This 10 Best International Records of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global sounds that pushed boundaries. We explore ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent drumming may not appear the most accessible listening experience. However, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive language throughout the record's 10 movements. The work references minimalist concepts from Steve Reich combined with Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the repetition of a persistent, driving figure. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive realm.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and ruminative, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, yearning vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and clattering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to resonate. The album proves to be well worth the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico electronic artist Debit has a knack for eerie reimaginings of archival audio. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, running its signature synths and syncopated rhythm through veils of distortion and static to create a fresh, menacing beat. At turns ambient and uneasy, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ghostly afterimage.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Maximalism is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a cacophony of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics over the enduring Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of favela street parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, throwing in everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become unexpectedly freeing.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually compelling combination of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and drum machines with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody replicates the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian vocalist Enji's soft new release, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most diverse music yet. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a live band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay close, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group fuses the metallic twang of the amplified traditional lute with woozy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's strong high register 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 finds dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a novel, unconventional twist to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and symphonic arrangements converge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's remarkable fourth album. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece 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 interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
