🔗 Share this article Our Ten Top International Records of the Year 2025 Looking back on the musical landscape of global sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music. 10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating piece. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive language throughout the record's ten parts. The work channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a persistent, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world. Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, delivering delicate 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 uses a wavering, yearning vocal technique against electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation. Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas From Mexico producer Debit specializes in uncanny reinterpretations of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of distortion and noise to generate a fresh, sinister rhythm. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit transforms the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral echo. Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio! Sensory overload 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 stacks a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly liberating. Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually captivating fusion of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion. 5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor Mongolian vocalist Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice. 4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that give a fresh, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound. Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece 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 counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
Looking back on the musical landscape of global sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten exceptional albums that shaped the year in music. 10. The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on repetitive drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest musical proposition. However, Indian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating piece. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a intricate percussive language throughout the record's ten parts. The work channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs as well as classical Indian rhythmic patterns, all anchored in the reiteration of a persistent, driving refrain. The longer one listens, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of devotional music, drawing the listener deeper into Korwar's singular percussive world. Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget After an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a melancholy collection of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-language, dub-tinged style that made her a staple in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, delivering delicate 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 uses a wavering, yearning vocal technique against electronic lines with North African flavors and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is sparse and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the perfect environment for Hamdan's deeply felt songwriting to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation. Number Eight: Debit – Desaceleradas From Mexico producer Debit specializes in uncanny reinterpretations of traditional music. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound even further, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through sheets of distortion and noise to generate a fresh, sinister rhythm. At turns atmospheric and uneasy, Debit transforms the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a persistent, spectral echo. Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio! Sensory overload 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 stacks a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the longstanding Brazilian genre of baile funk. This emulates the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira escalates the ferocity, incorporating everything from driving techno rhythms to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his frantic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably manic and deafeningly intense forty-minute listening experience. Submit to the assault and Vieira's unapologetic productions become unexpectedly liberating. Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks deliver an unusually captivating fusion of the metallic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her ornate Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, Latin-inflected grooves is prominent on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered over a decade before the Asian Underground explosion. 5. The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor Mongolian vocalist Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to deliver some of her broadest music yet. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks veer from the gentle jazz-pop melodies of downtempo number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still intimate, pulling the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice. 4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa Drawing on the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's third record with her band Grup Şimşek blends the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with dreamy Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's strong falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They craft slinking, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that give a fresh, off-kilter twist to the Turkish psych sound. Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty Catholic requiem mass music, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements all come together on Colombian singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece 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 counterpoint melodies of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated dembow rhythms of the woodwind-heavy El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim