, columnist, KQED Arts Jamel Griot, hip hop and soul artist Jeff Klein, drummer, Arts and Crafts Noam Teyssier, guitarist, Arts and Crafts Nadia Aquil, bassist, Arts and Crafts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  California’s AI Data Centers Taking Growing Environmental Toll

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  Misogyny Has Gone Mainstream. What Can be Done?

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  How Loyalty Programs Manipulate Consumers and Steal Personal Data

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  Kaiser Therapists Battle to Fend Off Artificial Intelligence

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  Why Is Hollywood Freaking Out About a Warner Bros Discovery Sale?

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  After a Rocky Year, What’s the Future of Cryptocurrency?

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  New Research Tackles Heightened Risk of Suicide for Autistic Kids

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  How Freaked Out Should We Be About All These Small Earthquakes?

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  Remembering Those We Lost in 2025

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  What’s Behind President Trump’s Aesthetic?

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  Fatal UCSF Stabbing Heightens Concerns About Health Worker Safety

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  Calls Escalate for Release of Caribbean Boat Strike Video

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  How NIH Funding Cuts Are Slowing the Search for Cures

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  Investigation: Lax State Oversight Endangers California’s Child Farmworkers

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  Mobile Homes Provide Affordable Housing, But Their Future Is at Risk