Our 10 Most Outstanding Global Records of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide releases that pushed boundaries. Presenting a selection of ten notable albums that shaped the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a complex percussive language throughout the record's ten sections. The album channels the phasing techniques of Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the recurrence of a ongoing, pulsing refrain. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive universe.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the Arab alternative scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and thoughtful, delivering soft melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and restrained, yet this austerity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to resonate. It is truly deserving of the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reworkings of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she zeroes in on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of distortion and static to generate a new, menacing beat. Sometimes atmospheric and uneasy, Debit transforms the celebratory dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal echo.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, incorporating everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Submit to the noise and Vieira's unapologetic productions become strangely exhilarating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually compelling fusion of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a driving disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most diverse music to date. Stepping outside her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces veer from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo 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. Utilizing a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still personal, pulling the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Drawing on the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that impart a new, unconventional spin to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
