The Ten Most Outstanding International Albums of This Past Year
Looking back on the musical landscape of worldwide sounds that pushed boundaries. Here is a countdown of ten remarkable albums that shaped the year in music.
Number Ten: The Percussionist Sarathy Korwar – There Already Is Beauty
The concept of a 40-minute, uninterrupted piece built on insistent percussion could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. But, south Asian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a hypnotically captivating album. Directing an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a intricate percussive vocabulary over the record's ten sections. The work channels Steve Reich's phasing motifs alongside classical Indian rhythmic patterns, everything tethered in the repetition of a persistent, pulsing motif. The longer one listens, this refrain starts to mirror the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial music, pulling the listener further into Korwar's unique percussive universe.
9. Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget
Following an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful collection of songs. She expands on the Arabic-sung, dub-tinged sound that established her as a fixture in the Middle Eastern independent music landscape since the 1990s. Hamdan's vocal delivery is soft and introspective, delivering delicate melodies over the string arrangements of a track like Hon and the rumbling trip-hop beat of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she uses a quivering, yearning vocal technique over north African synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The production is minimal and subtle, yet this austerity creates the ideal environment for Hamdan's emotive lyricism to resonate. It is that justifies the wait.
8. Debit – Desaceleradas
From Mexico producer Debit has a knack for haunting reinterpretations of historical sounds. On her most recent project, Desaceleradas, she focuses on the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a slowed, dub-inflected take of the shuffling Latin American musical style. Debit drags this sound even further, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm through layers of sludge and hiss to produce a new, menacing beat. Sometimes ambient and discomfiting, Debit morphs the exuberant party music of cumbia into a enduring, spectral memory.
Number Seven: DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Maximalism is the operative word for the output of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Inventing his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a tumult of alarms, explosive bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the classic Brazilian genre of baile funk. This captures the energetic sound of urban celebrations. On his follow-up release, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the ferocity, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his unruly bruxaria mix. The result is a especially frenetic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute listening experience. Submit to the noise and Vieira's brash productions become oddly exhilarating.
Number Six: The Singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Punjabi Disco
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and traditional Punjabi tunes is a reissued treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably engaging fusion of the metallic sound of early synthesizers and programmed drums with her ornate classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the rolling tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody parallels the traditional 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 channels a up-tempo walking disco bassline. It's a dancefloor fusion delivered more than ten years before the rise of Asian Underground music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
From Mongolia singer Enji's soft latest record, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-inflected sound to present some of her most diverse music yet. Departing from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's eleven songs range 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 sprightly, funk-tinged cover of the 80s Mongolian pop hit Eejiinhee Hairaar. Utilizing a full backing band rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound is still close, inviting the listener into the warm acoustics of her unique voice.
4. Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Channeling the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's latest work with her band Grup Şimşek merges the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting Mellotron and soulful tunes. It's a retro-70s aesthetic grounded in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' warm, tape-saturated sound. However, on classic Turkish songs such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 60s classic Ceylan, the group ventures into vibrant new territory. They develop slinking, slow-burning grooves and soaring vocals that impart a fresh, unconventional interpretation to the Anatolian psychedelic style.
3. The Colombian Artist Lido Pimienta – The Beauty
Sacred music, Eastern European folk melodies and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary latest work. Orchestrating music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett traverse everything from 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. Yet, it is Pim
