Kenyon’s music “scene” is a strange, nebulous thing.  Half of the thing seems to exist exclusively at school, watching friends and strangers playing everywhere from the Horn to Peirce Hall to somebody’s Taft or Acland. The rest of it just hides out on the internet, and whether we’re checking Facebook Page updates from alumni or scouring Google for that one dude from the open mic’s BandCamp, we here at The Thrill do our best to keep on top of everything Kenyon musicians are doing.

Hit the jump for new songs, albums, and music videos, all by Kenyon students (past and present). And keep your eyes peeled for The Thrill’s first-ever profile of first-year musicians!

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First off, this past month Nandi Plunkett ’11 of Half Waif released an entrancing music video for “Wooden Horse” (off her debut EP Future Joys), directed by Grace Gardner ’13 and choreographed by Lucia Knell ’13.  To hear more of her haunting, atmospheric pop experiments, check out the EP over at her Bandcamp!

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This summer also saw the unveiling of a new Young Crooks album. After making waves in 2011 with his debut Phone EP, Win Dunham kept our attention for the past two-and-a-half years with a string of mind-blowing teaser tracks for an album called Terror Tablet. Although these days he spends his time in Austin, TX making tons of music, he’s finished the album! It’s a far cry from the singles – none of them actually made it onto the record – but if Phone was the high, then Terror Tablet is the hangover: slow, sleepy jams with catchy hooks and jaded, hedon musings (“youth culture is a trap”) abound, making for great Sunday morning listening. Grab it for pay-what-you-like over at his Bandcamp!

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Poor Remy has been busy as well, finishing up a new EP, Bitters, and putting out a single over at Beats Per Minute (fans might recognize the tune from their energetic, vocal-cord-tearing live sets). After their 2012 debut Still Sleeping, plus a Thrill Session done the same year, we haven’t heard much from the three-man folk outfit of Adrian Galvin, Kenneth Polyak, & Andrew D’Amico (all class of ’12), except of course for the utter “Wrecking Ball” of a concert they brought to the Horn last year.  Hopefully we can expect more of the same in the coming months!

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Carmen Perry ’15 (alias Addie Pray) has covered quite a bit of ground while she’s been at Kenyon.  From her first Thrill Session with Littless to this live WKCO set with her punk-pop band, SPORTS, it’s been clear to any music-head on campus that she’s someone to watch, whether she’s wooing a crowd at the Horn with strummed folk ballads or turning the same songs into high-energy mosh pit soundtracks in somebody’s New Apt.  Although she’s abroad this semester, she’s left us with a new album, So Long, which tends more towards the down-tempo/acoustic side of things; you can grab it for whatever price over at her Bandcamp as well!

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Jay Leung ’15 has also left us for a semester in another country, but in his wake he has left us with the first recordings to be released under his own name, a brief, stripped-down EP called See You As You Are.  Intricate finger-picking, introspective lyrics, well-thought-out song structures…Jay brings it all to the table. You know the deal by now: pay what you like over at his Bandcamp.

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Who is D4nny Tann3r?  Our music staff cannot reach consensus: while the majority concludes his SoundCloud belongs to Tristan Neviska ’13 (alias DJ Shift4), dissenters claim Tann3r rapped & sang with coyotes in the desert for much of his youth before retreating into a cave this summer armed only with a laptop.  The beats gnash, the samples smash, and rhymes flow in abundance on these savory slices of bass-heavy, left-field rap.

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BONUS: (!!!!!!) Ryan Chapin Mach ’14 just released this track with the following comment:

Everybody returning to Kenyon should be aware of the fact that I will be playing at the Horn this weekend and ATTEND because ATTENDANCE AT ALL SCHOOL EVENTS IS MANDATORY. I will be reminding everyone of this constantly up until the date in question. Until then, check this out, it’s a new song! Christ in heaven! There will be more this week! Praise me!

Happy listening, and welcome back to school!