The limited edition Nine Inch Nails CD/DVD now in my hands may be brand new, but the music on it isn’t. We reviewed the album, entitled The Slip, when mastermind Trent Reznor first made it available as a free download in May- making a few headlines in the process, and reminding us once again that whether or not he knows where U.S.S. Music Industry is headed, or if it will even stay afloat, he is one of the new captains on board.

There’s no point in talking about music you’ve surely heard for yourself by now, but this release is noteworthy to me at least because it represents the first time I’ve bought a physical CD in a long time.

Ramshackle Southern-roots gospel stomp rock is the most fitting way to encapsulate the sound of The Builders And The Butchers, but let’s not forget about the elemental fucking soul of it all; the timeless essence of authenticity that lifts them clear from the bottomless pit of folky acoustic jam bands.

Their live show is raucous and magnetic, an uptempo affair of sonic hypnotics and unconventional instrumentation ranging from megaphones to styrofoam swim tubes and oil funnels. They’ve been known to distribute assorted toy instruments to their audience, inviting them to play along, but this aint no gimmick band. The rawness calls back to their punk roots, but the atmosphere is much more Tom Waits than Fugazi.

“It used to be that you’d tour to promote a record, and now you’re putting out songs to promote your tour. It’s an interesting shift. It’s a great time to be in a band, but it’s a horrible time to be a record label. “

Since I was 14, I’ve been waiting for the new Guns N’ Roses album, and I’ve always known its name: Chinese Democracy. The phrase is now more universally defined as the new Guns N’ Roses album than as the actual political movement in China that inspired the titling. And over the years, the phrase has developed a second meaning: It can also be used as an adjective, to describe something eternally “in the works,” promised countless times, yet never, ever, ever delivered. As in, “that raise I need is fucking chinese democracy,” or “that big break your boyfriend’s shitty band swears is going to happen is totally chinese democracy, tell him to get a fucking job.”

I’ve been waiting, literally half of my entire life. In 2001 and 2002, Axl unveiled a new band, and they played some shows- and some new songs. I thought it was coming. In 2003, a song leaked. A bunch more leaked in 2006. We could taste it. Word was that Axl was planning a Christmas ‘06 release, and he confirmed that rumor by promising it’d be out before year’s end in a radio show interview. On December 14th, as time ran out to deliver on that promise, Axl announced the cancellation of the last few shows of a successful North American tour so he could (for real this time) finish the album, which he said would finally be released on March 6th, 2007. On February 22nd, road manager Del James announced that Chinese Democracy’s recording was complete- and that it was being mixed. But March 6th came and went. As 2008 rolled in, there was still no new Guns N’ Roses album. But then in April, the second biggest possible headline related to Chinese Democracy appeared on every music newswire in existence: The album has been finished and delivered by Axl to Geffen.

To date, Joe Purdy has sold more than half a million single paid downloads, and his song Can’t Get It Right Today has likely been all over your TV in Kia ads and Grey’s Anatomy.

The reception has been huge, and the labels are foaming at the mouth to cash in on this would-be-could-be superstar, but Joe’s flatly turned down every offer that’s been made. He releases the records only the way he wants to, and has lucked out like a Vegas champion in the press. But the days of blind luck in the music industry and are dead and gone, and now more than ever, people have all the tools they need to uncover the bullshit gristle before they’re tricked into parting with their money. To move the numbers Purdy does, the music’s got to be good, or at least meticulously designed for a particular demographic.

Last month, I had a few not entirely coherent things to say about the leaked cuts from Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits tribute album, Anywhere I Lay My Head. And ultimately, I had no idea what to make of it.

So the album dropped on Tuesday, and while I had it in hand last weekend, I had to wait through a brief addiction to the new Death Cab For Cutie before I could get around to listening to it in its entirety to try and get a better idea of what the fuck to file it under.

Read on for our honest track-by-track review.