As Carolina Carmo, B.A. ’25, and Max Cohen, B.A. ’25, prepared to graduate from George Washington University in the spring, they didn’t want to leave D.C. without showing gratitude to the music scene that had defined much of their college experience.
From their first year at GW, the two became deeply immersed in the local music scene. What started as nights spent taking in shows at neighborhood venues quickly evolved into lasting friendships and creative collaborations with artists in the city. That shared passion for music became the cornerstone of their college experience, shaping so much of their four years in D.C.
“When I decided to go to GW, I had known a little bit about D.C.'s punk history and that I wanted to start a band,” Cohen said. “But I had no idea how incredible and varied the District's talent was.”
Wanting to celebrate the sounds that marked some of their favorite memories, Cohen and Carmo created “Plenty Happening,” a compilation record featuring 27 never-before-released tracks from local bands. The album is a sonic snapshot of D.C.’s vibrant music scene.
While they worked on creating the album during their senior year at GW, in a lot of ways, the project traces back to their first year in D.C. Cohen started the band Home Remedies with his friends, and they began gigging at different venues around the city.
“For those first two years I was totally desperate to break into the bigger city scene,” Cohen said. “I went to shows all the time, I was reading about and listening to a lot of local artists, digging through their social media to figure out where cool bands played or who would be willing to be on a bill with us.”
Carmo said she started “going to pretty much all their shows, and it was fun.”
“I would see familiar faces, make new friends and get to know a lot of other local bands that were also playing at these venues” she said. “So, I was like getting a taste of the music in the District.”
The more venues and shows they went to, Carmo and Cohen met other musicians, who became good friends and before long, the local scene felt like home.
The idea to create “Plenty Happening” came together while Carmo and Cohen were working at GW’s student-run radio station, WRGW. Carmo was the production director, and Cohen was the blog editor. They interviewed Connor Murray, founder of the Pennsylvania indie cassette label Crafted Sounds, for a story. While prepping for the interview, they discovered Murray had created the compilation tape “Bridges” to highlight the Pittsburgh music scene while he was in college. Everything about the project, from the art to the merchandise to the music, was locally sourced and intentionally community focused.
“We were so inspired by it,” Carmo said. “We told him during the interview, ‘Connor, this is one of the coolest things we’ve seen come out of the DIY space.’”
Carmo and Cohen left the interview asking themselves what if they created a similar project for D.C. to give back to the music scene that had come to mean so much to them?
“We were like we have so many connections in the scene right now,” Carmo said. “Like I’ve been writing about the scene for over a year for the radio station, Max has been gigging and writing about this scene for most of college. We wanted to put all of that shared knowledge together and make this cool thing.”
They knew they wanted the project to be a fundraiser and chose to support gender-affirming care at Whitman Walker Medical Clinic. They said it was important for them to support trans rights, especially at a time when those rights are facing increasing challenges. They started by reaching out to local bands and artists they admired, then expanded their search through crowdsourcing to include voices they hadn’t yet discovered.
“Once we got a first few yeses from a few bigger bands, like Pinky Lemon, a lot of other bands got on. Like a lot of people that I look up to so much and whose music I love listening got on the project,” Carmo said.
She said it was important to them that the compilation captured the unique sounds of D.C.’s music community and she feels they were able to include a variety of band and genres on the album.
“I think it gives a well-rounded crash course on the D.C. scene,” Carmo said. “It’s so sonically diverse, there are so many different sounds coming out of the District. The compilation covers a lot of that diversity. We have everything from two-guitar-driven bands to acoustic singer-songwriters. All the colleges around here are represented. GW, UMD, Georgetown, American, there are bands from all those schools.”
She said the compilation also showcases seasoned groups and various genres like power-pop to speed-punk, emo, and alternative indie. There’s something for everybody in the compilation, Carmo said.
She was especially excited when the album was finally complete, and they could hear how well the songs flowed together.
“The sequencing, we kind of nailed it, I think. It sounds awesome,” Carmo said. “And it’s just so cool to listen to so much of D.C.”
To celebrate the album’s release, Carmo and Cohen organized a show at the Black Cat venue featuring performances by contributors from Flowers for the Dead, TORO, Spring Silver, BRNDA and Zach Basile. Each band performed the unreleased song they contributed to the compilation. The event drew nearly 200 attendees and raised around $3,700 for gender-affirming care.
“Carolina and I always saw ‘Plenty Happening’ as a way to give something back to D.C.,” Cohen said. “Beyond what we raised for Whitman Walker, I hope we helped bolster a sense of local unity and that more scene-wide action is to come.”