genius strikes again* 

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let’s begin the induction of a rare breed by the name of Pete Teo. Why a ‘rare breed’, you ask? Good question. Now, the problem is I don’t know how to answer that. Coz this man is too deep and intelligent, I don’t know where to even begin…

The fateful date: 9 August 2003. I got to know this man who shattered two of my personal childhood beliefs and I am still recovering from the tremor. Even at the tender age of 8, my beliefs were: (1) I would never take any interest in a Cinapek. (2) I had buried the idea of motherhood, simply coz I don’t ever want to. But this man got me hooked like the possessed from the first line of ‘Arms of Marianne’, with his voice, his wit, his hardcore passion for what he believed in, his powderful England, his insomniac ways, his humility and most of all, his never-say-die attitude towards life. (This is kinda ironic considering the ‘suicidal’ theme of Rustic.). He represented the new breed of Cinapek; the one who looks like the head gangster of Kepong Baru but with the upbringing of Nottinghill. Ha. And the more I know him, he ended being the poster boy I want to paste on my wall if ever my maternal instincts decide to raise from the grave and give a hard kick. Next to his twin sister by the name of Dakota Fanning. They represent the type of children I want to have – obedient, clever and speak articulately. Heh.

So I began spreading word about him better than I spread the gospel, so much so that people began tagging me as his stalker, which is funny coz it was those who called me his stalker that did the stalking work for me. At most times, I am at the comfort of my sofa reading or drooling at Colin Firth over the 100th time of Bridget Jones Diary and I will get smses informing me of his whereabouts, what he is wearing, who he is with, which paper he appears in, which page etc. The information given were so detailed, I can safely tell you that on 31 March 2006, he was at Restoran OK in Taman Tun buying a pack of chicken rice wearing a purple shirt and denim jeans. After that, he also bought a pack of ciggs. Am I scary or what? Trust me, not really. I was actually on my way to Singapore to have Damien Rice for dinner that night. Ha.

Again, it’s ironic that I also got hold of his second album, called ‘Television’ on the same date 3 years later – 9 August 2006. I cannot stress enough how great this album is. Every song is hit worthy; superbly written and so intelligently arranged, you cannot help but adore this man to the core. Or stalk him to the centre of the earth. As you know, all the musicians I had written about so far are those I really believed in. In my book, Pete Teo leads the pack.

Go check out his new website here which he created himself after much digging into the html and javascripts books. That’s why I call him Genius, simply coz he is. Go say hello on his guestbook and tell him I sent you. Go enjoy his pirate jest on his blog section. Go read his studio diaries.

Go buy his new album called Television, which he wrote in the 2 months when he turned into a couch potato. But it took approximately 18 months to produce. According to Pete, if you scrutinize his lyrics and the chord sequences, you are bound to stumble upon fascinating repeated motifs; some hidden, some not. If you do, go tell him your new find.

Go, go, go buy…This will be the best investment you ever made in 2006. I vouch by it.

[Read ‘A Rustic Analysis’ here]
August 29, 2006 // anjali* pranced on tip-toes all over the keyboard at 11:34 am
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