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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In 1994, Matt Sharp was in his mid 20s playing bass in an Los Angles band called Weezer. They’d just recorded their major label debut, and once released the album would quickly become one of the biggest rock records of the 90s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHQqqM5sr7g
Sharp stuck with the band for just one more album before he left to focus on his own project—the Rentals. The Rentals 1995 debut—return of the Rentals—is a sunny power pop album that featured a lot of vintage analog keyboards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi-H6ohY37k
The Rentals have put out a steady, solid stream of work since then, and on August 26, their newest album—Lost in Alphaville—comes out on Polyvinyl. The new record also features contributions from members of the Black Keys, Lucius, and Ozma.
"Thought of Sound" is a track from the new album:
https://soundcloud.com/polyvinyl-records/the-rentals-thought-of-sound/s-tHmwo
Off-Ramp Producer Kevin Ferguson talked with Sharp in his home in Los Angeles.
The Rentals are also playing live on September 5 at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, and in Pomona on September 7.