Robert Nix
Once in a Blue Moon
(self-released)

You could say far-left-field, alternative artist Robert Nix helms a very interesting-sounding ship on Once in a Blue Moon. Opening with the piano-led, strings-sweeping-in, stuttering “Won’t Go With Flow,” I think the Kurt Weill attempt is solid, but the song doesn’t much stick to your ribs. I take to the title track better, right after, which is just as odd, but for some reason chunks along despite the quick changes. Nix’s talking vocals, especially when the beat comes in, slips and slides along nice and jauntily. I like the hollowed-out acoustic sound of 60’s send-up “Time To Make Up Your Mind,” maybe because it sounds not so much like what came before it, or maybe because Nix is singing well here and strumming away. This is one of my favorite tunes of the ten. “Real Time Drum Solo” is basically a well-played drum solo. “What Will You Do (Out Of School)” features a plodding, single-note guitar melody played under a deliberate Nix vocal. The soaring guitars of “Stop the Cruelty (You Mindless Human)” chunks the tune along. Alas, the lyric though is simply too banal to really deliver any subtly. The downright spooky bass roiling, electric guitar pluck of “Can’t Get to Sleep” ends the album, another one of the better tunes here. It even mines a Metallica edge, and some sweet Nix vocals in the bridge. It’s a very strong ender.