Our Ten Finest International Records of the Year 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten remarkable albums that characterized the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of insistent drumming may not appear the most accessible listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring work. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive dialect over the record's ten parts. The work draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming motif. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive universe.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and introspective, singing delicate melodies atop 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 uses a quivering, longing vibrato against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is lean and restrained, yet this minimalism creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to resonate. This is a record truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican producer Debit has a knack for haunting reworkings of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of murk and static to generate a fresh, sinister rhythm. Periodically atmospheric and unsettling, Debit converts the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the key term for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the propulsive sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become strangely freeing.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably captivating blend of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the traditional drums, 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 channels a up-tempo funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's soft new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the gentle jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a 1970s throwback sound grounded in Yıldırım's powerful high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into lively new territory. They create slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a fresh, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Orchestrating music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
