Opening the CD cabinet has become something of an adventure these days. As Shel does edits for all things Paste, we tend to stay abreast of new music happenings. That, and she gets musically bored real fast. So about every two weeks, she wails from the office, "we don't have any music to listen to! We need new music!"

What's great about this is that she's got the guts (or, perhaps is driven by the despair evinced above) to buy music she's not heard, simply by reputation or recommendation. So she'll visit Second Spin, and pick up a passel of mystery music. This means that many's the time when I'll reach into the stereo cabinet and grab something that neither of us have managed to listen to yet, and I'll be blown away by it. That's what happened with the Long Winters CD, and it's happened again.

Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts of the Great Highway is terrific! Is it Americana? Is it high-falutin mood music? Is it valium-laden grunge? Yes, and so much more! Imagine Hem crossed with the Czars, and you've about got the picture. Go out and buy it to-day.

Especially good: Track 2, "Carry Me Ohio." Yow!