GROUNDS ROUND: Since signing her mega-deal with...

GROUNDS ROUND: Since signing her mega-deal with Time Warner last year, Madonna’s had a rough time, critically speaking. She’s taken it on the chin as a recording artist for her “Erotica” album, as an actress for “Body of Evidence” and as an exhibitionist for her “Sex” pictorial book.

Will the Material Girl have better luck as a record executive?

Her new record company, Maverick, has released its first record: “Downtown Circus Gang,” the debut album by the L.A.-based hip-hop-thrash band Proper Grounds. Initial reactions are mixed.

“It certainly signifies that the label is taking chances, because the album’s not MTV-friendly,” says Lonn Friend, executive editor of the hard-rock magazine Rip. “But it’s a cool, angry record, and the musicianship is really credible for a band that started out as hip-hop. . . . Anybody who liked Body Count will like this.”

Billboard magazine rap columnist Havelock Nelson, however, believes that Proper Grounds lacks originality--and will likely suffer from excess scrutinybecause of the Madonna connection.

“It’s not startlingly original or groundbreaking,” he says. “Proper Grounds is clearly a band (Madonna) liked, because she signed them, so you look forward to it. But they didn’t blow me away.”