The Ten Finest International Records of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international sounds that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion could sound like it isn't the most approachable listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive language across the record's ten sections. The album channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a mournful album of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-influenced aesthetic that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and introspective, delivering tender melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, yearning vibrato over electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and restrained, yet this minimalism creates the perfect canvas for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to shine through. This is a record that justifies the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican electronic artist Debit has a knack for haunting reimaginings of historical sounds. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit slows this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of distortion and noise to create a novel, menacing groove. At turns ambient and uneasy, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal afterimage.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the key term for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the energy, throwing in everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly compelling fusion of the metallic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a party blend created over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling 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 standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, inviting the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek merges the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with drifting keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They craft sinuous, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a fresh, unconventional interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through everything from the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
