by SHANE SINNOTT

As you might have heard, Michael Jackson died recently. After the news, everyone, I’m sure, expected a back-catalogue sales bump, but things have been going crazy—on July 1, it was confirmed that Jackson was the first artist in history to sell a million song downloads in a week. As well, the top nine positions on the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart are currently occupied by Jackson records (story at tinyurl.com/m23hfj). The net, meanwhile, is swarming with tributes. 50 Cent was first out of the gate, throwing a Jackson sample on an already recorded track and releasing it within 24 hours of his death. Called “Where You Are,” you can get it from his Web site thisis50.com. Also making the rounds was an image Fred Durst posted through Flicker of himself dressed up as the King of Pop—it’s got to be one of the most asinine things ever: tinyurl.com/njs9j4. Perhaps the most ambitious comes from Cookin’ Soul, who’ve put together a 14-track mixtape of MJ mash-ups with guys like Jay Z, Lil Wayne and Eminem. You can download the whole thing for free off their Web site, at tinyurl.com/lldqcp

In more forward-thinking news, the first track from Polvo’s upcoming record is now available online. Since their apparent breakup in 1997, the math-rock stalwarts have occupied a large place in the indie rock pantheon, and so expect their reunion and new record to be followed with Dinosaur Jr.-like fervour. The album is out Sept. 8, and the track “Beggars Bowl” is at tinyurl.com/kpt5my.

If you need any further proof that garage is the new emo, look to the latest group of teenagers to release a noisy, lo-fi record to Internet buzz, the Smith Westerns. You can download “Tonight,” a jangly gem from their self-titled LP, at tinyurl.com/luyncn.

Finally, Spoon have just released a new three-track single, their first after 2007’s “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” called “Got Nuffin’,” and you can get the familiar-sounding track at tinyurl.com/nwez7g.