This Ten Top Global Records of 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of international sounds that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
A continuous, 40-minute suite of repetitive drumming may not appear the most accessible musical proposition. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive language over the record's ten parts. The album draws from the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as Indian classical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a ongoing, thrumming motif. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a melancholy album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and introspective, singing delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and understated, yet this minimalism creates the perfect canvas for Hamdan's emotive songwriting to take center stage. It is truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for uncanny reimaginings of historical sounds. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound even further, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of murk and hiss to produce a fresh, foreboding beat. Periodically ambient and uneasy, Debit transforms the celebratory party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly memory.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the energy, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the assault and Vieira's brash productions become oddly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's 1982 album of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an strikingly compelling fusion of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a driving disco bass groove. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range 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 energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, pulling the listener into the gentle soundscape of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. However, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They create sinuous, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that impart a new, 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 singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse a vast range including the liturgical vocals of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
