This 10 Finest Global Releases of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of worldwide music that defied expectations. We explore ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion may not appear the most approachable listening experience. Yet, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar converts this insistent rhythm into a strangely alluring work. Guiding an group of three drummers, Korwar creates a dense percussive vocabulary over the record's ten parts. The work channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, each grounded in the repetition of a persistent, pulsing refrain. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of devotional music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a mournful album of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is gentle and introspective, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. During more energetic moments such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a quivering, yearning vibrato over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The album's sound is sparse and subtle, yet this austerity offers the ideal setting for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to shine through. This is a record well worth the long anticipation.
Number Eight: Debit – Slowed Down
From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for haunting reimaginings of archival audio. For her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the rhythmic Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound down to a crawl, running its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via veils of sludge and noise to produce a fresh, menacing rhythm. At turns atmospheric and unsettling, Debit converts the exuberant party music of cumbia into a lasting, spectral memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the key term for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of alarms, pummeling 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 techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a notably frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Give in to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
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 unusually captivating combination of the sharp sound of 1980s synthesisers and drum machines with her ornate Indian classical singing style. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody parallels the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, bossa nova rhythm takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a fast-paced walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion created more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her broadest music yet. Moving away from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's selection of pieces range from the soft jazz-pop melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and twanging guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Featuring a ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound manages to stay intimate, inviting the listener into the tender acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Turkish psychedelia established by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's new album with her band Grup Şimşek merges the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with drifting Mellotron and R&B-inflected lines. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. Yet, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group reaches vibrant new territory. They create smooth, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that give a fresh, unconventional twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Gregorian chants, Eastern European folk melodies and symphonic arrangements merge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the sixty-member Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett explore a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the theatrical interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Yet, it is Pim
