"The Howard Sampler: 16 Feb 2005"

A quasi-mix cd from David; none of the one-off songs have particularly grabbed me, though all are pleasant enough. As to the 'artist samples': enjoying the Fiery Furnaces tracks (especially "Straight Street"), which figures given that cute, quirky pop is usually my thing, but aren't really excited by them and doubt that their music will age particularly well; don't mind Feist (never heard of them/her before!), but again not feeling any excitement; had my radio-based impression of the Kings of Leon as 'a bit blah' confirmed; liking all of the Tom Waits cuts, but not really in the right headspace to appreciate his stuff at present (I've never really been into him in the way that a lot of other people seem to be); and, finally, blown away by the brilliance of the Arcade Fire (looks like the hipsters got it right with this one)...more on that last in a separate entry at some point, since I was sufficiently inspired to rush out and buy the album.