Bilingual Songwriter Teri Gender Bender (Teresa Suárez Cosío) emerged on the music scene in 2007 as the founder and frontwoman of the Guadalajara-based Punk Rock band Le Butcherettes. She was just seventeen, still in school, and already honing a raw, feminist performance style that would become her signature. Le Butcherettes’ early shows featured provocative props—bloody aprons, raw meat, riffing on ’50s housewife motifs as feminist critiques of domestic servitude. A unique talent, she adopted the stage name ‘Gender Bender’ as a symbolic protest against gender norms and the treatment of women in Mexico.
Interestingly, The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodríguez-López was so impressed that he signed Le Butcherettes to his label and produced their 2011 debut album, Sin Sin Sin. She later joined, releasing several more albums with Le Butcherettes, through to 2019’s bi/MENTAL. She also collaborated with Omar Rodríguez-López on numerous solo projects and broadened her creative palette through Bosnian Rainbows, Crystal Fairy, and Kimono Kult. Expanding her reach into experimental areas, perhaps some of the most unique work has come under her own name, Teri Gender Bender, releasing a slew of EPs in the last five years alone.
Drawing inspiration from Punk icons, Avant-garde Pop, and deeply personal experiences (including grief, feminism, and surrealist storytelling), now in 2025, Teri Gender Bender returns with her debut solo album, TGB. Released on June 27, 2025, through Cloud Hill, TGB is a Spanish-language release that explores emotional healing, toxic relationships, and surreal identity shifts, often inspired by the struggles of close friends and her own introspective rituals. A total of 13 songs —none go far over 3 minutes —TGB is an intriguing album from start to finish.
Starting with “SANAR” (to heal), the album begins with a declaration of healing despite emotional sabotage: “Me quiero sanar… Tu toxicidad me alimenta” — “I want to heal… Your toxicity feeds me.” Here, she is finding the resolve to heal herself, despite the people around her. There is something commendable about being her own person in the face of adversity. Next, “NUNCA ESTÁS FELIZ” (You are never Happy) keeps the thread going, destroying a joyless, emotionally abusive figure. This is while “CAMALEÓN PSICÓTICO” (Psychotic Chameleon) is a shapeshifting metaphor for emotional instability and self-erasure.
Teri Gender Bender also tackles feelings of isolation with AYÚDAME” (Help Me), a direct call for assistance or support. Then”NADIE ME QUIERE” (Nobody Loves Me) answers the question of why she is calling out for help in “NADIE” as she expresses her loneliness and feeling unloved. With “AMBICIONES” (Ambitions), she admits defeat in the face of bad decisions, and on “PALABRAS VACÍAS” (Empty Words), she gives the why.
In most cases, breakups are complicated, and this is clear with “POR QUÉ TE VAS?” (Why Are You Leaving?). On the flip side, “NO TE PUEDES ESCAPAR” (You Cannot Escape) could be taken as the possessive one, not letting go. However, “VETE A LA CHIN CHIN CHIN” (Go to Hell/Go away) draws the line in the sand, and the album’s last track, “¡TE VAS!” (You’re Leaving!) is the clean break, but still with a hint of sadness.
Going back to her roots of social commentary, “VENGANZA DEL SOL” (Revenge of the Sun) calls out the human treatment of nature and the resulting environmental destruction and fallout. Then “EL VENENO” (The Poison) calls out how bad generational doctrines perpetuate stereotypes and imprison people.
With TGB, Teri Gender Bender drew power and inspiration from her empathy for her friends’ and family’s hardships. Of course, in those hardships, she probably saw the patterns, which let her return to what she had set out to do with her music: social commentary. For this, Cryptic Rock gives TGB 5 of 5 stars.
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