Auntie Christ: Life Could Be A Dream

It should be a punk-rock wet dream: Rancid bassist Matt Freeman teams up with two ex-X members, singer/guitarist Exene Cervenkova (the artist formerly known as Exene Cervenka, in what could be construed as a disavowal of her past) and drummer DJ Bonebreak. The results, however, sound like a warm-up. Everyone's pulling their punches on Life Could Be A Dream: Cervenkova trades her rough siren song for clipped bursts. Bonebreak dumbs his drumming down to simple beats. Freeman plays along without adding much of his own style. It's listenable L.A. punk rock, but entirely disappointing. All three are accomplished, occasionally exciting musicians, so it's a shame they didn't come up with anything more inspired than this. Plus, they ripped off Boris The Sprinkler's idea of repeating the entire album for the bonus track.