Our 10 Top Worldwide Records of This Past Year

The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide music that expanded horizons. We explore ten notable albums that characterized the year in music.

10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty

A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical drumming may not appear the most approachable musical proposition. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a strangely alluring piece. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive vocabulary across the record's 10 movements. The album references the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the repetition of a persistent, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive world.

Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember

Following an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, delivering tender melodies atop the bowing strings 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 wavering, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and restrained, yet this simplicity offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to take center stage. This is a record that justifies the long anticipation.

8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down

From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for uncanny reinterpretations of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm through sheets of distortion and noise to generate a fresh, sinister beat. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a enduring, spectral afterimage.

7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!

Sheer intensity is the key term for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of alarms, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and deafeningly intense forty-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly exhilarating.

Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi

Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an remarkably engaging combination of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving funky bass rhythm. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.

5. Enji – Resonance

From Mongolia singer Enji's soft new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.

Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa

Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with drifting Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that lend a fresh, quirky twist to the Turkish psych sound.

3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Catholic requiem mass music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim