Erin Harkes
Top 5 Albums
1) Lucy Dacus - "Forever is a Feeling"
2) Fontaines D.C. - "Romance (Deluxe Edition)"
3) Buggy Jive - "Icarus Ascending"
4) Lulu Grey - "Dreamin' Grey"
5) JB!! aka Dirty Moses - "Punctuation"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Weird Al @ SPAC, Saratoga, NY
2) Bonnie Raitt @ Tanglewood, Lenox, MA
3) Dionne Warwick @ The Egg, Albany, NY
4) Jon Batiste @ SPAC, Saratoga, NY
5) Explosions in the Sky @ UPAC, Kingston, NY
TJ Foster
Top 10 Albums
1) Moving Mountains - "Pruning of the Lower Limbs"
2) The Beths - "Straight Line Was a Lie"
3) Bon Iver - "SABLE, fABLE"
4) Motion City Soundtrack - "The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World"
5) Sam Fender - "People Watching"
6) Taylor Acorn - "Poster Child"
7) Hayley Williams - "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party"
8) The Starting Line - "Eternal Youth"
9) ShortWave RadioBand - "frequencies"
10) AGE of the BEAR - "Oceans"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Holiday Hootenanny 2025 @ Singlecut North, Clifton Park
2) Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life @ Beacon Theatre, NYC
3) Death Cab For Cutie: Plans 20th Anniversary @ Brooklyn Paramount, NYC
4) blink-182 and Alkaline Trio @ SPAC, Saratoga Springs
5) Wild Honey Pie Presents: Ken Vasoli of The Starting Line @ Tinker Street Tavern, Woodstock
Top 10 TV
1a) Adolescence
1b) Stranger Things (Season 5)
2) The Bear (Season 4)
3) Black Mirror (Season 7)
4) The Studio (Season 1)
5) Task
6) Black Rabbit
7) Paradise (Season 1)
8) Squid Game (Season 3)
9) Severance (Season 2)
10) The Pitt (Season 1)
Top 10 Films
1) One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2) Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach)
3) The Roses (Jay Roach)
4) Zootopia 2 (Jared Bush / Byron Howard)
5) The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)
6) Bugonia (Yorgos Yanthimos)
7) John Candy: I Like Me (Colin Hanks)
8) Ballad of a Small Player (Edward Berger)
9) Elio (Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina)
10) Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater)
Corey Dempsey
Top 10 Albums
1) Turnstile - "NEVER ENOUGH"
2) Ryan Davis & the Road House Band - "New Threats from the Soul"
3) Clipse - "Let God Sort Em Out"
4) Bon Iver - "SABLE, fABLE"
5) The Starting Line - "Eternal Youth"
6) billy woods - "GOLLIWOG"
7) Kerosene Heights - "Blame It On The Weather"
8) Moving Mountains - "Pruning of the Lower Limbs"
9) Bed Quad - "Wisher"
10) Westside Gunn - "HEELS HAVE EYES 2""
Top 5 Live Shows
1) The Get Up Kids/The Anniversary @ Empire Live, Albany, NY
2) Drug Church/Spiritkiller/No Division @ Lark Hall, Albany, NY
3) Arm's Length/Prince Daddy & the Hyena/Riley!/Bike Routes @ Empire Live, Albany, NY
4) Wild Honey Pie Presents: Ken Vasoli (of The Starting Line) @ Tinker Street Tavern, Woodstock, NY
5) Canella/Cinema Stare/Radical Joy/Scotchka @ No Fun, Troy, NY
Top 10 Films
1) One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
3) Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
4) Weapons (Zach Cregger)
5) Eddington (Ari Aster)
6) 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
7) Companion (Drew Hancock)
8) F1 (Joseph Kosinski)
9) The Phoenician Scheme (Wes Anderson)
10) Warfare (Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland)
Rory Graham
Top 5 Albums
1) Hayley Williams - "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party"
2) Lorde - "Virgin"
3) Dylan Gossett - "Westward"
4) The Beaches - "No Hard Feelings"
5) E.R.I.E. - "The Highs, The Lows, and Everything In Between"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Evan Honer w/ Harf. @ Bearsville Theatre, Woodstock, NY
2) Millington w/ E.R.I.E. and The Snorts @ Empire Underground, Albany, NY
3) Rainbow Girls @ Caffe Lena, Saratoga, NY
4) Charles Wesley Godwin @ The Palace, Albany, NY
5) Soccer Mommy @ The Egg, Albany, NY
Top 5 TV/Film
1) Stranger Things (Season 5, Vol. 1) (The Duffer Brothers)
2) The Bear (Season 4) (Christopher Storer)
3) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
4) A Complete Unknown (James Mangold)
5) The Pitt (Season 1) (Michael Hissrich)
Dana Brady
Top 10 Albums
1) Sharp Pins - "Balloon Balloon Balloon"
2) Pile - "Sunshine and Balance Beams"
3) Broncho - "Natural Pleasure"
4) Bliss Samsa - "This Is Love?"
