Wednesday: Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - Ira Lore

     'Two steps forward, one step back' seems to be my Loud Noises mantra lately, whether I want it to be or not. The sad truth is that this blog doesn't pay anything (start putting those pennies in the post, please) so when I've got to pick up some extra hours at work to fill the ol' wallet, you guys unfortunately have to take a back seat.

     But enough Debbie Downer, right? What about a Wednesday post? File the source of this one under "please record a new album already", because I would love to hear some new Exotic Animal Petting Zoo. Their latest record Tree of Tongues is really killer slice of mathy, sorta grimy post-hardcore/post-metal that not enough people know about, but it's also getting a little long in the tooth in album-cycle terms, having come out all the way back in 2012.

     Strangely enough, however, I'm going back to the band's 2008 debut I Have Made My Bed in Darkness for your Wednesday song. For a taste of what Exotic Animal Petting Zoo is like, have yourself a listen to "Ira Lore", and then join me in being disappointed every time you check the band's Facebook and find no news about new material.

Album of the Week: Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - Tree of Tongues

     Last week I spent a day gushing over Indiana experimental post-hardcore band Exotic Animal Petting Zoo and imploring you to check out the tune "Kasper Hauser Could See the Stars in the Daytime". Today I'm going to make doubly sure you did so.

     Your assignment this week is to spend some more time with "Kasper Hauser" and all his other strange and twisted friends on Exotic Animal Petting Zoo's sophomore record Tree of Tongues. I've repeatedly talked about EAPZ's reckless energy and how I'd liken them to a modern day At the Drive-In, but now it's your turn to put your money where my mouth is.

     OK, so that sounded dirtier than I'd intended, but you catch my drift, right? I've said over and over how much I dig this album, and now you're going to hear what I've been talking about. I get the feeling some Exotic Animal Petting Zoo fans might recommend you start with debut I Have Made my Bed in Darkness, but for once I'm not one of those "first album is the best and everything goes downhill after that" kinda guys. They're both great records, but Tree of Tongues just feels to me like a more refined, more confident, and more badass version of the band's sound.

     So put on Tree of Tongues, listen to it the whole way through in one go if you can, and I bet you'll be sold before the end of "Arcology". Then we can join together and pester the band until they see fit to put out another album.

Wednesday: Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - Kasper Hauser Could See the Stars in Daytime

     Things seem to have been pretty quiet lately in camp Exotic Animal Petting Zoo. Checking them out on Facebook reveals that their last major round of touring was last year, with few posts since then, which I'm hoping means new material. Fingers crossed!

     I only discovered Exotic Animal Petting zoo a couple of years ago, upon the release of the more recent album Tree of Tongues, but these guys have quickly become one of my favourite currently active bands. I always forget how awesome their energy is whenever I go a while without listening to them, but get me about ten seconds into Tree of Tongues' opening track "Pharmakokinetic" and I'm hooked all over again.

     So now let's try and get you on the Exotic Animal Petting Zoo bandwagon too. I've written about them a couple of times before, and as such I've featured a few of my favourite EAZP songs already. But no journey through their catalogue would be complete without hearing "Kasper Hauser Could See the Stars in Daytime" (bonus: it's live at Audiotree!). So stay a while, and listen.

Sunday Night Mega Post Fun Time

     This certainly does seem to be a shit time of year as far as my keeping on track with Loud Noises goes, doesn't it? But rather than spinning some yarns about the tag team of work life and personal life conspiring against me to prevent other shit getting done, let's just knuckle down and get caught up, shall we?

     First off, a song for Friday. We're going to go with something a little under the radar, a little less well-known perhaps than some of the stuff I post about, but something that's still tasty all the same. I've posted about British band Visions before, but their techy 2011 disc Home is too cool to only acknowledge just once. They've had a couple of hurdles thrown at them, including their current search for a new drummer, but I'm hoping that their chops and a little bit of perseverance and elbow grease can see them through. Check out "Machines" for some idea of the kind of chops I'm talking about.

     Next is Saturday. We're going deathier for Saturday with a track by one of my favourites, The Black Dahlia Murder. Sometimes, immediately after the release of a band's new record, you can't wait for their next album because the new one didn't impress, and sometimes you can't wait for that next album because this new one kicked so much ass you're still thirsty for more. The Black Dahlia Murder definitely fall into the latter category, and their last couple of records (Deflorate, Ritual, Everblack) have kicked ass and left me thinking "why couldn't this be a double album or something?" Listen to "Necropolis" from 2009's Deflorate and see if you get the same feeling.

     Finally, it's Sunday song time, and for today we're going with the spastic energy of Exotic Animal Petting Zoo. The song is "A) Translations" from the band's 2008 debut LP I Have Made My Bed in Darkness. They too leave me wanting more, even though their second LP Tree of Tongues only came out in 2012. Just like with Visions above, I hope line-up changes don't wreck Exotic Animal Petting Zoo's momentum.

Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - Through the Thicket... Across Endless Mountains

    I won't force you to conjure up the same unfortunate mental picture of bands fucking and impregnating one another as I did a few days ago with my lineage of Son of Aurelius, but I want to play a similar game this evening. So this I'm going with a cooking analogy.

     Start with the melodic sensibilities and mild experimental streak of Death Before Disco as your base, then add a healthy dose of the angularity and spastic chaos of The Dillinger Escape Plan. Now to temper that Dillinger mathcore insanity, thin the mixture out with a dash of the slightly more straight ahead hardcore/post-hardcore of Every Time I Die, and voila! You've got a little something called Exotic Animal Petting Zoo.

     I've posted about these guys a couple of times before, but my opinion of them has risen since I picked up a copy of sophomore disc Tree of Tongues, so I figured it's time to give them the spotlight again. I can't quite pin down exactly why, but this band feels like a spiritual successor to At the Drive-In. Maybe the "recipe" above doesn't accurately convey this, but the combination of chops and manic energy possessed by Exotic Animal Petting Zoo just keep reminding me of the now-defunct ATDI.

     Any way you slice it, however, they're a band you should know about. Check out "Through the Thicket... Across Endless Mountains" from the aforementioned Tree of Tongues and start getting familiar with Exotic Animal Petting Zoo post haste.

Song of the Day: Exotic Animal Petting Zoo - Thorough. Modern.

     See? I told you I'd see you later for today's song. Today we're back to our regularly scheduled programming, in the sense that Heavy TO themed stuff is done with (other than my pit report, which is in the works), so once again I've got some cool new shit for you. These guys are another pretty new discovery for me, but I'm liking their kinda chaotic sound, and they've got a cool video for one of the tracks from their new album. Sometimes these songs just pick themselves...