This shit is grimy. Sludgy, stepping, muddy and noisy. Not only does the vast compilation feature Manchester’s MRK1 (who apparently is the originator of “grime”) Grime features Gumnaam from the Netherlands, Major Grave from Ireland, Prettybwoy from Japan, Juzlo from Australia and even some local stuff from Canadian Tre Mission.

If you don’t know who any of these artists are, or if you’re a fan of gnarly-ass electronica music but don’t know where to begin filtering the rad from the fucking terrible, Grime 2.0 is the answers to your fevered prayers; it is an encyclopedic volume of non-pussy electronic crazy tunes to throw on and be a hot mess to.

If you’re a fan of Ninja Tune’s melodic-beautiful-dream stuff like Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra, Blockhead, or Jagga Jazzist then this grimy epic sage might not be for you. Unless, of course, you have varying tastes in music. Then you’ll explore any sonic craziness with an open mind.

Big Dada has taken the liberty of posting on their website a breakdown of the tracks with the fan-base stats, ability to listen and activity of the song. If you care about this, you can check it out at bigdada.com/grime.

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It could be said that the album art is the visual version of Images Du Futur’s sound. The first track, “Powers of Ten”, has lead singer Ben Shemie singing out from what sounds like tensely clenched teeth, post-waspish guitar intros.

(Has anyone made the Thom York comparison yet? Probably. Shemie sounds kind of like Thom York, although Radiohead comparisons, instrumentation-wise, wouldn’t really be that accurate.)

Tracks like “Minor Work” are a little less anxious than “Powers of Ten”, with some spacey guitar touches, and ethereal backing vocals, an electric drone throughout that sounds kind of like a synthesiser imitating a backwards guitar, and that lifts you up into the poppy ascension of the rest of the album. “Mirror Mirror” probably has the most whimsical hummingbird conclusion that satisfies, and takes you into “Edie’s Dream”.

Noteworthy is the fact that Suuns were recording this album during the massive Montreal student protests, which, according to Secretly Canadian, Shemie said that the protests created “a climate of excitement, hope and frustration.”

The album, as a whole, plays like a slightly champagne-tipsy melodic afternoon nap, lilting through blitzy electronic 4-odd minute songs, and it would all come across as a little too sugary if it weren’t for Suuns ability to root it all down with a balance of bass, a backbone of swift and insistent percussion and darker vocals. (Tracks like “Sunspot” showcase this by adding industrial noise, bells, and shadowy changes that keep listeners paying attention instead of dozing off into an opium dream.)

All in all, a smooth and solid offering from yet another Montreal band; it’s a good city to make music.

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According to his label, Asthmatic Kitty, “…pounding bass beats from passing cars…” is one of the influences on Helado Negro’s sound, which is such a pretty accurate description of the atmosphere created here.

This sound strips the snows away and manifests itself on narrow urban streets in the mid-afternoon, leaning languidly in doorways, with paint flaking off concrete buildings, while dogs and palm trees sway, by water somewhere warm enough to swim in. Colours of red, turquoise, yellow, gold swirl around.

These tracks are smooth, sensual, full of driving funky bass lines replete with perfect beats and beautiful soaring ambient pictures, grooves that you can tell only come from a place of pure internal rhythm. Instrumentals that call to mind a Latino fairy-tale version of Nightmares on Wax, Helado Negro brings you into jams that are at once gossamer and gritty.

Invisible World being his first English language offering, the Brooklyn-based artist has had his hand in everything from a musical collaborations  (notably OMBRE with Julianna Barwick, another textural Asthmatic Kitty artist), to creating animated film scores, to producing an album in 2010 that went on to be named as Best New Album by Pitchfork.

That other listeners have written of Helado Negro’s music by saying that “it’s the sound of a tender moment, distorted by memory, time, and a confluence of different cultures…” (KUT.org) will give you an idea of what you’re in for here.

With a tour to kick off the release of Invisible World that covers a huge chunk of the United States (including the always interesting South by Southwest music festival) and a show in Toronto, keep your ears open for Helado Negro.

How special is it when a musician can paint the images of our dreams inside our skulls?

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