Senior Editor

With the bulk of popular music today being dubbed as "alternative," music enthusiasts have had to become discriminating experts on genres and record labels in order to find anything which is truly cutting edge. Often, this quest has pointed to techno music - more specifically, trip hop, jungle, trance, garage, house, etc. - and its corresponding labels. Among the glut of companies releasing excellent compilations of rising techno tracks, including the Hypnotic, Moonshine, and frrrr labels, Britain's Deconstruction Records has pioneered the mainstreaming of dance music. They have represented such club acts as Black Box and N-Joi as well as released the ground-breaking Cream Anthems, a compilation of tracks from London's monstrous club scene.

Now Deconstruction sponsors a new face: Republica, an eclectic musical collaboration which results in a self-proclaimed "techno pop punk rock."

Republica's self-titled debut album lives up to just that. The obvious centerpiece for the disc is the first US single, "Ready to Go." It appears twice on the album, with the guitar-heavy US mix as the first track and the original (and overwhelmingly Britpoppy) UK mix as the last track, and becomes as infectious as pinkeye in grade school. The song, which combines a driving beat with techno rat-a-tats and a surprising lead guitar riff, stays in your head all of the time. And while lead singer Saffron, former vocalist for N-Joi, may not seduce you with her Brit-accented belting, her Nigerian-born exotic looks and unbelievably bouncy energy will give you a severe case of perma-grin.

In fact, the whole album is very full, both musically and charismatically. While sometimes plagued by bland lyrics such as "You think you're really cool I gotta say/You just don't know what games to play" from the first UK single "Bloke," the album balances out the banality with great one-liners for Saffron, such as the "I'm gonna take you on" chorus in "Bloke." Even initially predictable songs like "Get Off" or "Drop Dead Gorgeous" later reveal witty double entendres and sexually-viable assertions of womanly power.

Besides, Republica's successful mixture of rock and techno, a likely result of their prior touring with such artists as techno king Moby and label-mates M People, is aural ecstacy. For example, I never think I like the track "Picture Me" very much until I realize, while it's running through my head, that it's actually a gorgeous mixture of musical idioms. The track integrates jungle beats with Arab influences, both against an acoustic guitar backdrop and record scratching samples à la Portishead. Other highlights include "Out of the Darkness," a welcome strictly-dance track after lots of guitars in the first few tracks of the CD, and "Wrapp," which would be the perfect club song if it were a bit longer. I predict a remix.

Most incredible are Saffron's consistently strong vocals, and the amazing production on the album. The trio which constitutes the core of the band - Saffron, Tim Dorney and Andrew Todd - produced the entire album and wrote the majority of the songs, with the occasional addition of John Male, and it works wonderfully for them. Too much outside influence would have contaminated their genius. In short, they are musicians and music-lovers, whose passion for The Prodigy and early Human League informs their record-making decisions, resulting in a perfectly balanced album.

At worst, Republica is loud. And it can be very fast. But if you can't handle that, there's plenty of Hootie and the Blowfish playing on Top 40 radio these days.