5) Mogwai - "The Bad Fire"
6) Blood Orange - "Essex Honey"
7) Sextile - "yes, please.”
8) Wednesday - "Bleeds"
9) Bruiser and Bicycle - "Deep Country”
10) Preoccupations - "Ill at ease"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Fontaines DC and Jadu Heart @ Empire Live, Albany, NY
2) The Lemon Twigs and Brower @ Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, NY
3) Bear vs. Shark and Snowing @ Warsaw, Brooklyn, NY
4) Sunflower Bean and Laveda @ No Fun, Troy, NY
5) Bria Salmena @ Tubby's, Kingston, NY
Top 5 Books
1) The Poetry of Pablo Neruda (Pablo Neruda)
2) Sonic Life: A Memoir (Thurston Moore)
3) All Fours (Miranda July)
4) It's Not You (Ramani Durvasula)
5) On Writing (Stephen King)
Andy Scullin
Top 10 Albums
1) deftones - "private music"
2) E.R.I.E. - "the highs, the lows, and everything in between"
3) ShortWave RadioBand - "frequencies"
4) Teen Mortgage - "Devil Ultrasonic Dream"
5) The Cure - "Mixes of a lost world"
6) Black Tongue Reverend - "Upstate of Mind"
7) Girth Control - "What Got You Stoked in the First Place?”
8) The Sugar Hold - "Sesh"
9) JB!! aka Dirty Moses - "Punctuation"
10) Angelina Valente - "Live at the Cock 'n Bull (Again)"
Top 5 Films
1) Weapons (Zach Cregger)
2) Eddington (Ari Aster)
3) Superman (James Gunn)
4) Friendship (Andrew DeYoung)
5) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
James Mullen
Top 5 Albums
1) Tyler Childers - "Snipe Hunter"
2) Jonny Fritz - "Debbie Downers"
3) Jesse Welles - "Middle"
4) ShortWave RadioBand - "Frequencies"
5) E.R.I.E. - "The Highs, The Lows, And Everything in Between"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Bright Eyes (with Cursive) @ House of Blues, Boston, MA
2) Father John Misty (with Lucinda Williams) @ Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT
3) Holiday Hootenanny 2025 @ SingleCut North, Clifton Park, NY
4) Rock the Dock 2025 @ Lake George Steamboat Co, Lake George, NY
5) Eastbound Throwdown 2025 @ Irwin Family Farm, Salem, NY
Top 5 (Comic) Books
1) Ultimate Spider-Man (Jonathan Hickman / Marco Checchetto)
2) Absolute Martian Manhunter (Deniz Camp / Javier Rodriguez)
3) Universal Monsters: The Mummy (Faith Erin Hicks)
4) The Thing (Tony Fleecs / Justin Mason)
5) Absolute Superman (Jason Aaron / Rafa Sandoval)
Top 5 TV/Film
1) Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
2) Good Boy (Ben Leonberg)
3) Fantastic Four: First Steps (Matt Shakman)
4) Superman (James Gunn)
5) The Bear (Season 4) (Christopher Storer)
natalie St. Denis
Top 10 Albums
1) Blondshell - "If You Asked for a Picture"
2) Hayley Williams - "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party"
3) Samia - "Bloodless"
4) Ray Bull - "Little Acts Of Violence"
5) The Neighbourhood - "(((((ultraSOUND)))))"
6) Wolf Alice - "The Clearing"
7) Momma - "Welcome to My Blue Sky"
8) LAUNDRY DAY - "EARWORM"
9) Audrey Hobert - "Who's the Clown?"
