The Ten Greatest Global Records of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide sounds that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical percussion may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic album. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a dense percussive vocabulary over the record's ten parts. His composition references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the repetition of a ongoing, pulsing figure. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, delivering soft melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and subtle, yet this minimalism provides the perfect canvas for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to resonate. It is well worth the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit specializes in haunting reworkings of traditional music. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm through layers of murk and noise to create a new, foreboding groove. Periodically atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably captivating fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, drawing the listener into the gentle soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto 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 reaches lively new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that lend a fresh, unconventional twist to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore 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 reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
