Weathering the Storm.

As many of the regular readers of Audio Overflow are aware, I'm based out of the Houston, TX area.  Any other time of the year, that's not so bad, but when a hurricane sweeps through and knocks out the majority of your infrastructure, things can get pretty rough.  But this is life in a post-Ike world and thankfully, things are not as bad as they could have been.  The majority of the 5 million people in the Houston area have been without power since late Friday night, myself included, but a cool front has moved in, keeping it in the low 80s during the day.  I've been able to sleep in air conditioning for the last two nights thanks to a generator that we have running here, but there are many others who have been less fortunate.

But not having much to do in the way of work, play, or leisure has had quite the effect on my music-listening habits.  I've been doing a lot of it.  For the most part, that means I've been listening to Of Montreal's upcoming Skeletal Lamping on repeat for a month (I absolutely adore it), but I've had the opportunity to check out other things that have been sent my way.

The first thing I'd like to mention is an album by Bella Koshka, called Slow Dancing on the Ocean Floor.  This is a very stylish group from the Minneapolis area, and this album was sent to me way back in July.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to it before I shut down day to day operations of Audio Overflow.  I've been listening to it off an on for about a month, and it's just not doing it for me.  The music is very slow and meandering, sometimes dreamy, but mostly unmoving.  There are moments of greatness occasionally, but they're all but squandered by the mediocre vocals.  But it's not all bad, of course, and if you have some spare time you might as well go by their Myspace page and check things out.

I got sent another album about a month ago from some really cool guys from Austin.  They go by the name of Black Bone Child.  Their debut album is a unique mix of blues, rock, and modern rock.  It's not bad by any means, though lyrics can tend to be a bit off at times.  It's got a very classic feel to it for most of the album, though some songs venture into modern rock territory - which isn't my favorite genre at all.  Still, if you're into the greats like ZZ Top or Stevie Ray Vaughn, I highly recommend that you check them out.  They're nowhere near the caliber of those great artists, but for a modern twist on a timeless sound, you could definitely do worse.

That's all I've got to report on for now.  I'm working on something special for Skeletal Lamping's release on October 7th, and you can definitely expect a review of that album in the next few weeks.  I'm also working on getting some advance copies of The Dears' and The Streets' new albums.  I can't wait for those.

To my readers in the Houston and Galveston area, hang in there.  Things are looking up...