10) Djo - "The Crux"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Momma @ Théâtre Fairmount, Montreal, QC, Canada
2) Samia @ Academy of Music Theatre, Northampton, MA
3) Mannequin Pussy @ Empire Live, Albany, NY
4) Hippo Campus @ Empire Live, Albany, NY
5) The Japanese House @ Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, NY
Top 10 TV/Film
1) Severance (Ben Stiller)
2) Yellowjackets (Karyn Kusama)
3) Black Rabbit (Jason Bateman)
4) Nobody Wants This (Erin Foster)
5) The White Lotus (Season 3) (Mike White)
6) Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Alexandria Stapleton)
7) Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
8) Bachelor in Paradise (Season 10) (Scott Teti)
9) The Bear (Season 4) (Christopher Storer)
10) Match Me Abroad (Season 2) (Rebecca Ringley)
Top 5 Books
1) The Silent Patient (Alex Michaelides)
2) The House Across The Lake (Riley Sager)
3) Book Lovers (Emily Henry)
4) Local Woman Missing (Mary Kubica)
5) The Midnight Library (Matt Haig)
Jonathan Patrizio
Top 10 Albums
1) Dan Carr & The Cure For Asthma - "Duel Destiny"
2) Brusier And Bicycle - "Deep Country"
3) G.o.L.e.M. - "Maes Eternal Lake of Gardenias"
4) Reckless Barb - "Now I Am My Life"
5) JB!! aka Dirty Moses - "Punctuation"
6) ShortWave RadioBand - "frequencies"
7) E.R.I.E. - "The Highs, The Lows, and Everything In Between"
8) Bright Dog Red - "Never Would We"
9) Low Measure - "Low Measure"
10) Drab Stucco - "Going Somewhere "
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Richie Kotzen & John 5 @ Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes, NY
2) Dazzling Killmen, Sky Furrows, Stroma @ No Fun, Troy, NY
3) Dan Carr & The Cure For Asthma Pop-Up Album Release Show @ St. Rose Quad, Albany, NY
4) Built To Spill & Guerilla Toss @ Bearsville Theatre, Woodstock, NY
5) Spirit Killer, Dogpisser, & Brick Windows @ The Free School, Albany, NY
Kiki Vassilakis
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Rilo Kiley Reunion Show @ College Street Music Hall, New Haven, CT
2) Fontaines DC @ Empire Live, Albany, NY
3) Phantogram @ Empire Live, Albany, NY
4) Young Culture @ Empire Underground, Albany, NY
5) Cursive @ No Fun, Troy, NY
Top 5 Books
1) A Tribute of Fire (Sariah Wilson)
2) Throne of Glass (Sarah J. Maas)
3) Flame and Thorns (Marion Blackwood)
4) The War of Art (Lauren O'Neill-Butler)
5) A Fate Inked in Blood (Danielle L. Jensen)
Elissa Ebersold
Top 20 Songs
1) The Midnight - "Digital Dreams"
2) The Strike - "The Getaway"
3) Anna Graves - "Hollow Bones"
4) Stela Cole - "Stereoqueen"
5) Andrea Bejar - "Marigolds"
6) Citizen - "Sun Kisses"
7) Mon Rovîa - "Heavy Foot"
8) Macklemore - "fucked up"
9) Renee Christine - "Lehigh Valley"
10) Anabelle Dinda - "The Hand"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Glass Animals & Sofia Isella @ SPAC, Saratoga Springs
2) Boys Like Girls @ Alive at Five, Albany
3) Sub-Radio & Zach Benson @ Empire Underground, Albany
4) A Zan Strumfeld Show: 55 Years of Déjà Vu @ Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes
5) Plush & Lit @ Empire State Plaza, Albany
11) The Beaches - "Touch Myself"
12) Laci Kaye Booth - "Luck of the Draw"
13) Liv Romano, zachy - "alarm"
14) HAEVN - "Get Up"
15) Sarah Kinsley - "Fleeting"
16) Sophia Isella - "Above the Neck"
17) Faouzia - "I LOST MY MIND IN PARIS"
18) Hilary Duff - "Mature"
19) Mira Housey - "When I'm in the 70s"
20) Mandi Sagal - "American Dream"
Top 5 Books
1) The Last Murder at the End of the World (Stuart Turton)
