Over 11 years and 570 episodes, John Rabe and Team Off-Ramp scoured SoCal for the people, places, and ideas whose stories needed to be told, and the show became a love-letter to Los Angeles. Now, John is sharing selections from the Off-Ramp vault to help you explore this imperfect paradise.
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The Los Angeles-based band Bleached formed in the aftermath of the punk band Mika Miko. Bleached is a power pop group in the vein of Blondie, the Kinks and the Shop Assistants. Ride Your Heart — their debut album — was just released and they're just about to embark on a 6-week tour to support it.
But while they're out of the road, what music is going to remind them of home? We asked singer and guitarist Jennifer Clavin to pick three albums that are important to her and the band:
Red Cross (AKA Redd Kross) - Self Titled EP
"I remember first hearing this when I was in high school living in the Valley. They're little kids and they're singing about really awesome things. Like 'Clorox Girls,' which is about going to the beach and bleaching your hair. And then 'S&M Party', I'm pretty sure you can guess what that's about. I was at a show and my friend's bands covered 'Annette's Got the Hits.' It's this really good poppy, short cute song and I was just like 'oh my God, I love this song!"
Rolling Stones - Aftermath
"They recorded it in LA, which I feel like just makes part of that whole Hollywood history, you know? All the awesome bands that came to LA and recorded. And it's one of my favorite albums. It has 'Under my Thumb' on it, which I think is one of the best written songs ever. Brian Jones is playing marimba in that song, which makes that song! That's why on our album we added marimba in one song — cause I'm so obsessed with that song."
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
"When I first heard Tusk — it was the first Fleetwood Mac I listened to — my parents and I had just moved to the Echo Park/Silverlake area. They had had all their records in the garage, and I was like 'I'm going to through my parents' records and see what they have that I feel like I need to listen to.' I was looking and I found that Fleetwood Mac record. I know so many people that are obsessed with this band. I put it on and I was so obsessed! I stayed up all night sewing and just putting that record on repeat--even though it's a double disc."