Teo has released two solo albums - Rustic Living for Urbanites (2003 / produced by Ronan Chris Murphy) and Television (2006 / produced by Nick Lee & Pete Teo) on his own label Redbag Music. Rustic Living For Urbanites won the Best Music Video and Best Album Cover category at the Anugerah Industri Muzik Malaysia (AIM - Malaysian Music Industry Awards) 2004. His follow-up albumTelevision - an alternative folk music album filled with reflections on a media saturated world and Americana - won all 3 categories it was nominated for at AIM 2007 - Best Album Cover, Best Music Video and Best English Album - where Teo emerged as the biggest winner of the night, the first non-mainstream indie artist to do so in the history of the awards. "Television" subsequently became the first Malaysian record to be licensed and released in South Korea. Teo was also the first ever Malaysian artist to play at the South By Southwest music festival in Austin Texas in 2007.
In April 2008, Teo independently produced a zero-budget, non-partisan, non-profit, multi-artists recording of his anti-racism composition 'Here In My Phone'. Entitled 'Malaysian Artistes For Unity', the project attracted pro bono participation from over 50 Malaysian artists, media personalities and arts activists - including Ning Baizura, Awie, Adflin Shauki, Jason Lo, Maya Karin, Tony Fernandes, Jaclyn Victor etc.. The music video for the song, directed by Yasmin Ahmad and Ho Yuhang premiered at the Malaysian Music Industry Awards 2008 to a nationwide television audience. In the weeks subsequent to its release, the video became one of most viralled videos in the world - reaching as high as no.3. Both the song and the video are available for free download on the project's official website.
In May 2008, Teo reinforced his reputation as an artist at the forefront of the Malaysian new wave by producing 4 definitive and retrospective music videos for legendary Malaysian band Alleycats. Directed by installation artist and regular collaborator Kamal Sabran, these Universal Music commissioned videos were completed within 3 weeks, and were included in the 2008 box set release of the band's classic hits.
In August 2008, Teo played live to millions over Korean nationwide TV on Yoon Do Hyun's 'Love Letter' [KBS] and 'EBS Space' [EBS] - two of the most popular music programs in Korea. This was followed by a showcase appearance at the Tokyo Asia Music Market in October 2008.
The beginning of 2009 saw Teo's music cross over into the Malaysian mainstream as the composer and songwriter behind the memorable songs featured in Yasmin Ahmad's film 'Talentime'. High public and industry interest for these songs led to a soundtrack album entitled 'Talentime' - produced by Teo and released by Universal Music shortly after the film's release. At the same time, Teo also took a turn as the lead in James Lee's 2009 indie art house award winning digital film "Call If You Need Me", Yasmin Ahmad's 'Earth Hour Gangster' campaign advertisement, directed music in Ho Yuhang's widely anticipated film "At The End Of Daybreak" as well as took on a supporting role in a French feature film entitled 'Stretch' directed by Charles De Meaux and starring Nicolas Cazale, David Carradine and Fan Bing Bing.
Teo is based in Kuala Lumpur and tours Japan and Korea regularly.
Cast (Local)
Film Crew (Local)
Award (Nominated)
2009 |
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22nd Malaysian Film Festival - Best Original Music Score |