🔗 Share this article The 10 Greatest Global Records of This Past Year As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music. Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent percussion may not appear the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a strangely alluring album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary over the record's 10 movements. The album channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the repetition of a persistent, driving figure. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world. 9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget After an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to take center stage. It is well worth the wait. Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for eerie reworkings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of sludge and noise to produce a fresh, foreboding groove. At turns ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal echo. 7. DJ K – Liberator Radio! Sensory overload is the key term for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely freeing. 6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating combination of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music. 5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor Mongolian singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice. 4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music. Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent percussion may not appear the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a strangely alluring album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary over the record's 10 movements. The album channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the repetition of a persistent, driving figure. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world. 9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget After an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to take center stage. It is well worth the wait. Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for eerie reworkings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of sludge and noise to produce a fresh, foreboding groove. At turns ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal echo. 7. DJ K – Liberator Radio! Sensory overload is the key term for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely freeing. 6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly captivating combination of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music. 5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor Mongolian singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice. 4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, quirky interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style. Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim