Organic? (Remastered)

Though bands like New Order had already fused dance, rock, and electronica into hit material, they generally did so with more style than intelligence. The Overlords provided both smarts and some levity, albeit of a sneering, ironic variety. Organic? is best known for the robotic cover version of "Holiday in Cambodia," a brilliant piece of musical revisionism that is even scarier than the original punk rock classic by Dead Kennedys. The frantic lyrical delivery over the hammering electronica is sheer genius, and dancefloors everywhere whipped to a frenzy when this track came on. Nothing else on the album quite approaches the level of this track, but it is very interesting and holds up much better than most similar projects from the era. The Overlords had a fine sense of melody and pop dynamics, and some of the original lyrics read well as poetry. "Moontrap" rocks while addressing the lure of space travel and is probably the best original track, but the Ennio Morricone pastiche comes close. In fact, the whole album is still listenable from end to end. Albums by this Danish band may be hard to find, but they're worth seeking out for fans of electronica and techno-pop. [Note: Though it was listed as such on a website of cover tunes, the song "Search and Destroy" on this disc is not the Iggy Pop song — sad to say, since the Overlords could have done something strange and wonderful with it.]