Lords Tennis with some impressive hardware. (via Kenyon College Athletics)

While most of us still are basking/crying in the glow/catastrophe that is either graduation or summer vacation, the Lords tennis team has had a very active postseason. The team saw its historic season come to an end on May 23, facing off against Emory University in the championship match of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III Tournament in Cary, North Carolina. Unfortunately, the Lords lost to the Eagles by a score of 5-3. But the team has much to be proud of after this season, since second is the highest it has ever placed in the national tournament in program history. On the way to the match against Emory, the Lords beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 5-0 on May 21 and Washington University (MO) 5-2 on May 22.

In addition to helping the Lords’ efforts in the team tournament, Paul Burgin ’13 and Michael Razumovsky ’15 also participated in the NCAA Division III singles tournament. Despite winning his first round match, Burgin was eliminated by Luis Rattenhuber of Amherst College in the second round. Razumovsky, on the other hand, made it all the way to the Final Four, before being beaten by Nick Ballou of California Lutheran University. He is the third player in the history of men’s tennis at Kenyon to make it to the quarterfinals of the single tournament. Both Razumovsky and Burgin earned the designation of All-American thanks to their outstanding performances.

Source: Kenyon College Athletics

Once again, Kenyon has been recognized for going above and beyond the peons of the collegiate system by being the best at something.  This time, it’s for studying.  Kenyon ranks the highest for study time among college seniors, according to the Washington Post.  The explanation the article gives is that we apparently have small classes and give senior exercises.  Quoted in the article is Provost Nayef Samhat:

“When you have nothing but small classes from the beginning to the end of your career, and you need to participate, there is an expectation that you will be prepared.”

I think we should all raise our afternoon beers and salute our unemployed selves for yet again getting a national shout-out.  I’m a total rankings lover and am giddy at the fact that we are (again) quantifiably awesome.  Not only do we have the best campus (irrefutably) and the best professors (also irrefutably), but now we are also the best at the menial task of studying.  Good work, Kenyon!

Photo via Instagram (Just kidding. Sort of?)

The Thrill got a hot tip from Frances Sutton ’13 that Walk the Moon‘s brutally hip hit “Anna Sun” is the free single of the week on iTunes. If you don’t already own this song, (because you don’t go to Kenyon, you’re too cool to listen to Walk the Moon or you’re Anna Sun) jump on this. Unless you scored an NCA, the line “this house is falling apart” will really resonate next year.

Exclusive Anna Sun song response email screengrab after the jump.

The emoticon nose really encapsulates her feelings on the matter.

Well, it’s been a good week for Kenyon music!  We’ve seen releases from Tristan Neviska, We Just Spoke, and now from two more power duos: Glen Echo (Alex Martin ’13 & Bennett Davidson ’12) and Andrew Dunham (Andrew Firestone ’14 & Win Dunham ’14).  The former just played a glorious CD release party in Tafts with Poor Remy, and the latter have been staying up late into the night with copious stockpiles of munchies polishing their collab – Firestone admits to not having gone to bed later than 6am once during finalas week.

You can read about, listen to, and freely download both releases after the jump.  Seriously, do it.  I can’t remember the last time so much badass student music surfaced all at once, so be sure to jump on this.

The 1945 EP surprised me a lot – I’m generally used to seeing the rawer side of Glen Echo.  From their Thrill Session a few months back to their high-energy live performances around campus (playing everything from the Black White & Red ball to opening for Cloud Nothings), they always seem to come off as brash, even a bit punky.

But thanks in part to an Independent Study on music production with the inimitable Ross Feller, the EP sounds impressively polished: there’s more diverse instrumentation here than their typical bare-bones setup of guitar-drums-vocals, and they’ve mastered a dynamic, expertly-mixed sound that really lets their songwriting shine through.  From the smooth, sweet vocal + piano layers on “Cocktail Conversations” to the psychedelic-punk freakout at the climax of “Cardboard Box,” this EP lets you hear the best of Glen Echo at their craziest and their most restrained, all at an equally pristine, professional-level quality of production.

