The 10 Top International Albums of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the worldwide music that defied expectations. We explore ten notable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of cyclical drumming might not seem the most accessible listening experience. Yet, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar transforms this insistent rhythm into a hypnotically captivating piece. Directing an trio of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten parts. The album draws from minimalist concepts from Steve Reich alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, all anchored in the reiteration of a continual, thrumming motif. As the album progresses, this refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, luring the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged style that made her a staple in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and thoughtful, singing soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a wavering, longing vocal technique over electronic lines with North African flavors and clattering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and understated, yet this minimalism creates the ideal canvas for Hamdan's emotive compositions to shine through. The album proves to be that justifies the long anticipation.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reworkings of archival audio. For her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dubby take of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, processing its signature synths and off-beat rhythm via sheets of sludge and hiss to create a new, sinister groove. Periodically ambient and discomfiting, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly echo.
7. The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the operative word for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira stacks a cacophony of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics over the longstanding Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms 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 sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably compelling blend of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her fluid classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines doubles the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid delivered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most diverse music yet. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, drawing the listener into the tender acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's new album alongside her group fuses the electric jangle of the electrified saz with woozy keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's strong high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds vibrant new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that give a new, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through 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 rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
