The 10 Top International Records of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide music that defied expectations. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive percussion might not seem the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Leading an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive vocabulary over the record's ten parts. The work channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the repetition of a ongoing, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain begins to emulate the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive world.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an long absence, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced sound that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and introspective, singing tender melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, longing vocal technique over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. It is truly deserving of the wait.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit excels at uncanny reinterpretations of historical sounds. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dubby interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound even further, processing its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via layers of murk and noise to produce a novel, sinister rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, spectral memory.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics over the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, incorporating everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and punishingly loud forty-minute sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's bold productions become oddly freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually captivating blend of the sharp sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the undulating tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the classic sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. Enji – Resonance
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music to date. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs travel from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, inviting the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 1960s legacy of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, quirky spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece 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 counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
