Top 50 Albums Of 2013: End-Of-The-Year List of Rainbows and Sunshine

Because I had to find a way to fit in a Pentatonix reference.

Over the past twelve months, I finished high school, questioned (and then came back around to) my faith, wrote a lot of angsty teen poetry, took too many selfies, and met a lot of great people. That aside, I also lost a good deal of my hearing listening to all of the fabulous music that came out in 2013. To put it this way: the albums on this list alone run for a combined length of 36 hours, give or take a few minutes. I've listened to most of them a good three or four times, and some of the ones near the top of this list I've heard upwards of ten times. For the sake of convenience, let's assume I listened to each of these about five times, making for a total listening time of 180 hours for only the 50 albums below. Then consider that this isn't even a third of the music I've heard this year when you count all of the other albums, EPs, and singles from 2013. I would estimate I spent about 600 hours (or 25 days) listening to music this year, which is 6.85% of the entire year--an even larger proportion when you exclude the time I spent asleep. It's no surprise that when I look back on 2013, music will be an enormous part of my memories.

But even when I'm old and deaf in one ear, I won't regret a moment of the time I spent here: MuzikDizcovery has become a home for me, not just for the fantastic community of staff members but for every single one of you who read, listen and (as our site's name suggests) discover. You make this one of the best places for a music lover to be.

Clicking on an album title will take you to an album stream or, failing that, a stream of a single. Onwards!

Interview With Farewell Fighter

One of the up-and-coming bands we're huge about at MuzikDizcovery is Nashville's Farewell Fighter; I had a particularly timely connection with the band's music as it carried me through the tumult of high school. I had the opportunity to speak with members Kenny Fleetwood (guitarist/lead vocalist) and Lee Morton (guitarist/supporting vocalist) about the band's latest release Challenges--which is fantastic, by the way--the process of developing the album, and what the band's plans are for the future.

Album Review: Farewell Fighter - Challenges

Album Rating: A

“I wish I were pretty, I wish I were brave...”

With a melodramatic sigh, I grumble quietly at the pile of work on my desk. It’s pitch-black outside my window, but the sky is hazy and as always the stars are nowhere to be seen. Whether in 2011, when I was a freshman daydreaming about the person I was going to be in high school, or now, when I’m a senior daydreaming about the person I’ll be in college, I never get much sleep: hopeless exhaustion is one of the two consistent parts of my entire high school life.

The other string binding this chapter of my life is Farewell Fighter. The Nashville pop-rock band released its breakout EP The Way We Learn in 2011, around the same time I was rushing to finish five book reports before my first day of school. If you’re a music fan, you have that special one release, the one that arrived exactly when you needed it, and The Way We Learn was a voice of both sympathy and wisdom, not to mention the album that got me through countless unbearable study halls, lonely bus rides home, and yes, sleepless nights. Now, while I do everything in my power to avoid thinking about college applications, the band is back, and let’s not mince words: Challenges is the best pop-rock album of the year (if technically only half the best pop-rock album of the year—more on that soon), the one I want to recommend to everybody without hesitation and the one I’ll sing along to as this stage of my life reaches its end.

Jukebox: Farewell Fighter - "Fall"

Let me just cut straight to the chase on this Jukebox entry: Farewell Fighter was the first new band I discovered in high school back in January 2011. Now it's the band that will soundtrack the last days of my senior year. I am inexplicably, unbelievably proud of the new album (my review will go up sometime this weekend), but for now, here's "Fall," one of the best songs off Challenges, which drops on August 6.

Artist Of The Day: Farewell Fighter

“Connect the dots, ‘cause there’s a picture in these lines.”

As music fans, all of us have a handful of defining moments: turning points, discoveries, and realizations that have shaped our tastes and, by proxy, our identities. Arguably one of the most significant turning points for me was listening to pop-rock group Farewell Fighter’s “Where I Belong” for the first time. I can describe each point in the song as if I’m reliving it for the first time. That mysterious opening line, one I mull over to this very day, the blast of syncopated guitar and drums that blow the song open before making way for a surprisingly intimate, introspective passage sandwiched between the verses and the chorus, between frustration and acceptance, between despair and growth.

The funny thing is that even with two years removing me from that eureka moment, the band’s music hasn’t lost any of its impact for me. It’s a band that exists on the boundary between adolescence and adulthood, and as it turns out, part of maturity is to realize that the process of maturing is one that never ends. Farewell Fighter makes its peace with that truth through its music: consider it a “gateway band,” connecting the little dots, the everyday incidents that frustrate us and mire us, to reveal a picture both relatable and oddly universal.

In a stroke of good timing, the band has resurfaced just in time for the season of college applications, right when a gaggle of teens (myself included) will need its music dearly. Challenges, its first full-length and its first release on a label, is slated for release in July. In the meantime, you can stream the band’s new single “Grow” here and find more information on the band’s official website, where you can also download its first EP for free.

School Project: Important Issues (Farewell Fighter - The Way We Learn)

For my History of Rock Music class for school, we had the following prompt:  Choose and discuss a song or album that you feel best represents important issues in your life and the lives of your classmates.
I felt Farewell Fighter's latest EP represented this question perfectly, and my response can be read below.

The teenage years are perhaps the most important years of any human’s life. An enormous amount of changes take places, including social growth, puberty, and most importantly self-direction. Nashville, Tennessee based pop-rock band Farewell Fighter focuses on this intriguing period of time on their latest EP The Way We Learn, a seven track effort that brings a listener through the teenage years, as band and listener join together to realize the importance of understanding one’s self and living life to its fullest.

Dizcovering Muzik: Volume 1 Out Now

It's finally here. After weeks of hype, Dizcovering Muzik: Volume One has officially been released. This is my gift to all of you for helping the site continue growing. Please continue to come to the site, as there is much much more to come in the future. Be sure to fan us on Facebook, and tell us what your favorite tracks on the sampler are! You can download and stream the entire sampler totally free here, or right on this page.

Album Review: Farewell Fighter - The Way We Learn

Listening to Farewell Fighter should make anyone feel like they are back in high school. The band's newest EP, The Way We Learn, is full of youthful energy that can make even someone's grandpa jump up and begin moshing. Their upbeat, extremely catchy songs along with the relatable lyrics are reminiscent of a young You, Me, And Everyone We Know, with the future potential to create a record as great as Some Things Don't Wash Out. The Way We Learn is a journey as a child grows up and figures out what they want in life, all while enjoying it.

Farewell Fighter

I've already hyped up You, Me, And Everyone We Know a ton this year. I mean, they only released one of my top two records of the year. In their newest track "Love, Lust, Or Losing It?" posted on Facebook, Farewell Fighter sounds very similar to an early You, Me, And Everyone We Know. The production is definitely not as slick and the overall band is not as polished, but the vocal, instrumental, and lyrical structures all seem to scream You, Me, And Everyone We Know. This is definitely a band that if they get signed can release an album the caliber of Some Things Don't Wash Out. Farewell Fighter is definitely a band to watch in the upcoming year, and their new seven song EP will be out January 18th. Listen to the new song on Facebook here.