I know things have been quiet… silent… tumble weedy around here lately. I won’t give you boring excuses as to why, but it being Christmas and all, and because so many of you have written asking me to post a Christmas playlist, and because flattery will get you everywhere, here is the 2011 Pinna Storm Christmas Party! Stop by, have some nog and pop under the mistletoe with the cute guy in the holiday tie. No, I totally don’t already have this, this is great, thank you so much!!

High Places are touring to support their new album, Original Colors, which is amazing. It’s already in heavy rotation over here.

Purity Ring only have a few songs out right now that you can find around the web, but they are well worth checking out. Their sound is so beautifully polished.

Doldrums is on tour with fellow Canadians Purity Ring. He has the energy of a whirling dervish, twiddling knobs in his suitcase while singing and dancing.

DJ Mark Brown is the best.

For upcoming house shows at the Soft House and more in Baltimore, check out Show Space. For more photos by Jen, check out her website.

But they need lessons in the war on terrorism.

First, we can barely — but just barely — give N.O.R.E. a pass on this claim:

I know the Taliban/ Afghanistan, Pakistan

Noreaga doesn’t know the Taliban, in either country, any more than Rick Ross knows the real Noriega. And as much as Ross took heat for that claim, to blast N.O.R.E for this would be to concede that the GZA doesn’t have a man Mohammed from Afghanistan who grew up in Iran, runs a neighborhood newsstand, and put bombs in bottles of champagne. And I’m not prepared to give that up.

This, however… Sorry, N.O.R.E.:

Then 28 days later/ al-Qaeda Noreaga/ killers from Haiti to Grenada

Yes, people, I get it. It’s a metaphor. N.O.R.E. didn’t really join al-Qaeda — he’s a New Yorker, after all.

But in order to work, the metaphor requires plausibility. al-Qaeda has no presence of any note in Haiti, Grenada, or anywhere in the Caribbean/Latin American region. Had N.O.R.E. gone in like, “28 days later/ I splatter yuh/ al-Qaeda Noreaga damage yuh/ killers from Kunar to Mirin Shah” then it’d be fine.

Noreaga, I love you, and you’re on a hot track. Next time you talk terrorism, though, consult your man al-Qaeda Jada.

Hello, pumpkins! It has been far, far too long. You may have noticed that Pinna Storm went on a bit of a sebatical. So uh, October happened! There was baseball and Kim & Thurston breaking up and candy and costumes and something about Google Reader that’s broken the spirits of half of my Twitter feed and about 37 new Beyonce videos. So, here we are now in November! And here are your afternoon links.

• Shawn Stockman from Boyz II Men: Dismemberment Plan fan!
• In terrible but not terribly surprising news, Odd Future goes from being theoretically violent and terrible to being actually violent and terrible by physically assaulting a group of photographers and one woman in particular. This will probably be the last time anybody in that group gets mentioned on this blog.
• Amanda Palmer, Stephin Merritt, Neil Gaiman, Moby and Rocky Horror. Oh yes.
• This handy new tumblr, SpotiFYI, points out what’s new and cool on Spotify.
• New videos! From tabi Bonney and The Kills. And a lovely new song from Cloud Nothings.
• So have you heard the Lykke Li cover of “Unchained Melody” yet? Cause you should.

The ladies of Pony Island welcome their second male guest to the show, the most excellent MC Werewolf. When pressed on the origin of his DJ name, the truth came out: MC stands for “Mid-Change.” The DJ was sporting such a healthy beard in his teen years that he gave his peers Teen Wolf vibes.

Pony Island: 5 Oct with MC Werewolf by Pony Island

MC Werewolf brings songs to get the party started and some older punk jams. Young Coconut brings vibrantly dreamy tracks including the lovely first official release from Awesome Tapes from Africa.  DJ Bottlerocket has lots of news you can use about the library and a hot jam that had all the DJs dancing in the studio.

DJ Peanut is back from her short hiatus when she returns with SO MANY JAMS on the next episode.

Upcoming shows:

10/6 – Screaming Females, The Underground Railroad to Candyland
@ Black Cat Backstage $10adv/$12 door 8pm

10/7 – Benefit for Life Pieces to Masterpieces w/ Laughing Man + Trophy Wife
@ Ras 8pm

10/8 – The Cheniers, Lame Drivers, Polyps
@ The Cherch 8pm

10/12 Future Islands CD release party. w/ Extreme Animals, DJ Mark Brown and a DJ set from Dan Deacon.
@ The Depot (BALTIMORE)

10/20 – Chris Bathgate (MI), Small Sur
@ The Dollhouse 7:30pm $5

For more upcoming shows at houses, small venues and other spaces in D.C., check out In Yr Basement.

Pony Island returns in two weeks with DJ Bottlerocket, DJ Peanut and Young Coconut. To listen to and download archived Pony Island shows, check their blog.

So, concerned that you might be feeling the same way, I thought I’d share a few songs with you. Sunday night I finally saw The Rapture and oh my god damn was it fantastic. What a tremendously tight, talented band. Luke Jenner’s vocals are a national treasure. He goes right up to the yodeling line and takes a flying punk rock leap over it. And since then I’ve basically been mainlining The Rapture to ease the pain of this piss poor weather. The new album, In the Grace of Your Love is damn good. A bit of a movement from their earlier stuff, but it sits alongside the percussion and cowbell bangers you know and love very well. At any rate, if their tour lands anywhere near you, go. Just go. You’re gonna love it. Even if you have to stay out way later on a school night than your old lady instincts tell you you should.

