Jay Farrar"s Sebastopol was easily among the finest rock releases of 2001, an eclectic showcase of the Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt founder"s rough and smoky voice, willfully obscure lyrics, slow-churning rhythms, and petulant melodies. Sebastopol is Farrar"s most accessible work to date--and his most adventurous, bringing keyboards, loops, and sampled strings into the mix. It sounds a bit like Steve Earle and Crazy Horse collaborating with folk-blues deconstructionists and studio wizards Califone. ThirdShiftGrottoSlack consists of four songs originally slated to appear on Sebastopol, but that were cut for space. From the sparse, Palace-like "Greenwich Time" to the beautiful, elegiac "Station to Station," these cuts perfectly complement that splendid, slow-churning album. The fifth tune is the real winner, a remix by celeb producer Tom Rothrock of one of Sebastopol"s strongest cuts; it"s a slinky, Big Beat-ish version of "Damn Shame" that suggests new avenues for Farrar to explore. --Mike McGonigal