This 10 Greatest International Records of 2025
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide music that defied expectations. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical percussion could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar converts this persistent pulse into a strangely alluring album. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive vocabulary across the record's 10 movements. His composition references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a persistent, pulsing motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, drawing the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an long absence, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-language, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, longing vocal technique against electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and understated, yet this minimalism creates the ideal setting for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to resonate. It is well worth the wait.
8. Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for uncanny reimaginings of archival audio. For her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American dance music genre. Debit slows this sound down to a crawl, filtering its characteristic synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of distortion and static to produce a novel, foreboding rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and unsettling, Debit transforms the celebratory party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly afterimage.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a cacophony of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the propulsive sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become oddly liberating.
6. The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered masterpiece. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually captivating fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synth lines parallels the traditional sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced disco bass groove. It's a party blend created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her broadest music to date. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle 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 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains personal, inviting the listener into the warm soundscape of her distinctive voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek merges the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches dynamic new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that give a new, off-kilter spin to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable latest work. Orchestrating 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 brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
