Duran Duran “Electric Barbarella”  12″ single, remix, 1997. Harvest Records, promo. It’s my birthday today so this is the perfect spin: my favorite band (Duran Duran) remixed by a member (Russell Simins) of one of my other favorite bands (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion). Did you know this existed??? I didn’t and my mind is blown (big thanks to pop-catastrophe for making me aware)! Side A has two remixes by Russell Simins: “Electric Barbarella (The Electric Sex Remix)” and “Electric Barbarella (The Electric Sex Instrumental Remix).” Both layer 90′s NYC electronica/hiphop beats and vibes over and under Duran Duran’s swirly psychedelic synthpop and it’s f’ing amazing. Side B has two other remixes by Eli Jamney (of Americruiser and Girls Against Boys), Steve Raskin (aka Raskal, composer/producer, Edsel) and DJ Jamin – “Electric Barbarella (The Americruiser Remix)” and “Electric Barbarella (The Yo Shorty Americruiser Remix).” Also electronic, trip-hoppy with a super-heavy dose of bass and scratches for days courtesy of DJ Jamin, these are definitely meant for the dance floor.

The original Duran Duran single “Electric Barbarella” came out in 1997 as the lead single from their LP Medazzaland. The song’s title is a reference to the 1968 Roger Vadim film Barbarella: Duran Duran took their name from a character in that movie (it’s not a good movie but as a Duranie I dutifully watched it back in the 80′s on Betamax). The single went to #52 in the US and to #23 in the UK. A ton of other remixes exist besides this one – apparently “Electric Barbarella” was one of the first singles to be actively marketed as a downloadable single release for the internet and at least one of the remixes (by Dom T) was the first download-only release ever. Supposedly this pissed off a lot of retailers at the time and they refused to stock Duran Duran’s single or LP and that, coupled with some video censorship issues, led to the relatively poor chart showing for the single. Too bad, it’s a great song!