I don’t know if the week is going slow or fast for you, but I’d be willing to bet you’re up for new music either way. Since we here at FRS are all about exemplary readership service, I made a mini mix to help welcome another Wednesday into your life.

MP3: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Conscience Killer
[Off Beat The Devil's Tattoo, out March, 2010]

MP3: Club 8 – Western Hospitality
[From The People's Record, out May 18th]

MP3: Animal Kingdom – Signs and Wonders
[From Signs and Wonders, out now.]

MP3: Bettie Serveert – Deny All
[From Pharmacy of Love, out March 23rd]

MP3: Undersea Poem – Makes Me Happy
[Off Undersea Poem, out now]

MP3: El May – Don’t You
[Off El May, out now]

I quite like this cover for a three song compilation that I know next to nothing about. It’s a great picture and the text is creative while remaining legible. Plus it’s intriguing and makes me want to hear the album to find out what’s afoot – you can’t ask for much more than that.

A new band which has caught my ear is Generationals, whose album Con Law is worth a spin to ease your busy day. It’s a fun record – well written and light but not trite or simplistic. Click on the Stream It link below to grab a free listen.

MP3: Generationals – Faces In The Dark
MP3: Generationals – When They Fight, They Fight
MP3: Generationals – Wildlife Sculpture
[Off Con Law, out now. Stream It. Buy It.]

Here’s a nice semi-tropical break via FM Belfast. Stop, relax, enjoy, proceed with your day.

MP3: FM Belfast – Par Avion
[Off How To Make Friends, out now. Stream It. Buy It.]

This one is getting posted mostly because it made me laugh. There are strengths here though – the black/white/gray stripes being offset with the red striped helmet makes a really cool visual. It’s an odd size, which doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is that turquoise and green bag in the bottom left – it’s just so out of place. Personally I’m borderline on the text – I like the futuristic look but I’m not super crazy about this particular font. Plus the album title would be better served being shifted to the left a smidge so it doesn’t overlap with the zebra. On the plus side: how many times do you get to write about the album title overlapping with a zebra? Bjork, eat your heart out!

Bonus image: Love this ad for the album.

Britney Spears divides music fans, some dismissing her as corporate created pop, others seeing her as deserving respect for maintaining a Madonna-esque career path of reinvention and having the ears to snag the best in pop songwriting. Most everyone I know on both sides agrees “Toxic” is a great tune. Or, The Whale (mentioned here before) has dropped a nice little cover of said song, slowing it down and making it a bit more introspective. It works as well as the original I think.

MP3: Or, The Whale – Toxic

Oh man, you just know everything written about Salvador Santana until the end of his career is going to reference/compare/name drop his dad. Even talking about the album cover brings up the subject, especially since one of Papa Santana’s best covers uses his son’s namesake.

Honestly I can’t decide if I really like this one or not, which is what intrigued me enough to post it. It looks great shrunk down to iPod screen size. The altering red shades in the font is spectacular. On the other hand, keyboards as buildings? Kinda lame. But then they’re made to look like a vintage magazine ad, which is really cool. This kid is going to drive me up the wall, I can tell already!

MP3: Salvador Santana – Don’t Do It
[From Keyboard City, out now. Stream It. Buy It.]

This Woodhands track starts off a bit like early Depeche Mode before layering female and male vocals to create a more modern feel. It’s a great mashup of retro-thinking and forward thinking. Love those warm synths mixed in there.

MP3: Woodhands – Dissembler
[Off Remorsecapade, out March 23rd]

There’s a classic Soul vibe to this track by The Mynabirds. Naturally it’s too soon to do anything but speculate, but maybe, just maybe, we might get a new Dusty Springfield here. Dare to dream!

MP3: The Mynabirds – Numbers Don’t Lie
[Off What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood, out April 27th.]