This week’s Band of the Week is Hosta, a folk rock band from Fayetteville, North Carolina. Admittedly, it took us a while to get around to featuring this band; the more we have listened to their self-titled debut over the past half year, the more it has proven itself as one of the best under-the-radar debuts of the year. It’s baffling that the rest of the blogosphere, if you will, missed out on what is a fantastic album from start to finish.
Hosta is a trio of musicians: Iris Shepard (bass/vocals), Greg Moore (guitar/keyboards/vocals) and Randy Kehne (drums). The genre-bending band mix blues, ska, folk and experimental rock to create fun and interesting songs with likely comparisons to Weezer (and to some extent Pavement; hear “Hope You’re Not Sorry”), which is especially evident on the geo-centric song, “Cali,” and the quirky, ska-infused, “Secret Self.”
Band member Greg Moore is also a Fayetteville artist
While the band primarily tours in the Midwest, we hope they will come out to Cali (actually, someone easily gives themselves away as a newcomer when they call California ‘Cali,’ sort of the same idea as calling New York, “The Big Apple,” or D.C., “Washington, DC”). Hosta were awarded the Northwest Arkansas Music Award in the category “Best None of the Above” this year. We strongly recommend getting the entire LP if you like the songs featured below.
“Cali” – Hosta from s/t debut (2009)
“Secret Self” – Hosta from s/t debut (2009)
“Hope You’re Not Sorry” – Hosta from s/t debut (2009)
Hosta on MySpace
Coming Up: More alternative Christmas songs; a new installment of the Singer/Songwriter Spotlight Series; In Dee Mail Special Year End Edition, Vol. II and much more.
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