No Through Road - Winner

2009 release. No Through Road is the kind of band that could play a birthday party, a wedding or a wake. Even when the words are sad and the guitars bawl and holler from grubby amplifiers, No Through Road finds a way to package those emotions and turn them into sonic treasures. Led by charismatic crooner and slacker king Matt Banham, the group is at once gloriously loose and noisy, yet warm and sincere, their songs taking no time to stick in your brain and consequently be hummed and whistled for days on end.