Album Review: Addison Groove Presents James Grieve by Addison Groove

Jungle, the older, rougher cousin of drum’n’bass, is currently experiencing a revival among forward-thinking artists like Zomby, Lee Bannon and Special Request. Addison Groove – he of 2010 anthem ‘Footcrab’, a brilliantly relentless floorfiller that represents Britain’s best contribution to Chicago’s juke genre – joins this jungle renaissance with his second album ‘Presents James Grieve’, a release packed with bangers and choppy breaks. Not that his sound is entirely retro: at his best, as on the sleekly ominous ‘11th’, Addison fuses the frenetic drum machine scramble of juke with the bass menace of jungle, much like Dream Continuum and Phillip D Kick (no, not the writer) before him.

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When Tony Williams dropped "Footcrab" back in 2010, he put the juke bug in everyone's ear and catapulted himself to the forefront of bass music in the process. From there, he blanketed the scene with uptempo records referencing Miami bass, electro and other niches before finding a home at 50 Weapons with the Dance Mania-worshipping Transistor Rhythm. Recent endeavours have shown Williams' pitch-perfect studio sheen more than any signature style—his records since Transistor Rhythm have been huge, rounded and polished, with spotless synths and tidal-wave basslines.

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Addison Groove – Presents James Grieve (50 Weapons)Audio:It’s interesting to return to the dialog surrounding Addison Groove’s 2012 debut album, Transistor Rhythms. All the usual outlets (us included) generated positive press but these “official” words were consistently positioned in reaction to a vast swath of disappointment from assumed Internet peanut galleries. The residual hype left behind by 2010’s footwork-inspired “Footcrab,” the track that set UK bass heads spinning and put Anthony Williams’ latest alias on the map, appeared to dissipate in the confusing aftermath.The resultant discussions leading up to the awkwardly titled Presents James Grieve (so named for the variety of apple) are far more subdued.

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