Our 10 Most Outstanding Worldwide Albums of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global releases that expanded horizons. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion could sound like it isn't the most accessible musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Guiding an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. His composition references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a ongoing, pulsing figure. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive world.
Number Nine: The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful set of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that cemented her status in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and thoughtful, singing soft 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 employs a wavering, yearning vocal technique against electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The album's sound is lean and restrained, yet this minimalism provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to take center stage. The album proves to be well worth the wait.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reinterpretations of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via veils of distortion and static to generate a fresh, sinister beat. Sometimes atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit transforms the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, ethereal echo.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the operative word for the music of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially hyperactive and overwhelmingly noisy forty-minute listening experience. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's unapologetic productions become oddly freeing.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a newly appreciated masterpiece. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually engaging blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and drum machines with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles 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 features a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-influenced sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Stepping outside her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs veer from the soft jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a ensemble rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, pulling the listener into the tender acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group merges the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with drifting Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It's a nostalgic vibe rooted in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They develop slinking, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that lend a new, quirky twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member 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 theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
