‘For Emma, Forever Ago’
by Bon Iver, Jagjaguwar

Self-released last year, this terrific debut will get a wider release come Tuesday, Feb. 19 on Jagjaguwar. Bon Iver—French for “good winter,” though I hear it’s not spelled right—is the moniker of songwriter Justin Vernon (www.myspace.com/boniver). Legend has it that he retreated to a lonely cabin in northwestern Wisconsin to write and record the songs on “For Emma, Forever Ago.” According to the Jagjaguwar Web site, Vernon spent his downtime “wood splitting” and doing “other chores around the land.” If those hours of man-work were meant to increase his brawn, it didn’t work, because this is some sensitive music for sensitive dudes (and ladies).

There’s nothing wrong with that, though. “For Emma, Forever Ago” reminds me of Iron and Wine’s debut, “The Creek Drank the Cradle,” not so much in style—Vernon’s music is more like minimal soul than folk, and his mostly falsetto vocals are far more inventive—but in substance. Neither album blazes new ground, but somehow they both sound refreshing in their simplicity. There are literally billions of young men who play acoustic guitar and sing (if you listen close, there’s probably one practicing somewhere in your apartment building right now), so it’s truly special when that old formula produces something exciting. Vernon is playing the Middle East in Cambridge on Sunday, Feb. 24 with label mates Black Mountain.


‘Closer to the Cliff’
by Robedoor, Interregnum Records
L.A.’s Robedoor (www.notnotfun.com/robedoor.htm) is on a roll. The prolific drone duo opened for Sonic Youth last year in Berkeley, along with fellow L.A. group Pocahaunted, and since then has let loose with a slew of terrific releases documenting powerful, bone-chilling walls of dense drone. The duo’s most recent album, “Closer to the Cliff,” just came out on Interregnum Records, and it’s a killer. The pieces here seem more focused and song-oriented than some of the band’s prior work. Track two, “Cocoon of the Cross,” begins with a faint, repetitive keyboard riff that is slowly swallowed up by low-end sludge and feedback until your brain is ready to melt. It’s next level. Unfortunately, like most Robedoor releases, “Closer to the Cliff” is in very limited supply. I believe Time-Lag Records in Portland, Maine, has a few copies kicking around. If not, plenty of the terrific Robedoor/Pocahaunted two-disc splits on Digitalis are still out there. Plus, if the group’s lengthy discography is any indication, Robedoor has already recorded and released several albums in the time it took to write this one.

‘All Are Guests in the House of the Lord’ 
by Kevin Drumm/Prurient, Hospital Productions
You don’t need to play this backwards to know it’s the devil’s music. Drumm, a Chicago-based experimental musician and professed metal-head, has been finding ways to make a guitar sound unlike a guitar for more than a decade, with his more recent work drawing upon heavier, harsher sounds. Having put out dozens of releases since 2001, including two on Providence’s flagship Load Records, Dominick Fernow (aka Prurient) is another influential figure in noise/industrial music. The first track on this collaboration, which was released on CD and cassette last year by Fernow’s own Hospital Productions (www.hospitalproductions.com), is one of the scariest/strangest/most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard. It begins nicely enough, with uncharacteristic soft ambience, but that’s accompanied about a minute later by a creepy narration slowed down to sound, quite frankly, like Satan himself. It could be cheesy, but I like it enough to give these two a pass.

The rest of the album has plenty of damaged samples, power electronics, synths, and harsher sounds, including Fernow’s extreme screaming, which is used on the second track to repeat the album’s title in a terribly uninviting way. By the way, the opening track is called “First Memory of Pain.” Yikes. Prurient also has a brand new album, “And Still, Wanting,” due out on Feb. 15 on No Fun Productions.

‘Strangers in Our House’
Meneguar, TroublemanUnlimited
I’m fairly certain Brooklyn’s Meneguar (www.myspace.com/meneguar) is the best indie-rock band out there right now. The group is a reminder of why that straight-up style still has a place in this cruel world. It’s not just their music that hits me in the right places, but it’s also the enthusiasm, DIY spirit and positive attitude these four guys put out there. They’re also very busy. Members Jeremy Earl and Christian DeRoeck are active in the free-folk outfit Woods, and Earl runs Woodsist and Fuck It Tapes, two labels putting out some interesting vinyl and cassette releases. The members also play in Shepherds, a more experimental version of Meneguar.

Describing “Strangers in our House,” released last fall, it’s hard not to reference some of indie-rock’s past greats—Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Modest Mouse—but Meneguar is decidedly more punk rock than those bands, and their songs are arguably catchier. There’s also an element of these guys having lived through the emo era and survived, as some of these songs would fit in well among any early Joan of Arc or Braid record (some Meneguar members were in the hardcore band Books Lie). In any event, “Strangers in Our House” is pure gold. The formula stays pretty much the same from start to finish, but if it’s good, it’s good, right?