Braw Power
by Yip Man
alfoolishfriend
alfoolishfriend
This album is chock full of unbelievably good songs. So original, so well written, thought out and performed. Presented beautifully and is just as braw and powerful as the title suggests!
Favorite track: Skinny White Ghost.
Ian Reynolds
Ian Reynolds
Great sense of humour and not afraid to mix it up a bit.
Favorite track: Not That Easy.
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumHeavyweight (180 gram) black vinyl LP of Yip Man's "Braw Power". Comes with download code included and beautifully illustrated 12-page inner comic-book complete with lyrics.
Includes unlimited streaming of Braw Power via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 7 days£5 GBP or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumCompact Disc packaged in a lush digi-file with artwork by Liam Duffy.
Includes unlimited streaming of Braw Power via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 7 days£3 GBP or more
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Streaming + DownloadIncludes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.Purchasable with gift card
name your price
1. |
Barnburner
02:50
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2. |
Not That Easy
03:01
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3. |
In The Book
03:26
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4. |
Crying Thunderstorms
03:15
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5. |
Kings and Queens
03:35
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6. |
Stuck on Repeat
03:36
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7. |
For Your Own Good
03:36
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8. |
Silver Wings
03:01
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9. |
Skinny White Ghost
02:37
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10. |
This Girl I'm Bound
02:16
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11. |
Taxi
03:25
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12. |
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about
Armellodie Records is proud to present ‘Braw Power’, the debut album from Yip Man of Scotland, released on Friday 11th November 2016.
Yip Man is the alter-ego of Scottish songwriter Al Nero, the former frontman of blissful guitar slingers Le Reno Amps and the co-founder of Glasgow’s Armellodie Records. Since Le Reno Amps bowed out in 2011 one might be forgiven for thinking that outside of co-running Armellodie Nero has been somewhat idle. In truth he has been undergoing metamorphosis. He’s been away. Al Nero went to China… Yip Man came back.
You may choose to imagine Nero on his oriental adventure, squinting against the setting sun in sprawling dusty wastelands, or atop snow-capped peaks holding earnest conversation with stationary holy men, or perhaps brushing the Mongolian border astride a saddleless galloping horse. Maybe that’s true, or maybe he was in a bar. Whatever happened on our protagonist’s travels the resulting music displays Yip Man's ability to melt down a rainbow of musical possibilities into an irresistible marriage of riff & melody in the brightest of colours.
From the explosion of the lop-sided opener ‘Barnburner’ and the synth-riddled rocking of ‘Not That Easy’, to the Calypso carnival of ‘For Your Own Good’ and Pavement-esque brain-rockin' of ‘Skinny White Ghost’. The songs on ‘Braw Power’ find Nero lyrically and poetically tackling his own existential ennui, whilst sounding like a man who just found the last Golden Ticket in his Wonka Bar.
There is a world-weary sarcasm in the lyrics, a black humour, and sometimes a barely withheld anger. This creeps into the music as well, and we start to hear dissonance, unusual rhythms and chromatic melody upsetting and mutating the kind of songs that might otherwise have had something of the simplicity of the Ramones.
The best pop songs are beautiful feedback loops of empathy and pathos. Yip Man realises and understands the power and purpose of the pop song. They are for our hurt, our disappointment, our regret, our losses and our failures. Each tragic breakup song heals something in the listener.
Yip Man brings it all, inadequacy, lies, loss, bitterness, infidelity, empty beds and the horrible certainty that whatever he’s just got over, he’s doomed to live through again and again. It’s no accident that ‘Stuck on Repeat’ reappears as the album’s ominous coda. Nero’s metamorphosis into Yip Man might not have been a gruesome Kafkaesque shift in species, but it has produced a darker, smarter and completely unapologetic writer of intelligent pop songs, stuffed full of unusual ideas and fresh interpretations of trope.
With grand ambitions tempered by a homely charm, you can be sure that whatever life throws at Yip Man, he’ll bat it straight back with his killer hooks.
Yip Man is the alter-ego of Scottish songwriter Al Nero, the former frontman of blissful guitar slingers Le Reno Amps and the co-founder of Glasgow’s Armellodie Records. Since Le Reno Amps bowed out in 2011 one might be forgiven for thinking that outside of co-running Armellodie Nero has been somewhat idle. In truth he has been undergoing metamorphosis. He’s been away. Al Nero went to China… Yip Man came back.
You may choose to imagine Nero on his oriental adventure, squinting against the setting sun in sprawling dusty wastelands, or atop snow-capped peaks holding earnest conversation with stationary holy men, or perhaps brushing the Mongolian border astride a saddleless galloping horse. Maybe that’s true, or maybe he was in a bar. Whatever happened on our protagonist’s travels the resulting music displays Yip Man's ability to melt down a rainbow of musical possibilities into an irresistible marriage of riff & melody in the brightest of colours.
From the explosion of the lop-sided opener ‘Barnburner’ and the synth-riddled rocking of ‘Not That Easy’, to the Calypso carnival of ‘For Your Own Good’ and Pavement-esque brain-rockin' of ‘Skinny White Ghost’. The songs on ‘Braw Power’ find Nero lyrically and poetically tackling his own existential ennui, whilst sounding like a man who just found the last Golden Ticket in his Wonka Bar.
There is a world-weary sarcasm in the lyrics, a black humour, and sometimes a barely withheld anger. This creeps into the music as well, and we start to hear dissonance, unusual rhythms and chromatic melody upsetting and mutating the kind of songs that might otherwise have had something of the simplicity of the Ramones.
The best pop songs are beautiful feedback loops of empathy and pathos. Yip Man realises and understands the power and purpose of the pop song. They are for our hurt, our disappointment, our regret, our losses and our failures. Each tragic breakup song heals something in the listener.
Yip Man brings it all, inadequacy, lies, loss, bitterness, infidelity, empty beds and the horrible certainty that whatever he’s just got over, he’s doomed to live through again and again. It’s no accident that ‘Stuck on Repeat’ reappears as the album’s ominous coda. Nero’s metamorphosis into Yip Man might not have been a gruesome Kafkaesque shift in species, but it has produced a darker, smarter and completely unapologetic writer of intelligent pop songs, stuffed full of unusual ideas and fresh interpretations of trope.
With grand ambitions tempered by a homely charm, you can be sure that whatever life throws at Yip Man, he’ll bat it straight back with his killer hooks.
credits
released November 11, 2016
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Yip Man Shenzhen, China
Yip Man is the alter-ego of Scottish songwriter Al Nero, who gets by with a little help from his friends.
discography
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Nov 2021 -
Nov 2021 -
Mar 2021 -
Mar 2021
contact / help
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