This week we felt like strapping on guitars, plugging into Voxx AC 30’s and making some good ole fashioned rock& roll ruckus. We went looking for bands who give it up with lots of noise, fire and enthusiasm. We found some. We also found some bands who take this ferocious energy and inject it into some honest to goodness songs the likes of which should be beaming out of radio transmitters worldwide and straight into pocket radios, ladybug transistors and anyplace else rock & roll sounds good. Let’s rock it one time for the kids…..

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Nick Jonas, the youngest member of your teenage daughter’s favorite band, will release an album with his side project, Nick Jonas & the Administration, next year. Although his siblings won’t appear on the record, the Jonas Brothers have already scheduled a world tour for 2010 and will not be breaking up. They promise. [Billboard.com]

Taylor Mitchell, a rising songwriter on the Canadian folk scene, was killed by coyotes while hiking this week. The 19 year-old was visiting Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia when the animals attacked. A Canadian Folk Music Awards nominee, Mitchell had visited the park during the middle of her east coast tour. [CNN.com]

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The Michael Jackson documentary This Is It exceeded box office expectations, earning an estimated $7.4 million on Wednesday, its first day of release. The film did even better outside of North America, grossing $12.7 million in the 97 other territories in which it debuted. Though the film currently has a limited, two-week engagement in theaters, that may change if the returns are strong enough. [HollywoodReporter.com]

Speaking of Jackson, PopEater presents a list of musicians whose estates continue to earn big money after they died. [PopEater.com]

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In the late 90s, someone at Matador must have become tired of guitars or grown bored with indie rock because all of a sudden the label began releasing all kinds of really great electronic music. In retrospect it’s even crazier that the label releasing the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Pavement, Silkworm and Run On was all of a sudden confusing people by putting out albums by Plone, Solex and Boards of Canada. You have to admit that it was a pretty brave move and though it probably didn’t pay off financially, it established the label as even more of a maverick in the indie rock world than it already was. Let’s take a look back at some of the high points of Matador’s electronic years….

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Everyone’s favorite alien from Planet Fierce, former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert, has released the cover art for his forthcoming post-Idol debut, For Your Entertainment. Lambert has confirmed via Twitter that the ’80s-inspired image was definitely conceived with tongue firmly in cheek. The album is set for release on November 23, one week after the appearance of Kris Allen’s self-titled debut. [EW.com]

Richard Hawley backed vocal legend Shirley Bassey at a recent performance at London’s Roundhouse Theatre. The duo performed the song “After the Rain,” which Hawley wrote specially for Bassey. Bassey is currently gearing up for the November release of The Performance, her first studio album in 20 years. [TimesOnline.co.uk.]

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Yeah, it’s too early for year-end lists, but I’m getting it together now to avoid being rattled by the holiday rush. Careful followers of the blog (both of you) may remember I did the same kind of thing last year (with the usual mixed results), and this time I’m limiting it to my favorite indie pop albums of the year (so far). There might be a couple upcoming releases that may sneak in later (Pants Yell! chief among them) but I feel pretty secure with these choices. They are the records that made me smile, kept my heart warm, and delivered the pop thrills I need without fail. If there’s anything you think should (or shouldn’t) be here, let us know in the comments.

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Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be
Setting aside the grand orchestrations of Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, Devendra Banhart’s What Will We Be is everything its predecessor was not: straight-forward, cleanly produced, consistently laid-back (to nearly Jack Johnson proportions), and free of ambition. Banhart enlists the same band as last time (Noah Georgeson, Greg Rogove, Luckey Remington, and Rodrigo Amarante), but hired production whiz Paul Butler, whose records with A Band of Bees are some of the most striking productions of the 2000s.

Broadcast & the Focus Group - Broadcast & the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Broadcast’s music has always been a little unearthly, so Broadcast & the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age isn’t so much a departure as it is an inspired homage to their influences. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and its alternately innocent and menacing soundtrack inspired the band years before the movie was rediscovered. The whimsy and strangely familiar feel of ’60s and ’70s library music could also be heard in their music from the beginning, but never more clearly than on this mini-album.

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While promoting his new DVD, Where the Wild Things Are, Steve Vai took a break to wax nostalgic on his days as David Lee Roth’s guitarist. “Back then, we were playing those arenas and it was 80% girls in their underwear,” he says of the band’s 1984 tour. “It was crazy. I was like a bee sitting on the rim of the cup sipping the honey.” [Spinner.com]

Running out of costume ideas for Halloween? Check out EMusic’s eight-part series on various indie rockers’ costumes, which includes My Morning Jacket dressed up in Ghostbusters gear and a white-faced Superchunk posing as the Misfits. [EMusic.com]

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