With the ever growing cottage industry based upon scarcely available records and assorted collectible ephemera Mr. California has figured that if he cranks out a few slabs of vinyl with some tripped out designs gracing the cover and the record itself, he'd be able to make a few bucks while acting the part of an artist. I suppose he's not incorrect, but I suspect that a good deal of his recordings won't translate into a live setting - unless he's nuts, which is a possibility.
Mr. California has, over time, released a few singles and long players under various names with sundry groups. But having moved to the Bay are in order to finish an album has ended in his moving to Cleveland. And honestly, having lived there for the greater part of my life, he'll fit in perfectly. The sounds that he coaxes outta his drum machine, guitar (s?) and a few keyboards surely fits some skuzzy distillation of the Midwest. Is this dreck gonna be sought out in the future as a lost grail of independently produced punk? Nope. But it's entertaining for about fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, I'm Gonna Kick You in the Head is roughly thirty minutes worth of music.
This disc - the only exposure I've had to this dude - is confusing as all get out, frankly. While the album is split over two sides of a record, there are roughly fifty songs included here. Even if a few of them barely qualify as songs, some of the track names have to reference the skits or radio snippets that are included here as well. If that's not the case, I'm still confused.
Musically, there's as much Ramones as anything else. Of course that classic band is run through a filter of scummy '80s thrash and some random synth pop. There isn't really a setting that Mr. California sounds most comfortable in - but it should all be disquieting to the listener. The child like perception of subject matter might be as entertaining as anything else on the disc.
However many punk bands have songs about posers, that practice should probably stop after you reach your thirties. Mr. California hasn't exactly grasped that as of yet. But despite the disposable lyrical content, some of the music comes across pretty well. I'd like to point to specific tracks, but really, I have no idea what's what on here. And seeing as the second side is comprised of at least five minutes of a radio broadcast with hillbillies arguing with each other, it probably doesn't make a difference. In the end, though, this disc probably looks cooler than it sounds.