Our Ten Most Outstanding International Records of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide releases that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent percussion might not seem the easiest listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring album. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive dialect throughout the record's 10 movements. The album references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the reiteration of a persistent, thrumming refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive universe.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, delivering tender melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, longing vibrato over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and subtle, yet this minimalism creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to resonate. The album proves to be well worth the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in eerie reworkings of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of sludge and hiss to generate a fresh, menacing rhythm. Periodically atmospheric and unsettling, Debit morphs the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral echo.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the key term for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the intensity, 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 manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably compelling blend of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mirrors the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel 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-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a new, off-kilter spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical 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
