I Farted!, a peculiar piece of mid-nineties UK 'Skunk-Funk' memorabilia, definitely stands out in a familiar Rephlex brainfuck dance electronica catalog as awkwardly as possible – besides, perhaps, a 100% Genuine compilation (CD collection of perverts' voice mailbox messages to a dating agency). Given the extreme nature of quirky ambient/abstract noise/mind-boggling electronics/chaotic drill-n-bass Rephlex habitat, it is only obvious that in attempt to provoke and surprise their listeners, label bosses decided to drift as far away as possible from the Braindance kingdom – landing on a weird, perverted, almost surrealistic pseudo-Minneapolis-funk 'Quiet Storm' dirty boogie plateau, where 'adult oriented' part of the seemingly innocent AOR formula is taken a little bit too literal.The essence of this 15-min CD EP is, of course, the enfant terrible, disgustingly crust but unavoidably groovy and funky I Farted (Video Mix) (by the way, the impression on this chef d'oeuvre would certainly be incomplete without a lo-fi VHS music video, luckily available via YouTube here on Discogs, on the right side of the page). Based around very analog and, for the lack of a better word, 'physiological' sounds, as well as extremely obscene lyrics, this creepy Gargantua and Pantagruel funk-pop operetta describes a semi-romantic evening spoiled by the acute flatulence attack. A disgusting plot evolves further in a tri-part Freakwincey Suite, comprised of a downtempo baby-making Love Secretion ballad, melancholic Let Me Lick You with groovy dark synths and catchy minimalistic rhythm, and a surprisingly solid final track (to be discussed further). A sort of musical rendition of American gross out comedy flicks, the notorious skunk-funk masterpiece I Farted! is going to leave your random music fan or dedicated Rephlex aficionado equally in awe and disdain.Freakwincey released an EP in direct opposition to everything Rephlex stands for, but at the same time they remained just as quarrelsome and alien for a listener as any of the most radical braindance experiments from the label's eclectic catalog. And this must be the biggest achievement of 'I Farted' as opposed to other intentionally provocative albums, produced merely to surprise one's own audience. Take, for instance, a satirical AxCx* - Picnic Of Love album – for a troubled and dark-minded grindcore wizard Seth Putnam who basically made a career by offending humanity in all possible ways in his lyrics, this collection of soft-hearted and mellow acoustic love ballads was, no doubt, a breakthrough in artistic unpredictability, a true shock content for an average AxCx fan. But taken out of Anal Cunt context, those songs couldn't possible offend anyone. They are just boring and pointless, which no one would dare to say about I Farted! In fact, it's virtually impossible to stay indifferent to the poisoning sound of Freakwincey – you are bound to either love it or hate it.So who is responsible for this exquisitely disgusting musical gag? According to a short bio provided on the back cover, mysterious Freakwincey band was formed in 1983 by Ray Billups from New Jersey. Ray grew interested in funk music from the early childhood, listening to George Clinton and James Brown, and mentored by some of his elder relatives involved in Clinton's P-Funk movement. Freakwincey had been performing internationally as a supporting act for Alisha Meyers, The Delfonics, Parliament/Funkadelic, Morris Day and The Time, and multiple other artists. Though tempting to be dismissed as another Richard D James et al mystification, the band definitely checks out to be authentic, and apparently still active – some of their recent live videos from 2015 can be found on YouTube.A patient listener who made it through a stomach-turning Freakwincey listening session will be greatly rewarded by a final track When It Comes To You – a dreamy and blissfully lo-fi post-disco banger. Great catchy melody, a solid funky bass, elegant and completely fart-free lyrics, all wrapped up in a breath-taking underground funky disco groove. Even though this track is included as a part of 'Freakwincey Suite' tryptich, it clearly stands out and sounds like an archive piece, added to illustrate a more significant and authentic side of Freakwincey talent. Certainly a keeper, 'When It Comes To You' alone makes this release well worth buying, all farts and/or Rephlex 'completism' aside. A 12" vinyl I Farted! EP had a different tracklist, and seems like this track is exclusive to CD EP version.Just to add a little personal touch to this review – my experience with I Farted! happened to be an entirely spontaneous and very sincere. Unlike many contemporary listeners, who ended up downloading or purchasing this release just as a historic Rephlex-related artifact, probably after reading about it on a fan's forum, I stumbled across this little gem in a treasure-trove of any experienced record collector – Discount bin! It