Our Ten Top International Albums of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international releases that pushed boundaries. We explore ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of insistent drumming might not seem the most accessible listening experience. However, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring album. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive language over the record's ten parts. The album draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the repetition of a persistent, pulsing motif. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of devotional music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, longing vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and understated, yet this austerity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to shine through. This is a record well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reinterpretations of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of distortion and static to create a novel, sinister beat. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually captivating blend of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion created 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 most diverse music so far. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the soft jazz-pop melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, drawing the listener into the gentle acoustics of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek merges the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
