Vinny Miller's debut 'On The Block' (4AD/Beggars) dropped in May 2004 making less of a splash, more of a small 'plop'. Two singles, ('Pigpen' and 'Breaking Out Of Your Arms'), two Breezeblock Bombs, a tour of the US with 4AD labelmates The Mountain Goats and a slew of webzine support weren't enough to save this astonishing little acorn from it's own obscurity. Seven years in the making, wilfully uncommercial, 'On The Block' fell off the radar within months.

Vinny seems to have been going for a 'Maxwell tape' effect, a 42 minute sit-down white-knuckle ride grossly at odds with the track select culture of the noughties. The rollercoaster in turns stuns and irritates. The inclusion of three 'non-song' interludes serve to disorientate and annoy, but even these can't hide the turn-in of some truly stellar performances.



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