[Danny Himself]

"Why Dogs Howl At The Moon"
by Thomas Truax 2007

 

I was lucky enough to first experience Thomas Truax in his element, live as fuck, his motley assortment of clanking and wheezing homemade instruments and miscellaneous aural machinery surrounding him onstage. It's hard to put such a spellbinding live act onto record without losing a lot of the original charm, but this, Truax's third album, comes as close as ever to the 'real thing'.

Like Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits before him, Thomas Truax is a classic American eccentric. He builds all of his instruments in his New York 'laboratory'. It's very easy to picture him as the subject of a Tim Burton film- twisted, darkly funny, and a little bit campy. Why Dogs Howl At The Moon is a great introduction to this man's lunacy, showcasing his skewed song structuring on tracks like 'You Whistle While You Sleep' and 'If We're Gonna Go Crazy', and also his ability to pull out a heartfelt lament, heard in 'Like A Fallen Tree'. If you can see this man live, then go, but until now just listen to this album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjOu30VUWog 'Why Dogs Howl..'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz3sh5-zWMo 'You Whistle While You Sleep'
http://www.myspace.com/thomastruax

[Everyneurotic]

interesting, i shall check him out.