This 10 Finest Worldwide Releases 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.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent drumming could sound like it isn't the most approachable listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a strangely alluring piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten sections. His composition channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and introspective, singing tender melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism provides the ideal canvas for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to take center stage. It is that justifies the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via layers of sludge and noise to create a new, foreboding beat. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually captivating fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a novel, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
