Local Albums

teLLer bANK$

The I & I

TELLERBANKS.BANDCAMP.COM

the album opener to The I & I by Teller Bank$ finds the Des Moines-based rapper reflecting on the practical value of processing his trauma through his art. In “Friends,” he comments on the market forces which encourage work that perpetuates negative stereotypes: “I had to swing my sword before I use my pen / I had to use my pain to go and make me a profit / ‘til we get our reparations that’s the least they can offer.”

Bank$ is thinking out loud here, asking what he’s supposed to do as he continues to grow as an artist and human. Does he abandon references to his past when doing so jeopardizes the financial and social rewards that come from wearing his trauma for all to see? Many of the album’s 14 tracks pursue similar avenues, provoking questions surrounding identity and integrity, revealing a human trying to reconcile his escape from inhuman conditions.

The I & I is the third in a trilogy of releases produced by Indianabased Ed Glorious, and it marks the eighth full length album from Teller Bank$ in the last year and a half alone. Despite this prolific output, the release is neither flush with filler nor stylistically incohesive, remaining musically consistent due in large part to the quality of soulful boom bap served up by Glorious. The album is rounded out with features from Aakeem Eshú, AJ Suede and Iowa’s own Rent Money (fka H the Prodigy), but whether it’s Bank$ or one of his collaborators on the mic, the album remains rich with creative wordplay throughout.

“Pages” showcases a lyrical style akin to classic Method Man, utilizing syncopated vocals to create a counterbeat within AJ Suede’s flow. This isn’t the only callback to mid’90s rap, with Bank$ incorporating a few bars from Busta Rhymes on “Cain & Abel” and a lyrical hat tip to LL Cool J in “Finders Keepers.” Beyond its lyrical playfulness, however, the track also focuses on balancing the responsibilities of fatherhood with a lifestyle of hustling, illuminating an internal struggle of a man being pulled by opposing forces.

“Hollywood” finds Bank$ assuming a darker tone, with lyrics further reflecting an unbalanced mind. “Demons” acknowledges an ever-present threat of violence in his past, while also speaking to the ongoing impact trauma has long after attempting to move beyond it. A determination to do better for himself remains clear in these tracks, but the rapper also emphasizes that it’s the unconditional love of his children which continues to aid him in combating these demons from his past.

While the title The I & I is adopted from a Rastafarian concept that God is within all people, it can also represent a duality between separate parts of the self. For some lacking a cohesion between their intention and actions, this can result in an I against I scenario. For Bank$, however, his own I and I appear to be drawing near, with his work helping him usher in a new life while making sense of an increasingly distant past.

From “Friends,” can you clarify a lyric for me? You say, “I had to swing my sword before I use my pen, I had to use my pain to go and make me a profit.” A concept that I address a lot throughout the album is, Black people are taught and conditioned to wear our trauma. Any kind of trauma that we experience becomes a badge of honor. It becomes what makes us special, what makes us important, especially when you think about the history of America, all of our biggest accomplishments are escaping something, right? Escaping slavery, making it out of civil rights, avoiding the police, all of these different things that our value is based in the negative that has been done to us at the hands of America and other people. We haven’t gotten any reparations for any of the pain and trauma or stuff that we’ve endured at the hands of America, right? But we do routinely make fortunes out of parading our pain or selling our trauma. WHAt EVEN IS “bLACK CULtUrE,” rIGHt? bLACK CULtUrE IS ALL tHESE SpECIFIC tHINGS tHAt bLOCK YOU IN AND IF YOU’rE NOt tHAt tHEN YOU’rE NOt bLACK. bUt IF YOU ASK SOmEbODY “WHAt IS WHItE CULtUrE,” NObODY KNOWS. What even is “Black culture,” right? Black culture is all these specific things that block you in and if you’re not that then you’re not Black. But if you ask somebody “what is white culture,” nobody knows. Where that’s not the same as for Black people, where it’s seen as Black culture is a box and if you’re not inside then you’re not living the true authentic Black experience that people want to buy and have sold to them. As you related it to trauma and having to wear that trauma on your sleeve, that makes full sense. It’s like, if you come from too privileged of a background, that’s somehow not enough to be a “true” black experience. Right, and the Black experience is defined by how it can be commodified and sold to other people, because that’s always been where our art is valued. Right? Not even the value that we put on it, but that’s what people wanted. What’s bought and consumed by white people, for the majority, is going to be of a certain brand. It’s going to be 12 Years a Slave, it’s going to be Precious, it’s going to be Moonlight, even Boyz N The Hood back when that first came out. It’s going to be those stories that are seen as “Wow, those are so moving and meaningful.” That’s what we’re about, and so we’ve adopted that as a survival [mechanism]. Where it’s like any type of trauma—whether it’s poverty, not having a father, all of these different things—we wear that as a badge that we wear and people look at it and go “Oh, wow, he grew up on the South Side of Chicago with a single mom and gang banged and got shot twice and here are paintings that he does. What an amazing story.” And they’ll gravitate toward that, whereas if you’re just a regular dude [who paints] people are going to look at it like, “This is lacking.” You know what I mean? We perpetuate it now, as well, but it’s also something that’s put upon us. And breaking out of it is hard because of how much of it is imposed from the outside and the inside. —Chris DeLine

Submit albums for review: Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240

ALLeGrA HerNANDeZ

Gift Exchange

ALLEGRAHERNANDEZ.COM

Allegra Hernandez Album release w/ Haploid, Double Dice, xbk Live, Des moines, Friday, Nov. 18 at 8 p.m., $15-20

musician, guitarist and educator Allegra Hernandez returned to Des Moines in 2018 after their stint at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota was cut short when the school closed. That time afforded them a solid basis in music theory and performances at Twin Cities venues like the venerable 7th Street Entry. Hernandez finished this education online at Berklee, all the while also teaching music at Des Moines institutions like School of Rock and Girls Rock!.