Also, get at them on yr twitters or whatever: @glenwrecko

I first saw Andrew Dunham open for Danny Brown at the Horn in February, and lemme tell you, those kids go HAM.  I was already a huge fan of their earlier solo efforts – Win released a funky little EP of hedon-pop this time last year, and Andrew dropped a rap mixtape last August – but watching their musical skills collide onstage was a dream come true.  Bringing together elements of soul, hip-hop, and psychedelic electronica, the duo combine mad production skills (Win makes the trippy synth timbres for the most part, with Andrew on neck-breaking beat & percussion duty) with solid vocals (Andrew raps, Win mainly croons but occasionally drops some rhymes) into a result that can only really be described as “dope.”

GoldBrick sees the duo travelling through funky, head-nodding sonic territory, with a lot of spacey production work and swagged-out lyricism glorifying everything from “chiefin’ in the back of an Acura” to the 512 & 212 area codes from whence they hail.  Dunham claims that the tunes “definitely come from a weird place,” but generally I tend to consider that a good thing.  Equal parts experimental and soulful, chalk this release down for a solid, weird, and fresh contribution to the Kenyon music scene.  And keep your eyes peeled for more from these cats – GoldBrick definitely left me with the music munchies.

Middle Path will still be beautiful next fall.

Hello, astute and attractive readers of The Thrill. Well, it looks like Dormside Depot has schlepped their last box and sounds like 24 quiet hours have finally ceased. The time has come to go home.

The first year of The Thrill  has been equal parts challenging and rewarding. As we’ve navigated the rough waters, you’ve stuck with us! We’ve blogged our way through Kelly Rowland and poorly advised dating tips, tricks to English major success and poorly advised sex columns (maybe we should stop writing about romance?).  Through thick and thin, you, dear readers, have been the best.

We’ve had a great time writing for you this year, but it’s time for us to take a respite. For the next couple of months we plan to only post sporadically, if at all. But don’t worry,  we’ll be back to our regular schedule eventually. And we’ll be looking for new writers in the fall!

We love you. See you in August.

Best,

Your New Editors, Becca Hafter ’14 and Leslie Martin ’14

~and~

Your Old Editor, David McCabe ’14

Beckerman and Mach at The Horn Gallery

Ryan Mach ’14 and Hannah Beckerman ’14  have been making some sweet, sweet sounds lately.  You may have caught them at various Horn functions this semester, whether acoustic or in their full electronic glory, and if you’ve been as impressed by their strange and haunting music as I have, you’re gonna love this new EP.

Their songcraft and vocal blend are killer as usual, but perhaps most apparent here is the consistent dopeness of Mach’s production chops. The man brings everything from bright, ethereal indie-pop shimmer to murky, submerged beats with more than a hint of dubstep flavor to them.  Stream and download the EP after the jump!

You can also check out their previous EP HERE, Mach’s solo work HERE, and Willows – Beckerman’s folk collab with the much-missed James Plunkett – HERE.  Happy listening, and have a great summer!

The West dining wing.

Peirce has its own tag at the Thrill–we talk about it all the time. However, our dining hall lexicon is continuously in a scramble. What is the official name of the dining hall on the West side of the building? East side of the dining hall? How do most students refer to them? Below is a cataloguing of all the Kenyon upper level dining hall terms, organized by the people who uses them.

1. The Great Hall: what ex-Young Writers and first year English major wannabes call the West dining hall.

2. Upper Dempsey: what studious types and upper class independents call the East dining hall.

3. Old side: what first year non-English major wannabes call the West dining hall.

4. New Side: see above.

5. The Dark Side: what disgruntled skirt wearing independents call the West dining hall when their friends force them to sit there even though the benches make moving in non-pants virtually impossible.

6. The Scarf Side: I hear Luke Ivey ’12 made this up? So: Luke Ivey.

7. Thomas: what scarf wearing Chamber singers call the East dining hall.

I know at this point we’re all done (or nearly done) with finals, but who’s to say that someone among us doesn’t need another little push for inspiration?

Enter essaytyper.com. Just type in the subject of your paper, click the button, and wow! Inspiration has never come faster!

From the website:

EssayTyper uses a patented combination of magic and wikipedia to help you write your essay – fast!

That said, please don’t ever try to use this legitimately. The magic part is not real… and that’s plagiarism.

Who says dreams can’t come true? Actually, Kenyon’s academic dishonesty policy might.

Here’s my essay on Kenyon now!

…damn it.