Teedo

Theodore Bilecky performs and records under the name Teedo, which also serves as the moniker for the band he assembled in Brooklyn during 2004. That same year the singer and songwriter released the group’s first album, Luvatomic, on the independent ICBM label. His vocals range from the detached precision associated with Television’s Tom Verlaine to the flamboyant theatricality once projected by T. Rex’s Marc Bolan, allowing him to modernize 1970s glam while avoiding the overt playfulness found in the work of Mika, Scissor Sisters, and the Darkness. The resulting sound instead calls to mind Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel or Queen during the “Killer Queen” era, rather than Gary Glitter or Mud. A further point of reference is Denim, the short-lived 1990s glam outfit founded by ex-Felt leader Lawrence Hayward, owing largely to the close similarity in vocal approach. After Luvatomic, personnel shifts created a prolonged interval before the band returned in spring 2008 with the EP You Are My Girl, now featuring a settled lineup of Bilecky on vocals and guitar, Michael Kratzer on guitar, Saeko Terano on synthesizers, Oweinama Biu on bass, and Charles Davis on drums. The four-track release—three songs plus a radio edit of the title track—was positioned as the prelude to a full-length album expected later that year.