This Ten Top Global Records of This Past Year
As the year draws to a close, we reflect on the global releases that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional albums that characterized the year in music.
Number Ten: Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on cyclical drumming could sound like it isn't the most approachable musical proposition. However, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar transforms this driving beat into a unexpectedly magnetic work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive dialect across the record's ten sections. His composition channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a ongoing, thrumming figure. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the ceremonial rhythm of ritual music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Following an long absence, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy set of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced sound that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's voice is quiet and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, yearning vocal technique over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity provides the ideal setting for Hamdan's deeply felt compositions to resonate. It is that justifies the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in uncanny reimaginings of traditional music. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of murk and hiss to create a fresh, menacing beat. Sometimes ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the exuberant dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, ghostly echo.
Number Seven: DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the records of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the intensity, adding everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute sonic journey. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become strangely freeing.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an strikingly compelling fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian vocal technique. Electronic percussion mirrors the rolling tones of the traditional drums, while synth lines 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 up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Resonance
From Mongolia singer Enji's gentle new release, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her most wide-ranging music to date. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks travel from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-inflected cover of the 1980s Mongolian classic Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay personal, drawing the listener into the warm soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 1960s legacy of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work alongside her group blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe grounded in Yıldırım's commanding high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. However, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, slow-burning grooves and lifting vocals that impart a novel, unconventional twist to the Turkish psych sound.
3. Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Arranging 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 interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
