Rack And Opinion: Release Date 5.30.06

While we are favorably impressed by the AOL Music streams of Matthew Herbert's Scale and Boards Of Canada's Trans Canada Highway EP that we posted yesterday, it is hard to deny that this week's new release slate is pretty much eclipsed by the sophomore release from Brooklyn nu-gazers Asobi Seksu, whose new record Citrus already lays claim to a coveted slot on :: clicky clicky's :: best of 2006 list. See, the thing is everyone expected the Boards Of Canada joint to be good. And even Herbert's genius was pretty much a sure bet for his latest set. But as we've said elsewhere, Citrus is so good that it "surpasses expectations to such an extent that it even delivers on promises made and broken by other bands years ago." As such, Asobi Seksu leads off our short list of picks for the most promising releases of this somewhat slow week, which is posted below. Links go to relevant commercial opportunities with our former Patrol Leaders over at Insound.

Asobi Seksu -- Citrus -- Friendly Fire
Boards of Canada -- Trans Canada Highway EP -- Warp
Matthew Herbert -- Scale -- !K7
Split Enz -- Spellbound: The Very Best of Split Enz -- Warner