Cock of the North
by Yip Man
alfoolishfriend
alfoolishfriend
The Kung Fu kicks and Zen men have clearly served The Yip Man well. Cock of the North is the hattrick album and builds on his previous releases (which are braw). With the prowess of the Pixies and Weezer for pop hooks and combining it with rythym more akin to Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub or early Biffy (less distortion) the sonics are uneal. Lyrically it has the humour of Colin Hay and the fragility of Scott Hutchison but Yip Man has very much melded all components to be his own. It's a YIP from me.
Favorite track: Magic Potion.
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumTranslucent pale green vinyl LP (140g) of Yip Man's 'Cock of the North' with A3 poster insert (including lyrics on the back) and 'Cock of the North' on green-vinyl-replica CD, packaged in a 100% environmentally-friendly digipack made from recycled card, egg boxes and cork! The discs trays are not made from clear plastic like most digipacks, but are made from recycled egg boxes and have a central cork stud to mount the disc on. Download code included.
Artwork and illustrations by Adam Moore
mooredraw.co.uk
Includes unlimited streaming of Cock of the North via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card£20 GBP or more
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumTranslucent pale green vinyl LP (140g) of Yip Man's 'Cock of the North' with A3 poster insert (including lyrics on the back). Download code included.
Artwork and illustrations by Adam Moore
mooredraw.co.uk
Includes unlimited streaming of Cock of the North via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card£15 GBP or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album'Cock of the North' on green-vinyl-replica CD.
Packaged in a 100% environmentally-friendly digipack made from recycled card, egg boxes and cork! The discs trays are not made from clear plastic like most digipacks, but are made from recycled egg boxes and have a central cork stud to mount the disc on.
Artwork by Adam Moore
mooredraw.co.uk
Includes unlimited streaming of Cock of the North via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card£10 GBP or more
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Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Purchasable with gift card
£8 GBP or more
1. |
Cock of the North
01:02
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2. |
Bullshit Detector
03:39
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3. |
Spiritual Bypass
02:47
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4. |
What's Your Secret?
03:19
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5. |
Magic Potion
02:41
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6. |
Dangling Carrots
04:04
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7. |
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8. |
Everybody's Fool
02:09
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9. |
Evil Doppelganger
03:59
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10. |
A Lesson Lived
03:33
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11. |
To Piss or Not to Piss
03:42
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12. |
This is the Last One
03:00
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about
Armellodie Records is proud to present Cock of the North, the new album from Yip Man or as oft referred, Yip Man of Scotland, released on Friday 26th March 2021.
Yip Man is one Al Nero – a Scot living in China - and Cock of the North continues his escapades of joyful abandon, with the pervasive sense of fun that Nero has been channelling since his debut album, 2016’s Braw Power, and follow up, Pure, Zen Ken?, in 2019.
Heralded as, “a power-pop genius” by BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway, Yip Man’s talent for hooks and ability to sculpt complex rhythm and harmony into digestible chunks of unashamed pop is his herculean strength. Three albums in, he’s a well-seasoned songwriter and Cock of the North is further evidence that he is working at the top of his game; stuffed full of structural twists and turns, razor-sharp riffs, and deeply satisfying choruses. This could be Yip Man’s most personal collection to date. Lyrically, there’s something heavier, angrier and sadder woven through the record. Nero is less amiable than on previous offerings.
On 'Evil Doppleganger' (the lead single from the album) Nero sings "I'm going to stay young and beautiful but I'm going to play hard" over a bed of scuzzy guitars, spacey-synths, down-tuned vocal harmonies and percussive rhythm. The lyrics are an intriguing mix of wit and bitterness as Nero explains, “it’s about that internal struggle that we all face, the good and evil that exist inside of every one of us.” The song builds to a revealing climax before collapsing in a haze of white noise and digital distortion.
On the fierce and angular, ‘Bullshit Detector’, Nero sounds fighting fit, rallying against the fake news epidemic with scornful swipes of good humour, “I don’t mean no disrespect, I admire your intellect, but you’re wired to the moon, a fork in a world of soup” and later, “It doesn’t cost too much, check the ingredients, all you need is sustenance but you’ll swallow anything”. It’s a telling and thrilling 3 minutes.
Elsewhere Nero flexes his romantic muscles (‘Magic Potion’), shines a spotlight on the process of song-craft and the niggling doubts that accompany it (‘What’s Your Secret?’), bursts out the stereo with skin-tight indie precision (‘Dangling Carrots’) and laments on sidestepping or avoiding unresolved emotional issues and psychological wounds (‘Spiritual Bypass’). The lyrics are beautifully observed, the arrangements tight and all the better for it.
At his most reflective on, ‘To Piss or Not to Piss’, Nero ponders legacy and what remains, so fragile, at the end of a life performed through media and fleeting update culture. “In a digital frame, your towering achievements – is this how you want to be remembered?” Underscored with a yearning string arrangement, it conjures an imaginative but bleak visual of a future that is almost upon us.
If the lyrics to 'This is the Last One' are taken at face value, Cock of the North could be Yip Man's parting gift to the universe. We’d advise you relish this trip into Yip Man's world, a glorious mix of pathos, empathy, tragicomedy and, importantly, fun. As Nero proudly declares on the title-track, “this is the big one, you can’t ration fun, there is enough to go round!”
