This 10 Greatest Worldwide Releases of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global sounds that defied expectations. We explore ten remarkable 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 cyclical percussion may not appear the most approachable listening experience. Yet, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating work. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar creates a complex percussive dialect across the record's 10 movements. His composition channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as Indian classical phrasing, each grounded in the repetition of a continual, driving refrain. Over its duration, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
After an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged aesthetic that made her a staple in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is quiet and ruminative, delivering delicate melodies atop the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a wavering, longing vibrato against north African synth lines and clattering electronic percussion. The album's sound is minimal and subtle, yet this simplicity offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico electronic artist Debit excels at haunting reimaginings of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the rhythmic Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its signature synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of sludge and noise to create a fresh, sinister beat. Sometimes ambient and unsettling, Debit morphs the joyous party music of cumbia into a persistent, ethereal memory.
7. DJ K – Radio Libertadora!
Sheer intensity is the defining principle for the output of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira piles a onslaught of sirens, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the intensity, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly exhilarating.
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 newly appreciated treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an strikingly engaging combination of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion mimics the wavelike tones of the tabla, 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 driving walking disco bassline. It's a club-ready hybrid created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, develops her jazz-inflected 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 veer from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a energetic, funk-tinged 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 personal, drawing the listener into the tender soundscape of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – If There Is No Tomorrow
Channeling the 60s heritage of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the distinctive buzz of the amplified traditional lute with dreamy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's commanding falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group ventures into dynamic new territory. They craft smooth, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that impart a novel, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Gregorian chants, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's stunning latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants 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 woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. It is Pim
