DJ Mayonnaise

Still Alive
(Anticon)

A A A Comments By Dominic Umile Thursday, Aug 2 2007

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Eight years have passed since DJ Mayonnaise's debut LP, and while the Portland, Maine producer piled droning keyboards, brass, and ample noise on downtempo beats for Still Alive during this hiatus, he held fast on an apparent refusal to choose a less embarrassing moniker. Mayonnaise — er, let's use his birth name, Chris Greer — won't particularly blow minds with Still Alive,but his vision sporadically delivers compelling bedroom listening. "May Days" is a highlight in the album's sunnier fraction, with a melody riding on three curt notes and clarinet that never climbs into solo dickery, but instead sways only slightly, like swamp cattails on a breezy spring afternoon. Although emcee K-the-I??? drops in for one tour on Still Alive,his verses spill over with simplistic knee-jerk political gripes, and the LP's wordless stunts remain strongest. "Quiet on the Set" is busy and muddy, with Greer's slick, slovenly cuts sandwiched between jumpy DJ Shadow-styled drum breaks. "Munjoy Moments" and "Easily Distracted" make notable use of glassy synth tones and tempo changeups, but by the end, Greer's eight-year absence is somewhat un-accounted for: Was he sobusy with Still Alivethat he couldn't alter his stage name?

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