2) We Used to Live Here (Marcus Kliewer)
3) Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language (Amanda Montell)
4) Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again (Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson)
5) Any Man (Amber Tamblyn)
Adem Jones
Top 10 Albums
1) Addison Rae - "Addison"
2) Rosalía - "LUX"
3) FKA Twigs - "EUSEXUA Afterglow"
4) Perfume Genius - "Glory"
5) Rochelle Jordan - "Through The Wall"
6) Bon Iver - "SABLE, fABLE"
7) Knock2 - "nolimit"
8) Pinkpantheress - "Fancy That"
9) Zara Larsson - "Midnight Sun"
10) Doctor P and Flux Pavilion - "Doctor P & Flux Pavilion "
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Rüfüs Du Sol @ Lollapalooza: Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois
2) Hippo Campus @ Empire Live, Albany, New York
3) Barely Alive @ Empire Underground, Albany, New York
4) Knock2 @ Lollapalooza: Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois
5) Rebecca Black @ Lollapalooza: Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois
Top 10 Films
1) On Becoming A Guinea Fowl (Rungano Nyoni)
2) Rosemead (Eric Lin)
3) Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
4) Weapons (Zach Cregger)
5) To Live and Die and Live (Qasim Basir)
6) The Uninvited (Nadia Conners)
7) Appalachian Dog (Colin Henning)
8) Magazine Dreams (Elijah Bynum)
9) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
10) F1 (Joseph Kosinski)
Top 5 Books
1) Bottom Of The Pyramid (Nia Sioux)
2) Dream Count (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
3) All Boys Aren't Blue (George M. Johnson)
4) They Both Die At The End (Adam Silvera)
5) The Game Changers Series (Rachel Reid)
Pete Perry
Top 10 Albums
1) Viagra Boys - "Viagr aboys"
2) Safe Mind - "Cutting the Stone"
3) Pyrex - "Slugman"
4) Who Needs the Peace Corps? - "Total Con"
5) Elvis II - "Thank You Very Much"
6) STEROID - "Chainmail Commandos"
7) Folk Bitch Trio - "Now Would Be A Good Time"
8) Drop Nineteens - "1991"
9) Wisp - "If Not Winter"
10) Boko Yout - "Gusto"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Drop Dead, Who Pays, Life Abuse, Demented FX, Sex Dwarf @ Hangar on the Hudson, Troy, NY
2) Sunbloc, Take Steps, Spiritkiller @ Albany Skyway, Albany, NY
3) Traumë, Life Abuse, Sprocket, Chaserbait @ No Fun, Troy, NY
4) Deltron 3030 @ Higher Ground, Burlington, VT
5) Folk Bitch Trio @ Levon Helm Studios, Woodstock, NY
Maggie Aulman
Top 10 Albums
1) Elias R∅nnenfelt - "Speak Daggers"
2) Warren Haynes - "The Whisper Sessions"
3) Taraneh - "Unobsession"
4) They Are Gutting a Body of Water - "LOTTO"
5) bar italia - "Some Like It Hot"
6) Crochet - "Cherish"
7) Geese - "Getting Killed"
8) nabeel - "ghayoom"
9) deer park - "Terra Infirma"
10) Industry Standard - "Bokmon"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Gov't Mule and Tedeschi Trucks @ SPAC, Saratoga Springs, NY
2) Gov't Mule @ Proctors, Schenectady, NY
3) They Are Gutting a Body of Water @ Bar Le Ritz, Montreal, QC
4) The Allman Betts Band @ City Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
5) Bonnie Raitt @ SPAC, Saratoga Springs, NY
Top 5 Films
1) O'Bingo! (Ian Kelawae)
2) AIR (Anna Firth)
3) BRI'A (Ori Peer)
4) Vessel (Bianca Shonee Arroyo-Kreimes)
5) enjoy sunsets, and remember them well (Alexander Tullo)
Katie Leach
Top 5 Albums
1) Lily Allen - "West End Girl"
2) Hayley Williams - "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party"
3) ALK BLK ERA - "Rave Immortal"
4) Panic! At The Disco - "Live in Denver (Wide Release)"
