trip hop Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Kim Gordon “Play Me”

sfilzen — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 18:31:02 +0000

Kim Gordon “Play Me” 2026, Matador Records. We caught Kim Gordon’s set last night at Summerfest – my first time seeing her solo; I did see Sonic Youth back in 1991 opening for Neil Young and Social Distortion (the “Smell the Horse” tour: great lineup, terrible sound as the noise rock/grunge/hard rock/punk mashup tour was done no favors with the now-demolished Bradley’s Center concrete echo chamber). She’s an icon for sure; still cool AF with close to zero crowd banter – mostly just “thank you’s” – and an air of disinterest. The bulk of her set were tracks from her third solo release Play Me and since this is my first time sitting down for a listen, I wasn’t familiar with any of the songs. Honestly, if this wasn’t Kim Gordon I wouldn’t own the LP or gone to see the show. I absolutely appreciate her artistry and creativity but experimental trip-hop with trap vocals is not really my jam. My top track is “Busy Bee,” co-written by Dave Grohl (he plays drums on the album but sadly did not play this song at the show last night) – it’s way beatier than most the album and also features sped-up dialogue between Gordon and Julia Cafritz (who was in Pussy Galore with Jon Spencer) from an episode of MTV Beach House that Gordon and Cafritz guest-hosted in the 1990s. The title track “Play Me” is also pretty good, as is the lead single “Not Today.” I’m not a fan of autotune at all and while I understand its inclusion both on the LP and at the show last night, it still gives me pain (“Black Out” in particular). Finally of note is the last track “ByeBye25” which is “a reworking of the single “Bye Bye” from her 2024 album The Collective, with updated lyrics based on words flagged [censored] by the second Trump administration. It was accompanied with a black-and-white music video showing Gordon walking through a construction site. Proceeds from the single and associated T-shirt went to Noise for Now, a non-profit organization based on reproductive rights.” (Wiki)

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Duran Duran “Electric Barbarella”

sfilzen — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 18:55:33 +0000

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!

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