The Ten Best International Records of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the international releases that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming might not seem the most accessible musical proposition. Yet, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring album. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive language across the record's 10 movements. His composition channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich combined with classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming figure. Over its duration, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-language, dub-tinged sound that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and thoughtful, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vocal technique against Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to take center stage. It is truly deserving of the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit excels at eerie reimaginings of traditional music. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of distortion and static to produce a novel, sinister rhythm. Periodically atmospheric and unsettling, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics over the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, throwing in everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's bold productions become strangely liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco music and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly engaging blend of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mirrors the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the Asian Underground explosion.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's gentle fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces travel from the soft jazz-pop 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-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – 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 fuses the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds lively new territory. They create sinuous, slow-burning grooves and powerful vocals that give a new, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge 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 theatrical counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