In 2020, Hernandez released a three-track EP titled Pearl, which unfortunately wallowed in obscurity as they were unable to bring these songs to audiences during the lockdown. On their new album, Gift Exchange, which comes out Nov. 4, they sing “I wrote a song it’s two years long / So please know that I’m here yes I’m here yes I’m here / I just take a long time to respond.”

Gift Exchange, while much more accomplished and polished, picks up where Pearl left off and is a suitable bookend to it—beautiful vocal harmonies and melodies ensconced in fantastic guitar work delivering first-person vignettes like pages ripped from a diary. That two-yearlong song clearly resulted in some serious chops.

This album is a perfect example of how strong songwriting and vocals can be paired with exceptional guitar skills. The fatigue from flashy guitar histrionics common during the hair metal and grunge eras makes Hernandez’s approach novel and fresh—supporting the melodies and harmonies while also allowing the guitar to speak as part of the architecture of the songs. They don’t shy away from big chunky distortion and searing leads, which are used effectively where they appear.

The lead track, “Time and Surface,” opens with a few bars of a deliciously slinky four chord motif decorated with harmonics that echo the verse. There’s violence and hurt alluded to. When we return post-chorus, the song leans somewhat “djent,” with crunch and bombast punctuated with halts filled with ringing dissonant guitar chords and siren notes, reminding us of the “angry fists / making the dents.” A perfect marriage of music and theme.

The track likely to get the most attention on Gift Exchange is the anthemic protest tune “Use My Fkn Pronouns.” Delivered with super-catchy, hook-filled energy, I found myself singing along. “And how many times does it take for you / To address me in the right way? / (It’s) just as important as my name”—a message couldn’t be delivered more effectively than this rallying cry in a song. And the message doesn’t supersede the music here— the skanking bridge with bouncing and sliding bass could have been ripped from a Red Hot Chili Peppers album.

There’s a lot to discover and digest on Allegra Hernandez’s debut album. In many ways they have a unique voice—delivered with earnestly uncompromising songwriting. Hernandez summed it up best in an email to me about Gift Exchange, “My music is for anyone to listen to and enjoy but is dedicated to the communities that I come from and where I am celebrated, especially for queer people.”

Submit albums for review:

Little Village, 623 S Dubuque St., IC, IA 52240 Your bio mentions a couple of stints at colleges of music—were you able to work on this style of music there or was that more heavily focused on theory? Music education was something I have always valued growing up. ... In high school, that was when I decided to pursue going to college for music. Throughout high school, I seriously focused on playing guitar and writing songs all the time, taking lessons and learning from other music mentors.

When I was in 11th grade, [Mary Anne Sims, director of City Voices, a non-profit music education program based in Des Moines] saw a video of me playing guitar and encouraged me to apply to colleges such as Berklee and other contemporary music colleges …

Interestingly for me, what I learned in college doesn’t always directly apply to my own style of playing. In college, there was a big focus on jazz, blues, funk and of course some rock. The focus for me was applied music theory for the guitar, technique, sight-reading and other guitar-based classes ... What influenced my playing was the bands and shows that I got gig experience from in the music scene and my own influences beforehand.

“WHAt I LEArNED IN COLLEGE DOESN’t ALWAYS DIrECtLY AppLY tO mY OWN StYLE OF pLAYING...WHAt INFLUENCED mY pLAYING WAS tHE bANDS AND SHOWS tHAt I GOt GIG EXpErIENCE FrOm IN tHE mUSIC SCENE AND mY OWN INFLUENCES bEFOrEHAND.

With the education I received, I am a more well-rounded guitarist who knows the fretboard in detail and understands not just how to play but knows what I’m playing. ... I don’t use very advanced theory in my writing process but since I have that knowledge, I can actually dissect and understand fully what I’m playing.

I wondered if working with students in Girls rock! and School of rock on their instruments has paid off in helping you sharpen your playing. As an instructor at School of Rock, I have to learn or at least familiarize myself with dozens of songs every few months. … I can learn songs quickly and efficiently, chart out songs for my students, etc. I have sharpened a lot of my fundamental skills on guitar from a beginner to an advanced level. I have students as young as 6, teens and also some adult students of all ages ... I have to meet my students where they’re at and take into account their learning styles. If I can successfully teach them concepts, that confirms how well I know it myself and fortifies that skill. …

As a younger guitar instructor (24) and being the person I am (being non-binary/queer) I find that I don’t see a lot of guitar/bass/drum instructors like me ... I never had the chance to study under a non-male guitar instructor growing up and I feel passionate about teaching and inspiring girls and LGBTQ+ youth to play music, which is why I’m so passionate about Girls Rock! Des Moines. ... Girls Rock! has been so important in my growth as a young adult navigating the music industry.

GR!DSM is … so much more than music—it centers around empowerment, identity, social awareness/social justice and a place where you can unequivocally be your authentic self. There are very few places in the world like Girls Rock, where you are constantly celebrated and uplifted. Your identity and expression are honored every day and brought to the forefront. —Michael Roeder