The 400 Project

There is a lot of music out there. Literally more hours than we could possibly listen to in our entire lives. I love discovering new music but sometimes I can’t help but listen to albums that I just can’t seem to get enough of. There are a lot more I could add to this list but here are just a few of my favourites that get played year round. Clicking that repeat all button.

Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! | Get Lost, Find Yourself

Quite possibly my favourite album of 2016 (even though it was released in 2015, I discovered it in 2016). It’s making a comeback already for 2017. Playing Dead was the song I unofficially dubbed as my theme song for 2016, but I’m going to carry that forward this year again. This album had songs that struck a chord with me with certain situations in my previous year. Since it was on repeat, quite often songs changed their meanings and lyrics that used to pass me by grabbed a hold when I was going through similar situations. The Other Line was the song that stuck out like a sore thumb one day driving home from a summer adventure. This is honestly one of my favourite albums to date, a Four Year Strong type sound but the lyrics seem to resonate with me much more. That being said, Enemy Of The World by Four Year Strong had its moments as well, just earlier on in my life.

Carly Rae Jepsen | Emotion

I don’t know if I’ve ever been intrigued more by an artist. What seemed to start as a guilty pleasure of enjoying her hit song Call Me Maybe a little bit too much, turned into much more when she dropped her album Emotion. I can remember the songs playing in my head weeks after, and I’d catch myself singing along to the songs in my head while I’d be washing the dishes or trying to sleep. LA Hallucinations was the song that I just couldn’t get out, but all the tracks proved to reveal more to them after every listen. Not only were we blessed with the release of Emotion but later Carly Bae would drop an EP of the B-Sides from the album, many thanks.

State Champs | Around The World And Back

State Champs is one of the artists who seem to drop bombs separately on Spotify teasing us with wicked tracks that leave us in the wake of excitement for the release of the full album. When I heard Secrets for the first time I couldn’t help but listen to it non-stop. A punk band whose vocals seemed to reach a rough, edgy ‘anger’ to it, which I’ve only ever heard Mariana’s Trench really utilize before. However State Champs definitely doesn’t indulge in the excess flare that Mariana’s Trench uses and I think that’s what I liked more about them. They boast well written pop-punk songs that show loads of emotion. If Slow Burn has anything to say, is that they aren’t done yet. The hype is real for the next album as I mentioned in my Spring Forward article.

Beartooth | Aggressive

What an album! Another band who released the kraken with individual tracks prior to the full album. Aggressive is a flawless hardcore album. Positive, uplifting lyrics shouted right at your face. After a few listens, you can’t help but shout along with the words. Loser gets me pumped every time the track is played, reassuring me that I don’t need to fit into a specific mold and that in my idiosyncrasies, I am who I’m supposed to be. People can doubt you and talk you down, but words are nothing against action. Keep pressing forward and keep listening to Aggressive by Beartooth.

The Refreshments | The Bottle & Fresh Horses

With their earlier album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy coming in a close second (they only made the two albums). The Refreshments have always held this weird place in my music repertoire. Both of their albums used to be what I’d fall asleep to in college. I’m pretty sure I know all the words to both of these albums because of this, however I may be semi-terrible at naming the tracks (at least the obscure ones). I’ll be writing a separate article about The Refreshments one day so I won’t say much more here.

Jimmy Eat World | Bleed American

This album had to make this list for a couple of reasons. 1: It was the first CD I ever owned. 2: It may very well be the most played album by me ever because of this. 3: Out of all the music I listened to when I was younger this album is still a “go-to” album for me. Then you can add on pretty much every J.E.W. album after Bleed American for me as well. Sometimes when I don’t know what to listen to I’ll just go through all of Jimmy Eat World’s discography.