Grizzly Bear – Ready, Able

Click on the turntable on the left to listen to a continuous stream of music featured on Pretty Much Amazing - updated every day. For more, you can check out the Best Songs of 2011, or our Best Albums of 2011.
Grizzly Bear   Ready, Able stream music videos music

In many ways, the new music video for “Ready, Able” matches my feelings for the lush track off of Veckatimest, one of the year’s best albums.

The video’s best moments (see colorful melting at :47, potential alien abduction at 1:53, and awesome clay, stop-motion transformations at 3:26) come at the song’s most thrilling moments- jolts of orchestration and psychedelic jamming are recreated with colorful, magnificent feats of claymation. The video is also strange and original, much like the song with its oddly unorthodox buildup and structure.

Most importantly, the video and the song match in that I’m not sure whether I like either of them, but something definitely keeps me watching or listening. As with many Grizzly Bear tracks, “Ready, Able” is about the musical moments, the breakdowns of choir chants and lavish instrumentation it builds to. If  you’re not patient enough to wait for those moments in the song (and the accompanying visual moments in the video), Veckatimest has probably already been shoved to the side on your iPod.

That aside, “Ready, Able,” while much-loved by the blog world, is not even one of my favorite songs on the album, and its selection as a single surprises me. There are too many tracks on Veckatimest that don’t stall, or make you wait, and are brilliant throughout. Those tracks really can hook a listener not yet convinced by the sounds of Grizzly Bear. “Ready, Able” cannot, and will only allow haters to continually point out that Grizzly Bear can, at times, be boring.

Buy Veckatimest and other Grizzly Bear releases at InSound or at Amazon.

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Peter November 17, 2009 at 5:25 pm

‘Ready, Able’ has one of the most beautiful melodies I’ve heard all year. In fact, Veckatimest is home to some of the most beautiful sounds I’ve heard in my life. Truth.

Reply

Christina November 17, 2009 at 5:32 pm

this song makes me want to cry. it’s gorgeous and the video is so inspired.

Reply

Allen November 17, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Word, I feel ya. Great song, for sure… but not the best single choice. I think “All We Ask” or “Fine For Now” would have been better.

Reply

Greg Anders November 17, 2009 at 5:38 pm

I do love me some “Foreground” though.

Anyway, I always suspected “Ready, Able” was going to be released as a single. Where is the cool party art ala Two Weeks/While You Wait For The Others?

Reply

Charles November 17, 2009 at 5:42 pm

this song is so amazing. brings me chills right next to “in the flowers” and “lion in a coma” by animal collective :]

Reply

Anonymous November 17, 2009 at 5:44 pm

glad you posted this.

amazing.

xx

Reply

Jason November 17, 2009 at 5:45 pm

holy fuck.. this video is a TRIP! I can’t imagine how long it must have taken to create it.

Reply

kyle November 17, 2009 at 5:48 pm

my jaw dropped when I saw this video. it’s truly amazing and creative, and kind of insane… all at the same time.

Reply

Caleb November 17, 2009 at 6:36 pm

triptastic.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Don’t forget to rate the album at the end of the review. Basement Jaxx Scars Ultra Records out October 6th 68/100 [Rating Scale] Basement Jaxx are, at this point, an…

Keep Reading...

When I first heard Cousins, I watched it at seven in the morning on a Thursday in a grainy Youtube video, all strobe light and dancing kids, and I did…

Keep Reading...

Photo by Vince Kmeron New tour dates have been announced for Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, The Big Pink, Hot Chip, The xx, Passion Pit, Japandroids, St. Vincent, Jay-Z, Neon Indian, and…

Keep Reading...

November 16, 2009· 0 reactions

Tune-Yards

Photo by Filkoe I saw Tune-Yards (not TuNe-YaRdS, as I’m afraid of my shift key) open for the Dirty Projectors last week while visiting the cold and wet Salt Lake…

Keep Reading...

November 16, 2009· 2 reactions

Sleigh Bells

Photo by Punk Photo Sleigh Bells is the loud, creative forced brought to life by Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss. Derek played in a hardcore band, and Alexis well, she…

Keep Reading...

Yes, this happened. I’m confused as to why this isn’t better than it is? Hercules and Love Affair was one of our favorite albums of 2008, if not our favorite.…

Keep Reading...

Best Albums of 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 2007 might just be my favorite year for…

Keep Reading...

Reader’s Choice: Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not Was anyone shocked to see Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not win the…

Keep Reading...

The twenty-first episode of the pmaCAST is here. The new episode runs a little bit over an hour and fifteen minutes and features some of my favorite songs of the…

Keep Reading...