** Joydrop

METASEXUAL

(Tommy Boy)

With a slick female singer and even slicker drum-looped power-pop production, Toronto's Joydrop are destined to remind savvy alterna-rock listeners of Garbage or, well, garbage. Metasexual is dominated by a brand of tough-edged, digitally treated, techno-colored guitar pop that Garbage are famous for. But Joydrop's formulaic deployment of alterna-rock clichés like soft-verse/loud-chorus dynamics leaves much of Metasexual feeling disposable. There are some solid melodies here, and opera-trained singer Tara Slone keeps things interesting with her luscious voice and sense of balance. She whispers delicately on "Beautiful," tries some too cool Blondie-style rapping on "All Too Well," and pulls off a gut-wrenching Pat Benatar wail on "Cocoon." But not even she can ameliorate the trite impact of schoolgirl lyrics about "the meanings of our lives" and cheesy rants like "Don't touch me anymore, cuz it feels like Spiders."

-- Mike Bruno

(Joydrop play Axis this Saturday, March 27. Call 536-2100.)