Vinny Miller is a English singer-songwriter. On The Block (4AD, 2004) is a rather traditional work, despite a few eccentricities and more than a hint at Beck-ian irregularities. The brooding Roll Complete and On The Block (with a great Tim Buckley-ian vocal "flight") probably best represent the real Miller, but the skiping blues of Pigpen that explodes in an electric rave-up (and evokes Kevin Coyne) the frantic riffing of Bogeyeater, and the shivering, psychotic rant of Hogbreath Busts A Move are far more intriguing. The album would be more interesting if Miller could sustain the creativity of Afternoon Nod (not coincidentally, an instrumental). Instead it remains an isolated episode, and the rest can hardly be said to be organic or cohesive. Which only leaves the quality of the individual songs, none of which is a masterpiece. There is, nonetheless, an interesting concept of what a songwriter should do in 2004. It's an artistic manifesto of sort, if not a fully accomplished piece of art.