Our Ten Greatest International Albums of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of international releases that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive percussion may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a strangely alluring album. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive vocabulary across the record's ten sections. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the recurrence of a ongoing, thrumming refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of ritual music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: 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. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced sound that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and thoughtful, singing soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, longing vocal technique against north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and subtle, yet this austerity creates the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to take center stage. The album proves to be well worth the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for uncanny reworkings of historical sounds. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, running its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of murk and static to produce a fresh, foreboding groove. Sometimes ambient and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, spectral afterimage.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly freeing.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an remarkably captivating fusion of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mirrors the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium 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 channels a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft sinuous, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that lend a new, off-kilter interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Orchestrating 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 syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