happened almost ten years ago, at a large Soyuz record store on Leninskiy prospekt in Moscow. I had a short day at the university and decided to kill a few mid-day hours digging through some CDs. Surviving on a miniscule stipend, I couldn't afford to buy any of the expensive imported new releases, so soon enough I ended up patiently digging through the piles of crap in the mark-down section. A flashy white cover caught my eye, I giggled at the stupid album title and was ready to flip this random disc over when I noticed "Rephlex CAT 060 CD" on the spine. Shaking my head in disbelief, I turned the CD and immediately noticed a Rephlex logo on the back. This is it – it's not some different Rephlex, it is the cult IDM label I heard so many about, so underground that I won't ever imagine finding any albums released by it at this particular store! Let alone a weird one… I Farted… Seriously? And for a ridiculously low price too, even though the CD was still-sealed and brand new. I rushed home overwhelmed and excited, expecting to hear some challenging and cutting-edge intelligent electronica or hardcore acid. And you know what happened next…It is perhaps worth mentioning that almost fifteen years later Rephlex undertook another expedition in the world of underground mid-eighties funk. In 2011, the label presented Multi Funk album by an obscure multi-instrumentalist and producer Dwayne Omarr, who recorded his breakthrough debut soul-jazz/funk/electronics album Holy Rock (released in 1985 by Massachusetts-based Critique label), as well as a couple of 12" singles in the mid-eighties, but ended up completely unknown and forgotten by a larger audience. Multi Funk, however, is not satirical or mocking, and presents an authentic and impressive comeback of a terribly underrated and very talented funk maestro Omarr.

Some might say this is a bit of a strange act for the Rephlex tribe to have acquired. Stuffed right in between a solid back catalogue of technologically advanced breaks and beats along with some very "out there" and challenging music, at first "glance" this release may well seem like the odd note out in their musical score. With Scritti Politi like arrangements (though less cheesy and somewhat more minimal and funky in nature) and rhythms that remind me of Marvin Gaye's Sexual Feeling, it seems to mark a weird little momentary departure from Rephlex's rather hardcore and extreme sound. I mean, while it's in no way comparable to the abstracted or aesthetically pleasing sound of the recent Analord series, or to the kick drummed out and hacked up melodical methods of Tom Jenkinson's Buzz Caner, or even the rawly acidic TB-303 iterative subtleties found in any of Kosmik Kommando's own releases... Its lyrics are damn near the funniest thing since Goldie Looking Chain and Tenacious D (in a sort of grossed out toilet humor kind of way)! I mean after all of Richard James' weirder outings (Window Licker, Come To Daddy and Rubber Johnny), when you think about it, it kind of makes itself right at home in the heady folds of Rephlex's braindance repertoire. Great rhymes interspersed with squelches of analog fleshiness (that no synthesizer will ever be able to reproduce as accurately as the real thing) and flirty lyrical dirtiness, this could be likened to being as crass an audio experience as a technophobe's first encounter with Bogdan Raczynski's drill-fuck your ears out breaks. The lyrics are crude, lewd and work well with these somewhat greatly crafted nuggets of honest everyday "too much information" musical weirdness that could only come from the kind of deprived minds that Rephlex could find. I can just see Rephlex signing this project because no one else would dare to or want to State side. But to give it a bit more credit than just being a funny gag, the music is tight, funky and at times even romantically tender. This is probably because some of Ray Billups' (the founder and leader of Freakwincey) family relatives were involved with George Clinton's P-Funk movement, so their influence probably rubbed Billups' funky sensibilities the right way to invigorate this turgid bit of P-Funk humor!?!? Don't believe it? Check their Myspace page (tag freakwincey on the end of the Myspace URL). To add to this memetic "nag tag", Freakwincey has also opened for many acts including: Morris Day and The Time (as seen on Prince's Purple Rain movie), H-Town, Shane' More, Colonel Abrams, and the Delfonics, among others. And according to their Myspace page "Their combination of assertive quality and high energy has helped Freakwincey become London’s and the United States’ leading provider of Funk Music." Okay... Whatever! Personally, I think it's as honest and funny as fanny fart in middle of some good old "bump and grind" session with the misses. But then I'd leave it there. That's just me. What ever you want to believe, one thing is for sure... You'll either love it or hate it!

Thank you for a great review!