Our Ten Greatest Global Albums of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide sounds that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical percussion could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a strangely alluring work. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The album draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the repetition of a continual, driving refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and thoughtful, singing delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, longing vibrato against electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The production is lean and subtle, yet this austerity provides the perfect setting for Hamdan's expressive compositions to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit excels at eerie reimaginings of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of murk and hiss to generate a novel, menacing beat. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the key term for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, throwing in 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 notably frenetic and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually engaging blend of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ 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 dancefloor fusion pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music yet. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, drawing the listener into the gentle soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group blends the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They craft smooth, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, unconventional spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member 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 interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
