MICKO & THE MELLOTRONICS Vinilo y CD

Review: The traditional start to any review of any release from Micko Westmoreland - who started life as electronic wizard The Bowling Green, went solo and then formed the post-punk Micko & The Mellotronics project - is to state that he is best known for his acting role in 90s glam rock flick Velvet Goldmine. However, with tireless gigging, some memorable Ashley Jones-directed videos featuring various icons of alternative comedy, and now, with Le Vice Anglais, two excellent Mellotronics albums, that may no longer be the case. Expect spiky, English eccentric songwriting of the kind XTC or even Pulp might create, with Westmoreland's familiar obsessions - childhood and the effect it has on the rest of life, class and a general voyeuristic love of peculiarity - running rampant. Singles 'Autosexual' and 'What's In A Name' are speedy, jagged standouts, but the more reflective 'Holloway Road', in which he takes on the mantle of one of its more famous past residents, Joe Meek, is just as engaging, only in more subtle ways.