Yip Man is one Al Nero – a Scot living in China - and Cock of the North continues his escapades of joyful abandon, with the pervasive sense of fun that Nero has been channelling since his debut album, 2016’s Braw Power, and follow up, Pure, Zen Ken?, in 2019.
Heralded as, “a power-pop genius” by BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway, Yip Man’s talent for hooks and ability to sculpt complex rhythm and harmony into digestible chunks of unashamed pop is his herculean strength. Three albums in, he’s a well-seasoned songwriter and Cock of the North is further evidence that he is working at the top of his game; stuffed full of structural twists and turns, razor-sharp riffs, and deeply satisfying choruses. This could be Yip Man’s most personal collection to date. Lyrically, there’s something heavier, angrier and sadder woven through the record. Nero is less amiable than on previous offerings.
On 'Evil Doppleganger' (the lead single from the album) Nero sings "I'm going to stay young and beautiful but I'm going to play hard" over a bed of scuzzy guitars, spacey-synths, down-tuned vocal harmonies and percussive rhythm. The lyrics are an intriguing mix of wit and bitterness as Nero explains, “it’s about that internal struggle that we all face, the good and evil that exist inside of every one of us.” The song builds to a revealing climax before collapsing in a haze of white noise and digital distortion.
On the fierce and angular, ‘Bullshit Detector’, Nero sounds fighting fit, rallying against the fake news epidemic with scornful swipes of good humour, “I don’t mean no disrespect, I admire your intellect, but you’re wired to the moon, a fork in a world of soup” and later, “It doesn’t cost too much, check the ingredients, all you need is sustenance but you’ll swallow anything”. It’s a telling and thrilling 3 minutes.
Elsewhere Nero flexes his romantic muscles (‘Magic Potion’), shines a spotlight on the process of song-craft and the niggling doubts that accompany it (‘What’s Your Secret?’), bursts out the stereo with skin-tight indie precision (‘Dangling Carrots’) and laments on sidestepping or avoiding unresolved emotional issues and psychological wounds (‘Spiritual Bypass’). The lyrics are beautifully observed, the arrangements tight and all the better for it.
At his most reflective on, ‘To Piss or Not to Piss’, Nero ponders legacy and what remains, so fragile, at the end of a life performed through media and fleeting update culture. “In a digital frame, your towering achievements – is this how you want to be remembered?” Underscored with a yearning string arrangement, it conjures an imaginative but bleak visual of a future that is almost upon us.
If the lyrics to 'This is the Last One' are taken at face value, Cock of the North could be Yip Man's parting gift to the universe. We’d advise you relish this trip into Yip Man's world, a glorious mix of pathos, empathy, tragicomedy and, importantly, fun. As Nero proudly declares on the title-track, “this is the big one, you can’t ration fun, there is enough to go round!”
credits
released March 26, 2021
All songs written by Al Nero except ʻWhat’s Your Secret?’ and ʻMagic Potion’ (Copyright Control) written by Al Nero and Scott Maple, and ʻEverybody’s Fool’ (Pema Songs) written by Raymond McGinley, Brendan O’Hare, Norman Blake and Gerard Love, collectively known as Teenage Fanclub. Produced by Le Reno Amps. Recorded and engineered by Scott Maple and Sean Pollock.Recorded at Beatroute Arts, Barmulloch, Glasgow on stolen weekends between November 2017 and May 2018, with additional recording at Dave’s place, Glasgow in June ana July 2018. Mixed and mastered by Scott Maple at Mr Bendy’s Music Emporium, Chateau Lait, Glasgow in October 2019. Artwork by Adam Moore.
Thanks to all involved in the making of this thing, and special thanks to all of you that are getting involved by listening. This album is dedicated to the phallic stretch of forestry on Tewsgill Hill, lovingly referred to as the ʻCock of the North’, highly visible from the M74 near Crawford. Keep your eyes peeled for it if you’re ever passing. Nature is a wonderful thing.
All songs written by Al Nero except ʻWhat’s Your Secret?’ and ʻMagic Potion’ (Copyright Control) written by Al Nero and Scott Maple, and ʻEverybody’s Fool’ (Pema Songs) written by Raymond McGinley, Brendan O’Hare, Norman Blake and Gerard Love, collectively known as Teenage Fanclub. Produced by Le Reno Amps. Recorded and engineered by Scott Maple and Sean Pollock.Recorded at Beatroute Arts, Barmulloch, Glasgow on stolen weekends between November 2017 and May 2018, with additional recording at Dave’s place, Glasgow in June ana July 2018. Mixed and mastered by Scott Maple at Mr Bendy’s Music Emporium, Chateau Lait, Glasgow in October 2019. Artwork by Adam Moore.
Thanks to all involved in the making of this thing, and special thanks to all of you that are getting involved by listening. This album is dedicated to the phallic stretch of forestry on Tewsgill Hill, lovingly referred to as the ʻCock of the North’, highly visible from the M74 near Crawford. Keep your eyes peeled for it if you’re ever passing. Nature is a wonderful thing.
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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