Our 10 Best International Records of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international releases that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already

An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming might not seem the most accessible listening experience. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Guiding an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive language across the record's ten sections. His composition references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the repetition of a persistent, pulsing figure. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.

9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget

Following an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and thoughtful, delivering tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, longing vocal technique against north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this minimalism provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to resonate. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.

8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down

Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for eerie reimaginings of traditional music. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby version of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, running its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through veils of distortion and hiss to produce a new, menacing groove. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral memory.

7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!

Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the energy, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and punishingly loud forty-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become strangely exhilarating.

Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually compelling blend of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the traditional 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 channels a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.

Number Five: Enji – Sonor

Mongolian singer Enji's soft new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the gentle 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 sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her unique voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa

Channeling the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They create slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a fresh, unconventional spin to the Turkish psych sound.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty

Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim