This Ten Greatest International Albums of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international sounds that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming may not appear the most approachable listening experience. However, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive vocabulary throughout the record's 10 movements. The work channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich alongside Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing figure. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and ruminative, delivering soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is lean and understated, yet this simplicity creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit specializes in eerie reimaginings of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound even further, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of distortion and hiss to produce a fresh, menacing beat. Periodically atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit morphs the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal echo.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music 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 fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a party blend pioneered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies 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-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, inviting the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek blends the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They create smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a novel, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Orchestrating 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 dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