(Oh and also, you should watch Misfits, the show featured in that last video. The Rapture’s “Echoes” is the theme and it is a really good show: a bunch of sexy British 20 something fuck ups get super powers but don’t become super heroes. It’s great.)

So, R.E.M. broke up. It’s not a band I ever particularly loved or had much feeling about. “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” is a good song. So is “Night Swimming.” “Everybody Hurts” soundtracked Angela Chase and “Losing My Religion” soundtracked a breakup I was really excited about because I was always a Dylan & Kelly girl. A lot of other folks have much lengthier and more meaningful thoughts on the band. Here are a few:

• The band and D.C.
• PopCandy’s favorite covers of R.E.M. songs.
• Kyle Gustafson on “R.E.M. and the crucial role they played in my musical development.”
• Because of the breakup, a Congressman has a sad.

OK, that’s all we have to say about R.E.M. Now on to the other stuff!

• BYT interviews The Rapture ahead of their stop at U St Music Hall this Sunday. You should definitely listen to their new album, because it is damn good.
• Modern Man, The State Department and Shark Week play DC9 this Saturday. Here’s a video for Modern Man’s “Big Big Heartbeat,” filmed at their last local show at the Black Cat.
• Nevermind just turned 20. NPR talks to Damien Jurado about Nirvana’s “Something In The Way.”
• The first time I heard 808s and Heartbreaks I thought, I don’t know if I think this is a very good album, but I am very sure that it is an important album. It’s an argument I’ve trotted out countless times but never really written down. Well, somebody else did that for me.
• A new album from Guided By Voices’ original lineup, coming this January.
• This song, “Letter to a Friend” by Pregnant, is pretty good. The video creeps me out, though.

• Hello! Since last we met, far far too long ago, I’ve saved up a ton of musicy links for you, and made some new Afternoon Showers art work to celebrate certain wonderful TV winning awards last night, and to celebrate the fact that it’s football season and my team won yesterday. And thus, my world feels basically perfect right now. Oh, you guys don’t come here to hear about Tim Riggins or the Skins? On to the music, then.
• Bruce Hornsby, Tupac & Chuck Robb.
• Did you enjoy our Wild Flag listening party last week? You’ll probably enjoy this playlist of country duets from the band’s Rebecca Cole even more.
• Radiohead are taking some state-side stages in the near future, including Colbert’s and SNL’s.
• 15 previously unreleased Neutral Milk Hotel songs! I repeat, 15 previously unreleased Neutral Milk Hotel songs! Streaming now, and soon available in a vinyl-only release.
• Childish Gambino/Community/Donald Glover in general fans: there’s a new CG single.
• Did you see Christian Bale lurking around SXSW and wonder what was going on? Here’s your answer.
• The Raincoats — yes, you read that right. Those Raincoats. — played at Comet Ping Pong this weekend and music nerds rejoiced/got really sleepy.
• Doctor Rosen Rosen’s new EP Girls is streaming/available for DL and you should give it a listen.
• Quoth a friend, “This Wilco album sounds like a Wilco album.”
• Take a peek at Yuck playing “Milkshake” at Room 205.
• This is old but new to me: Phil Collins shares some breakup song advice. That’s always relevant, right? Somebody somewhere is always breaking up. Listen to Phil. Make hay of your pain.
• “Thinking About You and Cowboys-and-Indians Revenge Fantasies and Meteors and Witch Doctors and Magical Gemstones and Also Maybe Time Travel.”
• And finally, J.Lo’s new video is a delightful little J.Lo movie. If you enjoy the Sandra Bullock/Tate Donovan hit Love Potion No. 9, incredible gams & abs or fits of choreography in the street, then you’ll love it.

Speaker, a new dark synth pop project from Lexie Mountain and Shana Palmer, opened the show. (They were added to the bill after car trouble stuck Matteah Baim in New York.) They were followed by local folk favorites Small Sur, who played a warm and moving set to an attentive crowd who sat at their feet.

All around, it was a night of great music and mellow vibes. Lower Dens tweeted after the show that the Soft House has the “best shows in Bmore right now.” To find out more about upcoming shows at the Soft House, you can follow them here.

The ladies of Pony Island are giving you podcasts in double doses this summer and we’ve got the two latest here.

Pony Island: August 31 with DJ Casserole by Pony Island

DJ Casserole, a true mid west diva, brings the last of her beach jams out for a sunny set. Warm California vibes fill this podcast, which features DJ Peanut revisiting old faves and Young Coconut playing recent favorites for the dance floor. Fun fact: that is DJ Casserole’s very own mini-pony pictured above, coincidently also named Peanut!

Pony Island: Sept 7 with DJ Fast Fashion by Pony Island

DJ Fast Fashion, one of the many ladies in DC that make the music scene so vibrant and fun, joins DJ Bottlerocket and Young Coconut in the studio to talk about upcoming shows and primates.

Have you seen this video of Grass Widow playing to the gorillas at the zoo? Must see.

Have you seen this other video of monkeys who grew up in captivity seeing the outside world for the first time?

Revel in your freedom while you listen to DJ Fast Fashion’s tight playlist.

For details on all the upcoming  shows discussed in these episodes of Pony Island and more upcoming shows at houses, small venues and other spaces in D.C., check out In Yr Basement.

Pony Island returns September 21 with DJ Bottlerocket, DJ Peanut and Young Coconut. To listen to and download archived Pony Island shows, check their blog.