This Ten Top International Records of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide releases that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that characterized 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 might not seem the most approachable listening experience. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating work. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect throughout the record's ten sections. The album channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the repetition of a continual, pulsing figure. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and understated, yet this minimalism provides the perfect setting for Hamdan's expressive compositions to shine through. It is truly deserving of the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit excels at uncanny reimaginings of traditional music. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of distortion and static to generate a new, sinister groove. Sometimes atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly memory.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably compelling combination of the sharp sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mirrors the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend delivered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, drawing the listener into the gentle soundscape of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group blends the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful 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 ventures into vibrant new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging 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 dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
