DJ Mayonnaise - Still Alive [Anticon - 2007]Still Alive joins the long line of instrumental hip-hop/ experimental records on Anticon label(seems they do little else these days) which have gone from superb to rather lacklustre, thankful Still Alive is one of the aces in the pack, aptly mixing in jazzy textures and rock/indie influences to the crunching distinctive dusty Anticon beat sound. The other thing that sets this on the top of the pack is Mayonnaise having a good ear for tune and instrumental structure firstly and secondly being a hip-hop head meaning the tracks always are memorable and well constructed. There isn`t any throwing of a few vocal samples or looped textures over beats. He builds atmospheres and moments wonderfully well, It helps too that there are real musicians at work here too with some great Tenor and Alto Sax on a few tracks by Mike Ouellette and Josh Telin respectively, Ouellette also supplies some rather nice clarinet playing too. There’s also a few tracks with guitar on them too.
The album vibes goes from being quite 80’s synth bound with old school scratched and worn samples, to more atmospheric jazzy late night drinking vibe to street wise rocking and indie guitar work outs and lo-grade IDM. All nicely rough around the edges. With each track building it’s point, atmosphere & vibe, but never out staying their welcome.
This is far from mould break or particularly original but it’s well put together filled head-nodding crusty beats, memorable tunes and that lo-fi Anticon vibe. I just wish as a label they’d throw us ever so often a few lyrically hip-hop based albums too.    Roger Batty
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