The backstory behind Bon Iver's first record, For Emma, Forever Ago is well-known: Musician goes to a hunting cabin in the woods for three months during a Wisconsin winter after separating from his band and his girlfriend. Heartache and angst get channeled into a bunch of songs about heartache and angst, sung in falsetto. Songs wind up on a record that blow away indie-rock critics and fans.

How does songwriter Justin Vernon follow that up? On Bon Iver's latest record, Vernon sometimes sings in a lower register; live, he's got seven other musicians including a horn section, two drummers, and a guy who beatboxes. Oh, and a whole bunch of influences from Kayne West (sans sunglasses and Macbook rages, thankfully). Typical? Nope. Odd? Sorta. But well-received and loved? Apparently so, as Bon Iver's two shows at the 9:30 Club were sold out. Here are some shots from last night's concert.

(More photos from last night's show can be seen here.)

Zaklash: Yesterday, The Washington Post's Dan Zak continued his usually charming "Night Lives" series with a poem about the D.C. chapter of the Guardian Angels. The comments lit up, comparing Zak's verse to that of a 5-year-old and pointing out that he misused the term "flop sweat," though none went after the Angels' boss, New York radio blabber and phony kidnapping victim Curtis Sliwa. The tweets were relentless, especially Jason Cherkis'. Shani Hilton wrote this useful guide to getting a poem published in WaPo. Zak's defense? He thought he was writing a television pilot!

Hobbit Go Home: The actor Dominic Monaghan, best known for his role as Meriadoc Brandybuck in the Lord of the Rings film series (yeah, yeah,Gilligan's Island Lost, too) was spotted at American Ice Company after the soccer game at FedEx Field between Manchester United and Barcelona, WaPo's Going Out Gurus report. Monaghan tried to close down the place, but when it came time to kick the last drinkers out, someone yelled to Monaghan, "this ain't the Prancing Pony, bro."

Hide When It's Bright Out: Yeah, you couldn't get a ticket to either of Bon Iver's shows this week at the 9:30 Club. NPR Music broadcasted last night's.Here's the replay.

Yesterday on Arts Desk: The end of Beauty Pill's "Immersive Ideal" recording sessions; the video for Deleted Scenes' "Bedbedbedbedbed"; Chompie's whereabouts explained.

MUSIC

Songwriter Chris Mills is back in town for the second time this summer (we shot pictures at DC9 in June); he writes smart, hooky guitar pop, and released a really worthwhile career retrospective this year. Buy that when you go. With Beanstalk Library at 8 p.m. at Black Cat Backstage.

Indie-folk deity Bon Iver's second night in town is, of course, very sold out. There are more seekers than sellers on Craigslist. This person appears to be offering $1 million for two tickets. You are screwed. At 7 p.m. at 9:30 Club.

Claude VonStroke, the San Francisco-based and Detroit-born producer of some pretty cool abstract house music, headlines U Street Music Hall tonight at 10 p.m. With Brian Billion and Jubillee. $10 advance, $12 at the door.

Beauty Pill's public recording sessions at Artisphere end today.

FILM

The Party, from 1968, is a gag-happy Peter Sellers/Blake Edwards collab that actually improves upon the zaniness of most of their Pink Panther films. For serious. At 9:30 p.m. at the AFI Silver. $11.

BloomBars has a nice program of shorts by indigenous filmmakers tonight. 7 p.m. $10 donation.

REELIN' IN THE YEARS

Steely Dan.

Franz Ferdinand: "Ulysses"
"Come on, let's get high," sings Alex Kapranos on the lead single from Franz Ferdinand's forthcoming album Tonight, but the sentiment is a little more Fear of Music than 40 oz. to Freedom. The song is claustrophobic, gray, and sleazy sounding even for a band whose moral fiber has never been much stronger than a sheet of snotty Kleenex. Still, Kapranos manages to squeeze all three syllables of "Yoo-lisss-ees" into the chorus with impressive conviction. When it comes to celebrity-drug-odyssey songs, Bowie still has the edge, but Franz Ferdinand make a pretty good run at the title here.

Bon Iver: "Blood Bank"
Bon Iver's Justin Vernon goes electric over some kind-of-emo lyrics about hanging out at the blood bank with a girl. Three weary chords trudge onward toward the seemingly inevitable rise of post-Wilco feedback and squalor.

Morrissey: "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"
Moz laments the absence of love, the absence of human touch, and yeah, screw you, he's going to project his abused affections onto the abstract concept of a major European metropolis. Really, it's the same old pity party Morrissey's been throwing for twenty years, but why fix something that can remain so hopeful after being broken so many, many times. :(...

Santogold [ft. Three 6 Mafia and Project Pat]: "Shuv It"
Three 6 Mafia take a whack at this song from Santi White's debut album, swapping out the originals' dubby vibe for crunk synths and cheapie drum machines. Project Pat shows up and raps some stuff over the back end. Different, but not necessarily an improvement over the Switch produced original.

Flying Lotus: "Love Lockdown" Remix
Steve Ellison, grand nephew of one Alice Coltrane, throws "Love Lockdown" into a food processor, slicing the song's straightforward rhythms into a dizzy swarm of syncopations. Freshly coated with extra reverb, West's vocal–already heavily autotuned–sounds as if it's been dropped down to lonely the bottom of Ellison's gravity bong.

For most warm-blooded creatures, a winter sequestered in a cabin in the upper reaches of the Midwest is grounds for hibernation, or at least a Wellbutrin prescription. But for Bon Iver mastermind Justin Vernon, brutal and unforgiving territory is nothing new—he’s a Wisconsin native who’s handy with a hunting rifle. What’s surprising is that someone with such a Paul Bunyan-esque pedigree can create such heartfelt rustic indie folk—while singing in falsetto, no less. Vernon’s desolate, solitary ruminations are captured on Bon Iver’s first album, For Emma, Forever Ago, and the title makes it clear there’s a broken heart underneath the orange vest and flannel. Vernon’s endearingly flawed and bare-bones recording methods add some unintentional but appreciated layers to some already complex arrangements, making for a batch of wintry ballads that are a welcome relief in an oppressively humid month. BON IVER PERFORMS WITH BOWERBIRDS AND NICK SCHILLACE AT 9 P.M. AT THE BLACK CAT, 1811 14th ST. NW. SOLD OUT. (202) 667.4490 —Maggie Serota