[email protected] Technique Entertainment Editor: Jennifer Aldoretta 9 Friday, Entertainment June 26, 2009 O’Brien opens VocMaUSIlC s danhousce, weith m oulti-instru mVentaleist ckatimest Chris Taylor handling multiple Grizzly Bear instruments and production du- strong for Veckatimest ties. !e lyrics are as vague as ever, LABEL: Warp Records and every member of the group still contributes vocals. !ere are “"e Tonight GENRE: Psych-folk a few new tricks, though. !e in- TRACK PICKS: “Two Weeks,” strumentation is richer, thanks in “Cheerleader” & “All We Ask” part to contributions from mod- Show” ern composer Nico Muhly, the RELEASED: May 26, 2009 ACME String Quartet and the Brooklyn Youth Choir. “Southern Catch O’Brien OUR TAKE: !!!!!" Point” kicks o# Veckatimest with a Image courtesy of Warp Records in his newest couple of acoustic guitars, slowly By Robby Cassidy building into an explosion of pace a bit with a superb sing-along role on week- Contributing Writer beautiful textures. Daniel Rossen at the tail end. More vocal acro- nights at 11:30 handles the vocal duties on this batics are featured on “Fine for Veckatimest is being hailed as and gives it his all. !e explosions Now,” and the electric guitar rears p.m. the best album of the year. !ere’s keep coming, each time with ad- it head as a precursor of what’s to a good chance if you’ve already ditional instrumentation until the come. “Cheerleader” is another seen a review of the album that last arrives with cymbals beauti- track in the vein of “Two Weeks,” line has been carelessly thrown fully shimmering above it all until with Grizzly Bear acting more around. Critics, bloggers and even dying back down to the guitars. like a rock band than a chamber Trent Reznor have been heaping Now the “problem” with Veck- group. While not as catchy as praise on Veckatimest. !e hype atimest: these guys can write a “Two Weeks,” it features great vo- machine has been roaring along pop song. After listening to the cal interplay between Droste and in 2009, the apparent year of the next track, “Two Weeks,” it’s easy Rossen and introduces the Brook- Grizzly Bear. !e problem is that to call it a day. !is is the song re- lyn Youth Choir. if anything will ruin a good thing, sponsible for the hype. !is song After “Cheerleader” Veckatim- it’s hype. sets the bar impossibly high, leav- est becomes softer, sadder and !e most common critique I’ve ing the rest of the album in its slower, providing the perfect op- heard of the album is that it’s bor- dust. Led by a simple keyboard ri# portunity for the bored to jump ing. While I disagree with that and held together by Bear’s drum- ship. “Dory” and “Ready, Able” assessment, I understand. !is is ming, the vocals are the stars. Ed pass pleasantly enough, but it’s not an album that you can jump Droste contributes fantastic lead not until “About Face” that the Image courtesy of NBC Studios straight into. And with all the vocals with the rest of the band action picks up for a second. hype surrounding it, I can under- and Victoria Legrand giving a Is Veckatimest the best album TELEVISION long wait for those of us wanting stand the disappointment. Grizzly new de"nition to backing vocals. of 2009? Probably not, and any- “The Tonight Show with to see our favorite late-night host Bear is not a band that specializes !ere are not enough words in the one willing to make that claim get his dues paid. Conan’s irrev- in instant grati"cation. !ese four English language to adequately needs to take a step back and real- Conan O’Brien” erent, self-deprecating humor has are going to make you work for it. convey how gorgeous they truly ize there are six months left in an GENRE: Talk Show always taken more chances than Veckatimest as a whole is not are. It’s understandable to park already solid year for music. Is it a similar broadcasts, edging toward a huge departure from their pre- here and loop the song endlessly, gorgeous album worth at the very STARRING: Conan O’Brien non-sequitur, so-called “random” vious e#ort, Yellow House. !e but I beseech you to press on. least a listen? I would not hesitate NETWORK: NBC humor and improvisation long whole a#air is still largely in- “All We Ask” slows down the to say yes. before those became current co- TIME: Weeknights 11:35 p.m. medic trends. OUR TAKE: !!!"