The Ten Greatest International Records of the Year 2025
Looking back on the musical landscape of international music that defied expectations. Presenting a selection of 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 drumming could sound like it isn't the easiest listening experience. But, Indian drummer and composer Sarathy Korwar turns this driving beat into a strangely alluring album. Leading an trio of three drummers, Korwar crafts a complex percussive language throughout the record's ten parts. His composition channels minimalist concepts from Steve Reich as well as traditional Indian musical phrasing, everything tethered in the repetition of a persistent, driving figure. As the album progresses, this refrain evokes the hypnotic repetition of ritual music, pulling the listener deeper into Korwar's distinctive percussive universe.
9. The Lebanese Artist Yasmine Hamdan – I Forget, I Remember
Coming off an eight-year break, Arab vocalist and composer Yasmine Hamdan re-emerges with a mournful set of songs. The work builds upon the Arabic-sung, dub-influenced aesthetic that established her as a fixture in the region's indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan's voice is soft and ruminative, singing delicate melodies over the bowing strings of a track like Hon and the deep trip-hop groove of Vows. On livelier tracks such as Shadia and Abyss, she employs a quivering, yearning vocal technique against north African synth lines and skittering electronic percussion. The production is sparse and restrained, yet this minimalism offers the perfect setting for Hamdan's expressive songwriting to take center stage. It is well worth the wait.
Number Eight: The Mexican Producer Debit – Slowed Down
Mexican electronic artist Debit specializes in haunting reworkings of archival audio. On her new album, Desaceleradas, she turns her attention to the 1990s variant of cumbia rebajada – a decelerated, dub-inflected version of the shuffling Latin American dance music genre. Debit drags this sound down to a crawl, processing its characteristic synths and syncopated rhythm via sheets of murk and hiss to generate a new, menacing beat. At turns atmospheric and discomfiting, Debit converts the joyous dancefloor sound of cumbia into a lasting, spectral echo.
7. DJ K – Liberator Radio!
Sheer intensity is the key term for the music of São Paulo producer Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K. Coining his own genre of "bruxaria" (witchcraft), Vieira layers a onslaught of sirens, pummeling bass tones and screamed lyrics on top of the enduring Brazilian dance style of baile funk. This recreates the driving sound of favela street parties. On his new record, Radio Libertadora!, Vieira cranks up the energy, throwing in everything from driving techno rhythms to the sound of the Islamic call to prayer into his chaotic bruxaria mix. The result is a especially manic and overwhelmingly noisy 40-minute sonic journey. Surrender to the cacophony and Vieira's brash productions become strangely freeing.
6. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra – Disco Punjabi
Religious vocalist Mohinder Kaur Bhamra's record from 1982 of disco beats and Punjabi folk melodies is a newly appreciated treasure. Recorded by her son, music producer Kuljit Bhamra, Punjabi Disco's ten tracks offer an remarkably engaging fusion of the synthetic sound of 1980s synthesisers and programmed drums with her melismatic classical Indian singing style. Drum machine patterns mimics the undulating tones of the tabla, while synthesiser melody doubles the classic sound of the reed organ on tracks such as Pyar Mainu Kar. Meanwhile, bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera, and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya boasts a fast-paced funky bass rhythm. It's a club-ready hybrid pioneered over a decade before the global breakthrough of South Asian electronic music.
Number Five: The Mongolian Artist Enji – Sonor
Mongolian singer Enji's delicate fourth album, Sonor, builds upon her jazz-influenced sound to present some of her most diverse music to date. Moving away from her training in traditional Mongolian "long song" singing, the record's 11 tracks range from the soft jazz-pop melodics of downtempo 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 ensemble rather than her standard setup of guitar and bass, Sonor's sound remains close, inviting the listener into the warm acoustics of her distinctive voice.
Number Four: Derya Yıldırım and Her Band – Yarın Yoksa
Inspired by the 60s heritage of Anatolian rock established by groups such as Moğollar, Turkish-born, Germany-based singer Derya Yıldırım's third record alongside her group merges the distinctive buzz of the electrified saz with drifting keyboard and soulful tunes. It's a 1970s throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım's powerful high register and influenced by producer Leon Michels' analogue tape sound. But, on Turkish standards such as the folk tune Hop Bico and 1960s song Ceylan, the group finds dynamic new territory. They develop smooth, downtempo grooves and lifting vocals that give a new, quirky interpretation to the Turkish psych sound.
Number Three: Lido Pimienta – La Belleza
Sacred music, Czech harpsichord folksong and orchestral strings converge on Colombian-born singer Lido Pimienta's extraordinary fourth album. Arranging music for the 60-piece Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, Pimienta and producer Owen Pallett journey through a vast range including the Gregorian chants of opener Overturn (Obertura de la Luz Eterna) to the dramatic interweaving lines of Aún Te Quiero and the rhythmic dembow rhythms of the brass and woodwind-led El Dembow del Tiempo. Ultimately, it is Pim
