Chewing Pine

DJ Mayonnaise – Still Alive (Anticon, 2007)

As Anticon has decided to spread out musically, the halcyon days of the late ‘90s, the forward thinking hip-hop and its production has been left behind to a certain extent. Fittingly enough, the last release by DJ Mayo was in-fact from that period; 1999 to be exact. Additionally, he’s responsible for the unappreciated, watershed moment that is Bottle of Humans. But a hiatus then ensued. The result after his time away from he boards can easily be considered as thoughtful and passionate as his earlier work. The hidden track that finds its way on to the end of the disc is as upsetting as anything Mayo produced for Sole. This along with the almost rock song “The Windham Song” fill in the time between this release and Mayo’s previous work. Additionally, K-the-I turns in the only vocal on this slab over a clavichord beat that makes the entire affair sound as if Antipop Consortium got back together. This disc is not a hard listen, apart from the ambient oboe track, “May Days”. Yet, Still Alive recalls what Anticon was headed towards and reminds the listener what could have been if label heads shied away from Thee More Shallows and the likes.