The Ten Top International Records of 2025
The past twelve months have offered a rich tapestry of international music that expanded horizons. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that defined the year in music.
10. Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already
A continuous, 40-minute suite of cyclical drumming might not seem the easiest musical proposition. But, south Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar turns this persistent pulse into a hypnotically captivating piece. Directing an group of three drummers, Korwar crafts a intricate percussive dialect across the record's ten sections. His composition references Steve Reich's phasing motifs combined with traditional Indian musical phrasing, each grounded in the recurrence of a ongoing, pulsing figure. Over its duration, this refrain evokes the trance-inducing cycles of ceremonial music, luring the listener further into Korwar's singular percussive world.
Number Nine: Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an hiatus of eight years, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan makes a comeback with a contemplative collection of songs. It continues exploring the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that established her as a fixture in the Arab alternative scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is quiet and ruminative, singing soft melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop beat of Vows. For more upbeat numbers such as Shadia and Abyss, she adopts a trembling, yearning vocal technique against electronic lines with North African flavors and rattling electronic percussion. The production is lean and restrained, yet this minimalism provides the ideal environment for Hamdan's expressive lyricism to take center stage. It is well worth the long anticipation.
8. The Mexican Producer Debit – Desaceleradas
Mexican producer Debit excels at eerie reimaginings of traditional music. On her latest release, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American dance genre. Debit drags this sound to a near-halt, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of distortion and noise to produce a novel, menacing groove. Periodically ambient and unsettling, Debit transforms the joyous party music of cumbia into a enduring, spectral memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sensory overload is the defining principle for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, who performs as DJ K. Pioneering his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of alarms, explosive bass tones and shouted lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This emulates the driving sound of urban celebrations. On his second album, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira ramps up the ferocity, adding everything from four-on-the-floor techno beats to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and punishingly loud 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become unexpectedly liberating.
Number Six: Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a rediscovered treasure. Produced by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks present an unusually engaging blend of the synthetic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her melismatic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion echoes the undulating tones of the traditional drums, while synthesiser melody doubles the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. At other times, Latin-inflected grooves comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya channels a up-tempo disco bass groove. It's a dancefloor fusion created over a decade before the rise of Asian Underground music.
5. Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia vocalist Enji's delicate latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to offer some of her most wide-ranging music so far. Departing from her background in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range from the soft Norah Jones-esque melodies of slow-burning number Ulbar to the German spoken-word lyrics and trilling guitar lines of Unadag Dugui. The album also includes a lively, funk-inflected cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Showcasing a full backing band rather than her typical setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains intimate, inviting the listener into the gentle soundscape of her unique voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – If There Is No Tomorrow
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock pioneered by groups such as Moğollar, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek fuses the electric jangle of the amplified traditional lute with woozy keyboard and R&B-inflected lines. It's a nostalgic vibe anchored in Yıldırım's commanding high register and shaped by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape aesthetic. But, on classic Turkish songs such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They create smooth, downtempo grooves and powerful vocals that lend a novel, unconventional interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge 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 everything from 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 brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
