Thursday, July 15, 2010

Eliza Doolittle (2)

Peeping behind a mannequin

Just read up on her and apparently she's Sylvia Young's granddaughter. Wow. I used to be on Sylvia Young's Agency for acting but I didn't get that many auditions and didn't get the roles most of the time. I think I was a bit shit. Also when I was about 11 to.. well to now I was/am very moody and none of them liked me much. I wasn't stage school-ey and enthusiastic, I wanted to be in depressing dark films not McDonalds adverts. Oh well. I gave it up completely when I did my last job, a voice over for a film set in France. However afterwards they said they wouldn't hire me again or something because I looked so bored and glum.

Anyway, I was casually shopping in Oxford Street with my two best mates and we went to Topshop. I then saw a crowd gather around a little weeny stage and spotted a sign informing us Eliza Doolittle was going to perform. Like right there and then. Coincimental.
It was rather hard to take pics as I got there last minute but I did my best.

Eliza and her guitarist

I enjoyed her hit, Skinny Genes, whilst perusing the Topshop rails. When that ended she played a medley that sounded, well, quite crap really. She's got a nice voice but the song was generic and boring. One of my mates then informed me she was singing a Justin Bieber song (mashed up with something else I couldn't put my finger on) and at that point I bought everything I was carrying and left. Why would she feel the need to resort to covering Bieber? Or has she simply got no taste? Anyway it pissed me off.

Caption competition?

Friday, July 9, 2010

Belle & Sebastian

I adore Belle & Sebastian and even more so in the summer. They produce the most perfect summer tunes. If you don't know their stuff, the indie pop septet could be described as a combination of The Smiths and The Shins, with a dash of Nick Drake and a droplet of Fleet Foxes.
I discovered them when I became obsessed with Teachers, a channel 4 comedy series that started in 2001 and ended in 2004. The series has one of the best soundtracks I've come across (the other programme being Shameless, in which you can enjoy all the best Madchester music). It's still on 4oD if you're interested in watching the four series.
To get to the point, the ending theme of Teachers is 'The Boy With The Arab Strap', the title track of their most successful album. The song also featured in 500 days of summer.

Here is their performance of it on Jools Holland:



Two Belle & Sebastian songs also appeared on the soundtrack of Juno (which is stunning).

'Expectations'

'Piazza, New York Catcher'