!! While the writer-turned-host surrounds himself with compe- tent writers, the comic’s method Morrow’s sci-! Apprentice enthralls By Philip Poole of delivery makes all the di#er- BOOKS Arriving on the island that choppy, over"lled with verbiage Sta! Writer ence in the world. !e “character” The Philosopher’s houses the Sabacthani women, that has this reviewer scrambling of Conan O’Brien is central to the Ambrose is both delighted and for her dictionary. It is carefully One of the least explana- show, whether he’s performing a Apprentice uneasy to "nd that Sabacthani’s constructed with a sort of atten- tory ways to describe anything is bit or not. GENRE: Science Fiction daughter, Londa, has a mind tion to detail that is severely lack- “You’ll either love it or you’ll hate Many think Conan won’t be that is quite literally a tabula rasa ing from modern day "ction best it.” !e online judgments after able to pick up Leno’s older audi- AUTHOR: James Morrow (“blank slate”), and so goes about sellers. Conan’s "rst “Tonight Show” per- ences with his idiosyncratic per- PUBLISHER: William Morrow molding some sort of moral "ber To be honest, his word choices formance were de"nitely polar- sonalities, but overall it doesn’t for the girl. in general were a bit tedious. On PAGES: 432 ized, even understanding that the seem like a large problem (it’s It is only when hiking that he average I found it necessary to adjective “polarizing” is typically Conan’s 18-34 audience that has PUBLISH DATE: March 2008 "nds two other Sabacthani chil- look up a word every two or three redundant in reference to internet other late-night viewing options, dren with Londa’s same problem pages in this book, which can be arguing. not older folks). OUR TAKE: !!!!! who are completely unaware of a turn o#. !ere’s no doubt in my mind All Conan really needs to do their sister’s existence. Who are On top of issues with syntax, that this has to do with the attach- is keep Leno-inclined folks from By Alexandria Stephenson these girls? Why do none of them the story arc in general is a bit pre- ment people feel to the person- turning o# the TV after the news, Contributing Writer have any memory of their life? posterous. !is book’s clear sci- alities that have been a religious a low hurdle that’s twice as doable And why do none of them have ence "ction style is obvious once part of their evenings for years at considering “!e Tonight Show” "e Philosopher’s Apprentice, any idea of each other’s existence? the reader has "nished the "rst a time. Amateur students of in- is traditionally background noise James Morrow’s most recent book, Morrow’s book is represented hundred or so pages, however, if terpersonal dynamics know that for many households in the "rst is what can only be described as in three distinct parts, in which the genre of the book were clear laughter helps breed familiarity. place; so Conan’s ahead of the thinking man’s pulp "ction. As an three distinct moral dilemmas are beforehand, the strange direc- Combine that with a long-term game even before you factor in his ABD (all but dissertation) Ph.D. posed to the reader via both Am- tion in which Morrow took parts relationship, and powerful bonds talent. candidate at a "ctitious Boston brose and Londa at three di#erent two and three wouldn’t be such a will be formed. So it makes sense !ese things in mind, he seems university, Mason Ambrose has important stages of Londa’s life. shock. that many of us hate to see Leno to be holding steady through his dreams of a dissertation that will But don’t just assume that Mor- In all fairness, the book’s non- go. After all, he’s been captaining "rst few shows. Conan’s "rst "ve knock the socks o# of the com- row’s book is merely a thought redeeming qualities are most obvi- us across late night seas for seven- shows were booked with home- mittee who decides his educa- experiment in a vacuum. Mor- ous when one is reading it with a teen years now. run personalities like Will Ferrell tional fate. After his defense of his row gives the reader context for critical eye, but if you’re looking Not much can be done to and Tom Hanks in addition to work goes awry, he is approached the di$cult decisions in the form for a quasi-believable sci-" novel smooth the transition for Leno’s some surprisingly generous musi- by an emissary of the brilliant ge- of Ambrose’s inner monologue, that you can take to the beach biggest fans, but NBC has done cal performers. neticist Edwina Sabacthani. which is heavily interspersed with and read relatively quickly, try its best to prime Conan’s core But “Late Night with Conan Ambrose is intrigued by the references to ethicists from Plato "e Philosopher’s Apprentice.