Radiator Hospital at St. Stephen’s Chuch

All photos by Alex Schelldorf

For anyone who’s been to an “underground” music experience, a number of details are common: tote bags filled with BYOB’d drinks; colorful fliers; a cardboard arrow pointing out the bathroom (maybe you should have BYOTP’d); photographers snapping away. But in the past few months, local music showgoers may have seen an unfamiliar detail: a young, unassuming man pointing a microphone—not a camera– towards the chaos.

Brett Isaacoff was inspired by those photographers to start a different type of archiving. “I’d always had a hand in the mix of putting on shows,” he tells DCist, and has lived in a house that hosted live music, but only started to record them in October of 2014. The first show he recorded was Neonates at La Casa, a community space in Mt. Pleasant. “At that time, I had no idea what I wanted to do [with the recording]” he recalls.

Armed with a Tascam DR-05, Isaacoff simply thought he’d capture some audio to share with the band. After receiving positive feedback, he’d continue to record local sets around the city for the next four months.

“At first I was just recording without getting peoples’ permission,” he admits (he later procured permission from those bands). But even after he did begin asking permission, not a single band objected. “I’ve had nothing but support,” he says. “After awhile, it became apparent that a mixtape was the way to go.”

The Obsessives

Those recordings became the In It Together Fest mixtape, a playlist of bands both local and national who played in D.C. DIY venues between October of 2014 and February of 2015. the mixtape features raw audio from Isaacoff’s recordings—“raw” being the keyword.

“It’s not the best audio quality,” the archivist, who studied audio production in college, admits. “I would love to have an actual, nice set up. But a lot of the recordings came out great.” Small, confined spaces presented the toughest challenges because “the sounds just blend together,” he explains.

The mixtape, which debuts today, is more than just a culmination of these recordings—it’s also somewhat of a preview for the local music festival In It Together Fest, which will celebrate its second year this summer. Hosted at a number of music venues around the city (mostly house venues and community spaces like La Casa and St. Stephen’s Church), the fest brings together the best of local talent and like-minded artists from around the country, many of whom are featured on the tape.

Philadelphia power-pop band Radiator Hospital make an appearance, along with city-mates Mannequin Pussy. New York’s Big Ups find nice company beside Baltimore’s Wildhoney and D.C.’s own Hemlines, Laughing Man, The Obsessives, Polyon, and so many more. And yes, that first recording with Neonates is on the tape, too.

Trunkweed

Combining live music with a sense of community organizing and charity are the perfect trio to describe not only his own passions, but the personality of D.C.’s own cultural history, too. All proceeds from the mixtape and the festival will be donated to two charities, the same as last year’s “InFest”. Isaacoff made 250 copies—half of them went right back to the bands, several to DCPL’s D.C. Punk Archive, and local grassroots organization Positive Force. The rest are now for sale at local record stores. But not to fear— you can also stream and download the tape here.

When Isaacoff says “ [he] was surprised and happy that so many bands wanted to be involved,” he sounds as gleeful as he does surprised. “Drummers would say to me, ‘I loved this one fill I played [during the show he recorded] but couldn’t remember it’” and his tape provided the memory. “I had always dreamt of putting something like this together.” His tape, and the 2015 In It Together Fest, will curate and create countless more memories.

Necessary full disclosure: DCist Editor-in-Chief Matt Cohen helps organize In It Together Fest.