Secret Secret Tour: "Papillon Downs"

DNRC43 Format: LP Released: 2005 Status: DELETED In a year during which only a handful of [dnrc] releases appeared, this deliciously smudgy debut from Secret Secret Tour surely takes the rope as a masterful, iconic swagger through the history of noise pop. Taking a bullet straight out of the gun known as My Bloody Valentine's "Honey Power", this scorching disc presents a no-nonsense appraisal of every aspect of guitar-playing, sneaking in elements of noodle-bop, steak-house, granite-blister and obnox-pop alongside mournful dirges, unlisted tuning sessions and sonic incursions. First released on the moon in 1978, Papillon Downs failed to capture the imagination of the listening public there and has thus been re-released on the [dnrc] label as much for its archival significance as its technical brilliance. Verbally taut and rock-wired, lead singer Snugs achieves some phenomenal effects with her unique yodelling trombone voice, while the rest of the band works hard (albeit successfully) to keep up. By the final track, the aptly named "B-Listering", the tempo has risen to an astonishing 365 beats per second, leaving the listener in a sickening state of perpetual indulgence. How this album was ever recorded remains a mystery. It has, however, been sent, like all its predecessors, to the dustbin marked "Deleted", sadly.