From the opening warped notes of Topsy Turvy’s new album Fighting the Ginormous Macho Nacho I was in all in, fully committed to their sci-fi-lo-fi space chic. I had no doubt that the band, comprising Resi (guitar, vocals), Lena (drums, vocals) and Vic (Bass, vocals), had boldly come from outer space in a chromed-up, fin-heavy spaceship as seen in Flash Gordon or Destination Moon. It’s also worth saying that the space age glam suits they wear in the photos were designed by Lena.
Matching the golden age sci-fi aesthetic is their use of a 1950s garage sound; stripped down to the low rumble of bass, gravel guitar, pounding drums, super-catchy vocals and some great ooh-aah backing vocals. It’s the same 50’s grit that Iggy and The Stooges tapped into combined with the sense of neon fun The B-52’s brought to the party. It’s a glorious thing to hear a track like ‘PCB’ slink along like a hot rod ride through the wrong side of the tracks before it crescendos in light and dark distortion.
‘Macho Nacho’ is a powerful 8-bar blues but sadly contains a more serious backstory as the ‘Macho Nacho’ in question is a real person the band encountered in real life, someone sadly symbolic of the misogyny that’s endemic in the music industry. Resi says, “We got really angry at the Macho Nacho. He just stands for a ginormous Macho Nacho energy in music; in the things we experience as female musicians.” This kind of toxic masculinity needs to be called out and stamped out.
‘The Wind’ could have blown in from Laurel Canyon in the same era as The Byrds and the Mamas & Papas with a darkly familiar chord sequence and haunting vocals. Then, right in the middle of the album, up pops the wonderfully incongruous ‘Everything I Must’ with guitar swapped out for bold synth chords in the same arena-filling vein as Van Halen’s ‘Jump’. It are also some outstanding power drum fills tumbling like boulders around the kit.
The apex of the album comes with ‘Five Guitars’ where a fuzzed up bass drags some snarling guitars into the mix followed by an impassioned tune with the whole thing starting to speed up passed the halfway point growing into a sonic tornado that could destroy a Midwest town.
Fighting the Ginormous Macho Nacho is the difference between film and digital; it feels real and alive and not created by an AI prompt. It flexes and breathes and is full of beautiful imperfections that make it a joy to hang with. Topsy Turvy maybe Viennese but I don’t doubt they also hop in a spaceship decked out with flame decals and gearstick topped with an 8-Ball. To paraphrase Star Wars, in the intergalactic fight against the evil empire of misogyny Topsy Turvy need to stay on target.
Topsy Turvy: Bandcamp | Instagram
Out on Siluh Records
Review by Paul F Cook
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