5) Weakened Friends - "Feels Like Hell"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Panic! At the Disco @ Las Vegas Festival Grounds, Las Vegas, NV
2) My Chemical Romance, Death Cab for Cutie, and Thursday @ MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
3) Pinkshift, Jigsaw Youth, Pollyanna @ No Fun, Troy, NY
4) Laura Jane Grace Band, Rodeo Boys, Scotchka @ Empire Underground, Albany, NY
5) YANKEEGIRL, Off Beat Degradations, Miss America, and Anti-Rent Rebellion @ No Fun, Troy, NY
Chris Clemente
Top 10 Films
1) One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
3) Mickey 17 (Bong Joon Ho)
4) The Cut (Sean Ellis)
5) Weapons (Zach Cregger)
6) Warfare (Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland)
7) Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
8) Eddington (Ari Aster)
9) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)
10) Final Destination: Bloodlines (Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein)
Shelby Hafener
Top 10 Albums
1) Thursday - "Taking Inventory of a Frozen Lake"
2) Sabrina Carpenter - "Man's Best Friend"
3) Ariana Grande - "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (better days ahead)"
4) Katseye - "Beautiful Chaos"
5) Sabrina Carpenter - "short & sweet (deluxe)"
6) Spiritkiller - "Spiritkiller"
7) Taylor Swift - "The Life of a Show Girl"
8) Chappell Roan - "The Subway"
9) Renee Rapp - "Leave Me Alone"
10) Chappell Roan - "The Giver"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Thursday, I Am the Avalanche, Bloodvulture @ Lark Hall, Albany
2) Cursive, AJJ (Duo) @ Lark Hall, Albany
3) Spiritkiller, Brick Windows, Dogpisser, Memory Studio @ The Free School, Albany
4) My Chemical Romance, Death Cab for Cutie, Thursday @ MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
5) Pinkshift, Jigsaw Youth @ No Fun, Troy
Top 5 Films
1) Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)
2) Superman (James Gunn)
3) Mickey 17 (Bong Joon Ho)
4) Jurassic World: Rebirth (Gareth Edwards)
5) Wicked: For Good (Jon M. Chu)
Top 5 Books
1) Someone Who Isn't Me (Geoff Rickly)
2) I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Ian Reid)
3) The School for Good Mothers (Jessamine Chan)
4) If We Survive This (Raquel Marie)
5) Sunrise on the Reaping (Susanne Collins)
Debi Gustafson
Top 10 Albums
1) Lilyisthatyou - "Lilith"
2) Noah Richardson - "It's so good to see you"
3) Dogpark - "Until the Tunnel Vision Melts"
4) Rainbow Kitten Surpise - "bones"
5) Molly Millington - "Greener Than Me"
6) Laveda - "Love, Darla"
7) Goldie Boutilier - "Goldie Boutilier Presents... Goldie Montana"
8) Petey USA - "The Yips"
9) Rachel Bochner - "Lovergirl (Deluxe)"
10) Briston Maroney - "JIMMY"
Top 5 Live Shows
1) Blink-182, Alkaline Trio, Drug Church @ SPAC, Saratoga Springs, NY
2) Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Petey USA @ Beak & Skiff Orchard, Syracuse, NY
3) Lilyisthatyou, Sam Short @ Elsewhere, Brooklyn, NY
4) Cursive, Aficionado @ No Fun, Troy, NY
5) Deer Tick, Drive-by Truckers, Thelma & the Sleaze @ Arrowood Farms, Accord, NY
Top 10 Films
1) Song Sung Blue (Craig Brewer)
2) Weapons (Zach Cregger)
3) Wicked: For Good (Jon M. Chu)
4) The Best You Can (Michael J. Weithorn)
5) 28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
6) Nonnas (Stephen Chbosky)
7) Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson)
8) Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
9) John Candy: I Like Me (Colin Hanks)
10) Cover-Up (Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus)