May 7, 2006

YouTube Moment Of Shoegaze Zen: Hartfield

HartfieldSearching the term "shoegaze" on YouTube turns up some remarkable stuff, including old Chapterhouse, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive videos, among other things. But one video caught our attention: a Japanese band called Hartfield doing a number called "Today Forever." You may recall Today Forever is the exceptional EP that British shoegaze dynamo Ride released between its two incredible records Nowhere and the awesomely titled Going Blank Again. Anyway, the prospect that an upstart Japanese act had covered the song "Today" [video on YouTube here, incidentally] from Today Forever prompted us to watch the video. Alas, the song is not a Ride cover, and the video features some blatant over-emoting by singing/guitar playing dood Taka.

That said, the track, which is from Hartfield's 2004 EP L.I.B.R.A., is as sugary a slice of dream-pop as we have heard in quite a while (well, prior to receiving the new Asobi Seksu record, anyway). You know what would be an awesome tour? Asobi Seksu and Hartfield. Somebody get to work on putting that together. Sadly, Asobi Seksu and several of our other current favorite acts are all touring through the Boston area when we will be in Jamaica for a wedding in June. That sucks. But anyway, watch the video for Hartfield's "Today Forever," because it is a great song. You can also stream it here at the band's MySpace hizzy.

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