Our Ten Top Global Records of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international music that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive percussion might not seem the easiest musical proposition. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. His composition draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a persistent, driving motif. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and introspective, singing tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and subtle, yet this austerity creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's expressive compositions to resonate. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit specializes in haunting reworkings of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of distortion and hiss to generate a new, foreboding groove. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ghostly memory.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the operative word for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become strangely freeing.
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 rediscovered treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually captivating combination of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her broadest music to date. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, pulling the listener into the gentle soundscape of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They create slinking, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including 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 brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
