The Ten Greatest Worldwide Records of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown 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 repetitive percussion could sound like it isn't the most approachable listening experience. Yet, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating piece. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive language across the record's ten sections. The album draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing motif. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an hiatus of eight years, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop 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 over electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the perfect setting for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to take center stage. It is truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit has a knack for eerie reinterpretations of archival audio. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of murk and noise to produce a new, menacing groove. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the operative word for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the driving sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably compelling blend of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium 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 features a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's soft new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her broadest music so far. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range 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-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a live band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek blends the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
