According to Wikipedia, North American Monsoon's are Mexican in origin, but tend to travel up through the Southwest. These storms often affect California, but rarely Los Angeles. More frequently, you will find the North American Monsoon out in the desert. Last weekend, we caught the tail end of a monsoon, or, at least that what's my mom heard on the news.
Saturday afternoon was filled with 119 degrees (no kidding) of sticky, oppressive heat. By 8:00 p.m., when I decided to head down to the South Bay to visit Carlos, the thermometer had dropped to 111 and the sky had this odd gray-orange cast to it. I hopped on the 405 and headed south, noticing that the horizon was quickly turning gunmetal as I entered the mountains. I saw some flashes and, for a few moments, thought about turning around for fear that there was a flash flood warning in the hills that I missed. Once through Sepulveda Pass, the lightning hit harder, great Tesla streaks across the sky that flashed every ten seconds. In my nearly 30 years of life in Los Angeles, I have never seen anything like this before. I tried to focus on the Cure album playing on my stereo, tried singing along to "Lullaby" only to realize that I was starting to sound more terrified than if the Spiderman had his "arms all around me and his tongue in my eye." Soon after passing the 10, I saw a bolt as sharp-angled as the one of the cover of Ride the Lightning and I could have sworn it hit the LMU bluff. I jumped up as I drove, all the time wondering what I have to do to ensure that lightning didn't strike me. I made sure that I didn't park under a tree. That's all I could recall.
The lightning slowed down throughout the course of the night, only to be replaced by a thick downpour of hot rain. Two days later, the air is still schvitz-like.
Inspired by the weather, I wanted to post some songs from Monsoon, which featured a 17-year-old Sheila Chandra when the trio released it's only album, Third Eye, in 1982.

Monsoon "Wings of the Dawn (Hindi Version)"

"Every So Lonely" was the major hit in the U.K. off this album (and was later remixed into a massive club hit by Jakarta), but "Wings of the Dawn" was quite popular in L.A. goth clubs over a decade later. This is the Hindi version of the song, although clubs played the English version. You can find it on this compilation.

Monsoon "Tomorrow Never Knows"

Simply based on what I recall of Beatles' history, this version of "Tomorrow Never Knows" seems fitting. I used to play it at Transmission. It's on the same comp.

When Monsoon split, Sheila Chandra embarked on a solo career and has maintained
a stellar reputation amongst world music aficionados and NPR listeners. She also contributed to this track from The Grid.

The Grid "Angel Tech"

Featuring Dave Ball of my beloved Soft Cell, The Grid scored some serious club hits in the 1990s, the biggest of which was this.

The Grid "Swamp Thing"

"Swamp Thing" came out right around the same time that my friends and I started clubbing and I'm pretty sure that not a single Sunday passed when we didn't hear it at Velvet, which was where we went for a house-meets-80s vibe.

"Swamp Thing," however, should not be confused with this wacky mid-1990s tune.

Rednex "Cotton Eye Joe"

Used copies of "Swamp Thing" and "Cotton Eye Joe" are available on Amazon.com, however, I can't find "Angel Tech" on there.