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.