The 10 Top International Albums of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of global releases that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating album. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The work draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing motif. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and ruminative, singing soft melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, yearning vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity creates the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive compositions to resonate. The album proves to be truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reinterpretations of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of distortion and hiss to generate a novel, sinister beat. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly afterimage.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the key term for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates 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 especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly freeing.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably captivating combination of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music so far. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound rooted in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They create smooth, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member 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 dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
