The 10 Finest International Albums of This Past Year
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of global releases that expanded horizons. We explore ten exceptional albums that defined the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
An album consisting of a single, extended movement of repetitive drumming may not appear the easiest listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a unexpectedly magnetic piece. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive language throughout the record's ten parts. The work draws from Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the reiteration of a persistent, thrumming motif. As the album progresses, this refrain starts to mirror the ceremonial rhythm of ceremonial music, luring the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive realm.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative album of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced style that cemented her status in the region's indie music scene since the nineties. Hamdan's vocal delivery is gentle and ruminative, singing delicate melodies atop the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rolling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a wavering, yearning vibrato over Maghrebi-inspired synth melodies and skittering electronic percussion. The musical backdrop is minimal and subtle, yet this minimalism offers the perfect setting for Hamdan's deeply felt lyricism to shine through. It is well worth the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit specializes in uncanny reinterpretations of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 90s style of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected interpretation of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit decelerates this sound to a near-halt, filtering its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of sludge and noise to create a new, menacing rhythm. Sometimes atmospheric and uneasy, Debit converts the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, ethereal echo.
Number Seven: The São Paulo Producer DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the records of Brazilian producer Kaique Vieira, also known as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the energetic sound of neighborhood block parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, adding everything from techno kick drums to samples of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a particularly hyperactive and deafeningly intense 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the noise and Vieira's bold productions become strangely exhilarating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's early-80s release of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an unusually engaging blend of the synthetic sound of electronic keyboards and programmed drums with her fluid Indian classical vocal technique. Drum machine patterns echoes the wavelike tones of the tabla, while synth lines replicates the traditional sound of the harmonium on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Elsewhere, Latin-inflected grooves takes center stage on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya features a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a party blend delivered more than ten years before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: Enji – Resonance
Mongolian singer Enji's gentle latest record, Sonor, expands on her jazz-inflected sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music yet. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the gentle Norah Jones-esque melodics of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German-language narration 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. Utilizing a live band rather than her usual setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, drawing the listener into the warm acoustics of her singular voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the psychedelic tradition of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the electrified saz with dreamy keyboard and classic soul melodies. It's a retro-70s aesthetic rooted in Yıldırım's powerful falsetto and shaped by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. But, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory. They create smooth, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that give a novel, unconventional twist to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings merge on Colombian-born 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 dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the syncopated reggaeton-inspired beats of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
